Wow…Auto sales TANKED

[CAwireman]

RAdelow, yes heard that today about auto sales. Agree,
surprising that the new #1 auto seller, Toyota, is also down.

Good to see Lindismith posting again. Haven’t heard from you in a while.

Not being able to use home equity as an ATM is spilling over. Hmmmm.

HiggyBaby

(Formerly known as cawireman)

[CAwireman]

RAdelow, yes heard that today about auto sales. Agree,
surprising that the new #1 auto seller, Toyota, is also down.

Good to see Lindismith posting again. Haven’t heard from you in a while.

Not being able to use home equity as an ATM is spilling over. Hmmmm.

HiggyBaby

(Formerly known as cawireman)

[sdrealtor]

A good friend of mine is a design engineer for one of the major automakers. The Cayman has been a sales disaster from Day 1. Discounts on it say nothing about the economy and everything about a lousy design.

[sdrealtor]

A good friend of mine is a design engineer for one of the major automakers. The Cayman has been a sales disaster from Day 1. Discounts on it say nothing about the economy and everything about a lousy design.

[CharlieG]

Beyond the normal economic canary-in-the-coalmine vehicle sales indicator, the auto industry is having to come to terms with the frenzied vehicle upsizing scheme they have been working on for the past 15 years.

Nothing says “chump” quite like a temporary paper license plate on an newly purchased SUV these days, and the industry has done a darn good job convincing people that a truck is the only legitimate vehicle for just about any purpose.

Result? Well, no one wants to buy a new truck, and no one quite wants to downsize from a truck…not until their neighbors do anyway. So they are sticking with whatever they have…and dealing with the fuel payment as such.

[CharlieG]

Beyond the normal economic canary-in-the-coalmine vehicle sales indicator, the auto industry is having to come to terms with the frenzied vehicle upsizing scheme they have been working on for the past 15 years.

Nothing says “chump” quite like a temporary paper license plate on an newly purchased SUV these days, and the industry has done a darn good job convincing people that a truck is the only legitimate vehicle for just about any purpose.

Result? Well, no one wants to buy a new truck, and no one quite wants to downsize from a truck…not until their neighbors do anyway. So they are sticking with whatever they have…and dealing with the fuel payment as such.

[Coronita]

Porsche has full page ads for the Cayman at $589/mo lease. The high end is not doing that good if they are doing incentives. Boat sales are also down. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20070801-9999-1b1boat.html Now, some have argued that the rich are immune so their housing communities are immune as well. I doubt very much that anything under $5 million is immune to the downturn.

 

The irony to this is how many americans lease a car they can't normally afford….When I hear about so and so "bought" a high end car, I chuckle because a lot of them are leases.  Nothing wrong with leasing if you get a nice tax writeoff because of your biz. But folks that I've seen lease because they can't afford.  Oh well.

[Coronita]

Porsche has full page ads for the Cayman at $589/mo lease. The high end is not doing that good if they are doing incentives. Boat sales are also down. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20070801-9999-1b1boat.html Now, some have argued that the rich are immune so their housing communities are immune as well. I doubt very much that anything under $5 million is immune to the downturn.

 

The irony to this is how many americans lease a car they can't normally afford….When I hear about so and so "bought" a high end car, I chuckle because a lot of them are leases.  Nothing wrong with leasing if you get a nice tax writeoff because of your biz. But folks that I've seen lease because they can't afford.  Oh well.

[Trojan4Life]

I’ve always liked the Cayman

As a guy who just got rid of his 2004 Corvette for a Prius, I respected the Cayman’s capabilities and loved it’s exhaust note. But it’s stuck in bewteen the two big guns in the Porsche line up, the 911 and the Boxster, so I think if someone is going to step up from the Boxster it will be to the 911 as the price difference between the 911 and Cayman is not too steep.

FWIW, I bought the Prius not because of carpool lane access (missed the boat on that one) or to help the environment (nice side effect though). I bought it to keep my hard earned $$$$ out of Exxon’s coffers.

Freddie, Proud USC Trojan

[Trojan4Life]

I’ve always liked the Cayman

As a guy who just got rid of his 2004 Corvette for a Prius, I respected the Cayman’s capabilities and loved it’s exhaust note. But it’s stuck in bewteen the two big guns in the Porsche line up, the 911 and the Boxster, so I think if someone is going to step up from the Boxster it will be to the 911 as the price difference between the 911 and Cayman is not too steep.

FWIW, I bought the Prius not because of carpool lane access (missed the boat on that one) or to help the environment (nice side effect though). I bought it to keep my hard earned $$$$ out of Exxon’s coffers.

Freddie, Proud USC Trojan

[GoUSC]

Freddie,

I put 100% pure biodiesel in truck…also to keep my money out of Exxon’s coffers.

Fellow USC Trojan, Radelow

FIGHTON

[GoUSC]

Freddie,

I put 100% pure biodiesel in truck…also to keep my money out of Exxon’s coffers.

Fellow USC Trojan, Radelow

FIGHTON

[GoUSC]

Freddie,

I put 100% pure biodiesel in truck…also to keep my money out of Exxon’s coffers.

Fellow USC Trojan, Radelow

FIGHTON

[GoUSC]

Freddie,

I put 100% pure biodiesel in truck…also to keep my money out of Exxon’s coffers.

Fellow USC Trojan, Radelow

FIGHTON

[Trojan4Life]

Check out this month’s Car and Driver magazine. There is a very interesting article on a gentleman in Illinois who was being told by either state or federal officials he had to register as a fuel distributor and pay taxes on the fuel he was using (bio diesel). Absolutely incredible the nerve of our government to ask us to cut our dependance on foreign oil and in the same breathe try to tax us for doing it!

Freddie, Proud USC Trojan

[Author]

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