Carmakers post solid sales in encouraging sign for economy

[ShawnD1]

People out there are still purchasing cars from Chrysler? Don't people do research when they buy cars?

They suck, but damn they are cheap. A few months ago I was playing around with car prices on car websites and it turns out you can buy a Dodge Caravan for LESS than a Toyota Corolla. Seriously, a minivan from Dodge is cheaper than a compact car from Toyota. If I was ghetto ass poor and I had 4 kids, I would buy that cheap ass minivan. Just give me a book so I can learn how to fix my own vehicle when it screws up every month....

They also make cars with a heck of a lot of power. They can't win with quality, so they put V8 engines in everything. If you can something the size of a Camry but has 400HP and you want it to cost less than Corolla, Dodge is your friend.

 

[PingSpike]

Dodge gas mileage is horrendous. And considering gas prices that is a big problem. That said I believe Toyota expanded their fleet to include some serious fucking hogs in the last 10 years as well.

Do they still have that lifetime power train warranty? I guess it might be a good deal with that, since the government should keep the company on life support forever. Might be a good deal for a plow truck then, since you can beat the hell out of it and have dodge pay for the repairs.

 

[PingSpike]

Can the good sales numbers on new cars caused of the high prices on used cars.
trad-in value is that much closer to sales prices on new cars

Yeah, used car prices are nuts. It seems like there's pretty much zero discount for buying something 2 years old. Which means its a cheap upgrade for people trading in and that people looking at used will instead gravitate to new.

 

[Fern]

Carmakers post solid sales in encouraging sign for economy

I'm finding it a bit difficult to determine exactly what or how this info translates into good news for the economy.

First, I can't tell if auto sales in the US are up this past month or not.

I do see where Toyota and Honda (who makes autos here btw) have lower sales because of parts shortage caused by the tsunami. So, their lower sales translate into a boost for the so-called USA automakers. But overall, what's the increase/decrease in US auto sales? I don't see it.

I see an estimate by JD Powers of 4% over Aug of last year, but that's just an estimate.

I don't think anything other than Y-T-D numbers mean much. A few less people buy in July and instead do it in Aug, what's the difference?

Fern

 

[xaeniac]

Yeah, used car prices are nuts. It seems like there's pretty much zero discount for buying something 2 years old. Which means its a cheap upgrade for people trading in and that people looking at used will instead gravitate to new.

I have noticed this as well; Does anyone have any ideas and are these used cars selling?

 

[Fern]

I'd guess that used car prices are high because the supply is limited because fewer are buying and trading in the old model. A lot fewer people can sell new cars, a whole lot more can sell used, hence so much distributor level demand for used cars.

I'd also guess that new car prices are low because of low demand.

I'm not sure where it fits into this, but new cars are easier to finance and at lower rates and longer payment terms (meaning lower monthly payment). Used car loans carry higher interest rates and shorter terms. One effect this has is to discourage the purchase at the end of the lease. Just go lease another, the monthly payment will be less and the car new.

Fern

 

[duragezic]

Yeah, used car prices are nuts. It seems like there's pretty much zero discount for buying something 2 years old. Which means its a cheap upgrade for people trading in and that people looking at used will instead gravitate to new.

Yeah it's crazy. I just checked out the value of my 2008 Mazda 3. I bought it in February 2010 and it blue booked and Edmunds's TMV $13,000 to 13,200.

18 months and 10,000 miles later, it books essentially the same. WTF? Works for me though.

The company I work for has mostly automotive customers including all three domestics and their suppliers and they have been buying a lot this year. I do some work at a large GM site and from the sound of it there is lots of work going on there too.

I can't believe Chrysler had like a 25% year-over-year increase in sales. I didn't know people even bought Chrysler! I do think the domestics have been improving their products in the past few years... like they just have more desirable vehicles especially in the compact and midsize car market. Plus that Volt looks damn cool I have to say.

 

[cubby1223]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44357030/ns/business-autos/

To bad the GOP couldn't have got their way to let them crash and burn. Hopefully this also means consumer confidence is HIGHER then previously reported since people are will to fork out the cash on a new car.

Uhhh, did this NOT happen?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_Chapter_11_reorganization

Drop the politics. It is a disease.

 

[the DRIZZLE]

This proves one thing... If we actually put Obama policies into place, things might be a lot better for everyone today. Why tolerate republican failed policies, especially when that is what put us in the sad place we find ourselves in today? If we had healthcare with the public option, debit ceiling raised without conditions, a much more aggressive stimulus back in 2008, basically everything Obama originally wanted and nothing that the republicans ended up getting, can you imagine the pain we could have avoided.
Here we have just one example where Obama got his way, with the auto industry bailout, and today that industry is more alive and healthy than anyone could have ever imagined. Whereas every other area where republicans got their way, blocked, or watered down Obama policies, we have massive failure.
In a smart world, congress would put in place policies that have proven to work, and ignore past policies that have never worked. But sadly we are living in the age of Alice in republican-land.

WTF are you talking about? Auto sales are at historic lows as a percent of GDP. A single month that beat the forecasts in one small sector of the economy means absolutely nothing. This post so dumb and deluded that I think Obama may have joined the forum and posted it himself.

 

[Ausm]

Hmmm....it seems Obama does which is why he has employed ex-GS employees in his administration.

This is true and I am still scratching my head on that one.

 

[Ausm]

Uhhh, did this NOT happen?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_Chapter_11_reorganization

Drop the politics. It is a disease.

Why this is P&N when I say crash and burn I realize the WHOLE company would not have gone under but thousands of support businesses would have been directly effected if they went through a restructuring.

 

[soccerballtux]

think of how much better Ford/Toyota/Honda's sales would have been if GM and Chrystler weren't still there diluting the market. Think of all the people they would have had to hire to meet all the new demand.

 

[CPA]

This is true and I am still scratching my head on that one.

And it looks like Goldman Sachs was right about the job numbers - they sucked. So, I guess, you can trust them.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Raise the debt ceiling to infinity. Americans are good for it.

At current interest rates, you statemnt is illogical. But dounbling the debt ceiling would be near hte tipping point. We are no where near a tipping point.

 

[Craig234]

Hmmm....it seems Obama does which is why he has employed ex-GS employees in his administration.

When are people going to understand the problem is Wall Street, and particularly Goldman Sachs, simply having their money give too much say in our government?

There's a reason they are nicknamed "government sachs" - a revolving door of personnel with the federal government.

That's not a one party issue - Bush's treasury secretary and all kinds of positions were GS people. Obama's treasury secretary and all kinds of people are GS.

GS has its tentacles all over the place - federal government, state, foreign.

This comes with being a sector that has gone from 10% of the economy's profits to 40%. And it's very bad for the country.

Finance is supposed to be an overhead that is productive for the economy. When it's that big, it's a parasite draining the wealth from the economy.

There's a reason 'the people' can hardly get people elected. And the other side includes not only corporatist Repubs and Dems but corporate-friendly tea party.

The president and clear nominee of the party of FDR and JFK is the biggest recipient of Wall Street funds in the country, and that is just disgusting.

But the right rarely attacks him for the right reasons - rather, they ridiculously attack him as a 'socialist'. If only he were we'd be a lot better off.

Then his priorities would at least be for the interests of the people, not GS.

We're headed to another election between a Republican corporatist - and that's Obama - and a disaster, whether it's Romney, Perry, Palin whatever.

In other words, the people really have no candidate. All we have are a minority of seats in Congress, and we know what a minority in Congress gets.

Unfortunately, try getting the people to unite against this corporate corruption. Try getting them to vote for low-budget candidates. Ask Howard Dean how that goes.

 

[Fern]

At current interest rates, you statemnt is illogical. But dounbling the debt ceiling would be near hte tipping point. We are no where near a tipping point.

I'm not sure what you mean by "tipping point".

But cannot double our debt. At a rate significantly less than doubling it we'd be a debt level similar to, or worse than, Greece.

We're not very far behind them atm.

Fern

 

[a777pilot]

Just like other economic numbers; a single month change does not portray a trend.

Neither company would have crashed and burned; they would have have trimmed down and come back leaner.is with the government stepping in; it re-enforced the issue that they were to big to fail. That continues to encourage bad behavior by management and unions

What he said.

This was no more that a big pay-off to the unions for their criminal behavior in their support of Bobo, the Post Turtle.