Gas prices fuel fears for GM

[RamboLiberal]

http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/30/news/fortune500/gm_fuel_concern.reut/index.htm

General Motors Corp., which will soon roll out a new lineup of full-sized pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles, acknowledged Tuesday that it was worried about high U.S. gasoline prices.

Paul Ballew, GM's director of global market and industry analysis, said the impact on sales of fuel-thirsty pickups and SUVs was something the world's largest automaker was "wrestling with each and every day."

Speaking to a meeting of investors and Wall Street analysts he also said GM -- which is struggling to return its North American auto business to profitability -- had wrongly been portrayed as saying that high gasoline prices had little or no effect on truck and SUV sales.

"We are sensitive to it," Ballew said.

"We're spending a lot of time with our customers, as well as other consumers out there in the marketplace, to really try to understand how it's affecting their behavior today and how it might affect their behavior going forward," he said.

And not to be outdone by GM - the fools at Jeep.


Jeep's new Commander is a couple of inches longer than the Jeep Grand Cherokee, the model on which it is heavily based.

With sales of large sport utility vehicles on the slide and gas prices hitting $3 a gallon in some parts of the country and likely headed higher thanks to Hurricane Katrina, now would hardly seem to be the time to launch a new gas-guzzling SUV.

But that's exactly what the folks at Jeep did two weeks ago, when they unveiled the automaker's new Commander SUV model at a Poconos media event.

The timing was not lost on Jeep officials. "Of course, we couldn't control events," said Jeep's Michael Berube, senior manager, marketing.

He's quick to note that the engines are fuel efficient for their size; but these are big SUVs, not gas-sipping subcompacts.

The larger optional 330-horsepower, 5.7-liter Hemi engine comes with a fuel rating of 14 miles per gallon in the city and 19 on the highway, while the smaller 4.7-liter, 235-horsepower V-8 Commander gets 15 in the city and 20 on the highway. A 3.7-liter, 210-horsepower version is rated 17 mpg in the city and 21 on the highway.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05242/562170.stm

[graywarrior]

1. .

:nopity:

[IChing]

3. same here

:nopity: :nopity: :nopity: each one for the big three automakers

[Hobarticus]

4. I smell another billion-dollar taxpayer bailout for automakers

who insist on building landships for the wealthy, while Joe Sixpack is just happy to fill the tank in his mid-size car.

[Rude Horner]

2. Awwwwwwww

I feel so sorry for them. :sarcasm:

Gee, maybe they should have been working on developing more fuel efficient vehicles on their own, instead of lobbying against stricter standards.

They're as much to blame in this whole mess as anybody.

[driver8]

5. Uhm...guys...I think the writing has been on the wall for quite some

time. If you wouldn't mind pullng your heads out of your asses, you might be able to see what the hell is going on in this country.

[screembloodymurder]

16. GM's management deserves most of the blame.

You don't need to check with consumers to realize where the large truck market is headed. They should have been working on truck mileage for 10 years and should have had a hybrid program in place for 2000. I waited in line Saturday to test drive a Prius.

[Javaman]

6. Talk about out of touch with reality...

Who in their right mind is going to buy a truck these days?

GM is a sinking ship, the crew is bailing wildly and there are no life boats. Whoopie!

colossal failure*.

[durablend]

7. What, no super deluxe Hummer?

Could be twice the size of the original and get 5 gallons/mile.

Would have people lining up around the dealership to buy it! :sarcasm:

[classics]

8. As gas prices rose they discontinued the Geo Metro

A car that could get over 50mpg stock out of the showroom, 42 mpg with an automatic transmission.

They replaced it with a endless series of gas guzzling urban assault vehicles getting 15mpg.

If they get hurt its because of bad decision making, not random chance.

[Spangle]

9. Cry me a RIVER!

Been whining to them for 20 years that I wanted a GAS efficent auto. They have YET to give me one. My Uncles worked for GM and got pissed at me for bying " Japan" car. Told them it was GM's job to give consumers what they want. Not to FORCE us to accept what they are making. EVEN told me I was taking away American Jobs... I reminded them AGAIN... American competes... They need to get in there and play the game and not keep WHINING because the REFUSE to give consumers what they want.

GM and the other automakers have for YEARS have spent MAJOR money lobbying DC to raise import cost to discourage the sales of their competers.

No, I don't feel sorry for them. They have refused, refused, refused. It's call PERSONAL RESPONSIBLITY STUPID!

I'm just sorry and worried about their workers. They have no choice what they make.

[hatrack]

10. But I thought it was all about the hydrogen vision!

Who needs pesky hybrids and cars that people actually buy when you can talk about your bold hydrogen vision, worth billions in free government money for vehicles that will never see the inside of a showroom.

Way to go, guys - good thing you and DC are leaping to the cutting edge by talking about developing hybrid engines - and it's only 2005! Oh, and guess which cars they'll go in? That's right - the Yukon, the Suburban and the Durango. :dunce:

[IChing]

14. Look at GM's new car of the future

"no comment"
http://www.detnews.com/2005/autosinsider/0504/05/autos-137015.ht




Mercedes today handed over the first fuel cell passenger cars to German customers in Berlin. The partners Deutsche Telekom and BEWAG/Vattenfall Europe took delivery of these A-Class “F-Cell” vehicles for their fleets at the Mercedes-Benz Salzufer outlet. Europe’s first service station for fuel cell cars also commenced regular operation.
http://www.h2cars.biz/artman/publish/article_567.shtml


Honda's fuel cell vehicle can reach speeds of 93 mph
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/TECH/ptech/10/09/fuelcell/

[derby378]

11. Simple solution - convert 'em all to BioDiesel

Willie Nelson makes and sells his own brand. Problem solved!

[Dissenting_Prole]

18. There's not enough fry-grease on the planet...

to run things the way we are running them now.

[BiggJawn]

12. Blind-assed sumbitches....

"We've only given the Murkan consumer what they WANT!!!"

Who have they been filling their focus groups with? Bush donors and guys worried about their dick size?

"The engines are fuel-efficient FOR THEIR SIZE..."
And completely over-sized for the job they should have been designed to do...

Yeah, why, a 10,000 HP maritime diesel might be considered "economical" at 10 tones of Bunker a day, but *I* sure as hell wouldn't want to feed *IT*, either....

[graywarrior]

13. They can turn them into trailer homes

[Tempest]

15. Recalling 800,000 vehicles isn't going to help either

I couldn't pay me to buy an American car or truck.

[Strelnikov_]

17. "Impact On Sales Of Fuel-Thirsty . . Wrestling With Each And Every Day"

Have you wrestled with the idea of making fuel efficient cars people would want to buy?

Oh, thats right. Bribing GOP and DINO Congress-critters is more 'profitable'.