Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Five Honey

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13 comments:

Jason said...

People who buys those are easily swayed and trendy.

Donna Ghost Bear said...

We have one and bought it AFTER test driving it on a twisty, curvy country road.....and brought it to the Dragon the very next day. At 55, we aren't "trendy".

Pilote Ancien said...

What DGB said. Haven't driven one, but would be mighty curious and hoping for a "Super Abarth" version if I were in the market for a new around town/fun on the weekends daily driver.

Felnus said...

I had my 500 Sport on the Dragon on Friday and had an absolute blast driving it as I do every time I get behind the wheel. And trendy or not, I've never gotten a friendly wave from a Maserati driver as I did on the Cherohala Skyway driving any other car.

Jason said...

I guess some people are okay with giving (literally) American icons like Chysler to the Italians... just don't wonder why our economy sucks and why noone has a job/makes good money.

Felnus said...

In case you aren't aware, Chrysler was basically bought out by Daimler-Benz(that would be a German company if you are keeping track) in 1998. After basically running the company into the ground, Daimler-Benz sold roughly 80% of Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management in 2007, an American group that almost finished the job of destroying the company. If FIAT hadn't stepped in along with the US and Canadian governments, there wouldn't be a Chrysler anymore. As it stands, the engines in the 500 are made in a plant in Dundee, Michigan which soon be producing engines for the new Dodge Dart. Chrysler is putting out some very nice product with help from FIAT, which also owns Ferrari and Maserati.

Pilote Ancien said...

Way to sum it up, Felnus.
I would add that, just before the part of TARP that saved GM and Chrysler was spent, Chrysler's executives BEGGED GM or Ford to buy them because Chrysler was ready to start bouncing checks. Ford wasn't interested and GM didn't have any cash either. A non-cash merger did nothing for Chrysler's cash problem and added capacity and complexity to GM's distribution, which they were downsizing anyway (Olds, Pontiac).
In the course of the "prepackaged bankruptcy," Fiat made the best offer for Chrysler. I heard then that Fiat made the ONLY offer: no other takers, worldwide. Some were interested in Jeep; not the rest.

Felnus said...

And Chrysler has also already repaid all loans from the US and Canadian governments well ahead of schedule. The new models being developed by Chrysler/FIAT are world class. Just look at the new Viper.

Pilote Ancien said...

Not done with this thread yet (sorry)-Jason yanked my chain.
I bought a Mustang in 2008 because 1) it was 80% of a Corvette at 50% of the price and 2) "all other equal," I wanted to Buy American.
I bought a Honda Civic Si in 2009 because it was the best "bang for the buck" in compact 4-doors.
Here's the beauty part. All cars carry a "North American Content" percentage in the window sticker. NOT U.S. content, N.A. content, because that's the way the American manufacturers wanted it. (They have plants in Canada and Mexico.) The N.A. content of my Mustang is 70%. The N.A. content of my Civic is 65%.
It's a worldwide automotive market, Jason. "We" need to be selling Vipers in Europe and Dodge Darts in South Korea.

Felnus said...

N.A. content of my FIAT is 70%, just for reference.

Mike said...

Is that "NA content" there because the manufacturers want it there, or because of NAFTA?

Pilote Ancien said...

Dunno. Probably both.
Plus, how you count matters a lot; could drive a consumer nuts trying to figure "true content." So I've personally relied more on where final assembly occurred.
Where was the bauxite for the aluminum mined? Or was it recycled, in which case it could well have been shipped to China for that, the ingots reimported and re-smelted here. Or maybe some of it was turned into parts in China and reimported.
Do you count by "value added" for component parts? If so, Mexican labor rates are lower than Japan/Canada/US. So do you "equalize" labor hours to get "true value?"
Before NAFTA, Ford used to ship components for the Escort power train to Mexico, build it there, ship complete power trains back, and drop them into the cars in Flat Rock MI. So where was the power train built?
Trying to estimate "true content" as a consumer is a good way to waste time on the way to the asylum.

Yo ARKiV said...

Owned.