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What Are The Dinosaurs of Detroit Thinking?
So you want to be an opinion columnist for a national newspaper? All right. Here's your mission, should you choose to accept it: Write a 900-word piece, defending the CEOs of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, who continue to argue against legislative initiatives to increase auto fuel efficiency by 40%. The standards haven't really budged since the mid-1970s, and crude oil recently topped $75 a barrel.

Yet the rapidly fading Detroit auto executives have remained steadfast in their opposition to higher fuel economy standards —which, by the way, the Senate has voted to raise and the House is contemplating. Your mission: Explain what the Dinosaurs of Detroit are thinking. Begin writing immediately before the U.S. auto industry self-destructs.

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What Are The Dinosaurs of Detroit Thinking?



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lewissalemlewissalem - 7/27/2007 10:08:55 AM
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Ultimately the consumer will pay for these increases in fuel economy. The market has dictated that we want more fuel efficient vehicles, therefore the Senate's bill is just political grandstanding. With politicians, perception is more important than reality. Products like the Prius sell better because of their green image. Never mind that the company also produces the Land Cruiser and Tundra.

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EnnNorakEnnNorak - 7/28/2007 2:17:43 PM
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The way gas prices have been rising, we may not even have to hike gas taxes to decrease demand. I have to agree with you that legislating fuel efficiency is the wrong approach and will only give our economic adversaries an advantage as they are already ahead in market penetration with fuel efficient cars.

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richardp996richardp996 - 7/27/2007 10:27:17 AM
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Detroit is hurting but the bleeding will get worse when they start falling further behind other manufacturers in regards to economy and emmissions and the technologies around it. Porsche and Ferrari are attempting to increase fuel economy while boasting performance, which their output of cars is much lower.

Why is that Detroit cannot spend money into technologies that will see that they are competitive in the future? And not neccesarily ensure but atleast give them a better chance if consumers are wanting changes. What happened to Bob Lutz' 'if they want it we will build it' mantra? I guess it never applied to expensive engineering for the environmentally aware but rather than for cheap tactics of selling large heavy desireable vehicles from truck underpinings and common shared parts.

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neutralneutral - 7/27/2007 11:00:14 AM
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Umm, maybe everyone forgets, you cannot just get better fuel economy because some stupid politician says you have to. 40% increase is massive. I'd like to see most people on this site try to figure out how to do that. Truth of the matter is, detroit sells lots of SUV's and trucks. Pure physics dictates that more energy is required to move a more massive object.

I do agree with increases in fuel economy, yes I do. However, I cannot stand politicians jumping on the "bash detroit" bandwagon. If these politicians have such great ideas, let them come to detroit and engineer the cars themselves.

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M53RM53R - 7/27/2007 12:25:37 PMView My AgentSpace
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+1


damikcodamikco - 7/27/2007 3:22:47 PMView My AgentSpace
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Well said neutral


komododavekomododave - 7/28/2007 2:23:34 PM
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How about they invest as much money in our US auto makers as Japan does for Toyota and Honda. Or how about take half the money spent to keep crappy airlines afloat when they should crash and burn faster (no pun intended) than any of the american auto companies.


damikcodamikco - 7/27/2007 3:27:32 PMView My AgentSpace
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How can you call gm a Dinosaur when they make more models that get 3o mpg than any other company, sale flex fuel vehicals, and are not worried about the toxic waste bomb ready to happen hybrid band wagon (what do you do with millions of useless out dated batteries when they rub out?)they are working on and have a working hydragen vehical which will be the best thing for the entire world to drive no pollution what so ever.

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mini22mini22 - 7/27/2007 4:49:05 PM
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From a cultural standpoint big trucks and suv's are higher profit makers then small economy cars. The big three have to deal with much higher production costs because of the unions and healthcare.So to produce a small economical car or invest in technolgies that promote better gas mileage simply adds more to production costs and makes it more difficult to make a profit.Ford right now says it's too expensive to produce diesel vehicles.Why? It has to be for the reasons I list above.The foriegn car makers simply have an unfair advantage here.Also the big three believe that there is a good market for high performance RWD american cars and it's easier to make that profit on those cars.

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EnnNorakEnnNorak - 7/28/2007 2:23:48 PM
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The answer to the competitive disadvantage re health care cost can be dealt with by adopting a national health care plan similar to the Canadian model. The excepion I would make is to allow a private health care system to operate in parallel for some medical procedures which might otherwise involve unacceptable waiting times for patients.


IAmaRealAmericanIAmaRealAmerican - 7/27/2007 5:27:12 PM
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Wow, I've never seen so many "know it alls" in my life.

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komododavekomododave - 7/28/2007 2:31:59 PM
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I've noticed that no one seems to want to mention the fact that despite the "gas guzzler" status of many of Detroits trucks and suvs, they still sell well and are still deflecting even the best competitors from japan. We can't just make someone buy a smaller car. Here in Texas, trucks are quite usefull because not everyone goes to work at highrise building in the middle of a city. Plus, vehicles like the Suburban and Expedition make sense for a lot of the medium to large families that are more prevelent in the south. If you tried to cram a 5 person family and all their crap into a prius, you'd need 2 of them. Plus, we like to tow this down here. Horses, boats, trailers, etc. The way to make people stop buying large vehicles is to limit family sizes, and you know it was such a good idea in China.

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damikcodamikco - 7/28/2007 4:30:06 PMView My AgentSpace
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same in michigan


damikcodamikco - 7/28/2007 4:33:25 PMView My AgentSpace
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the prius is good for california where maybe one or two pepole would be stuck in traffic on there long commutte to work, i often have to seat 5 or somtimes 6 totola of (5 is just my family ) ive notice differnt regions =differnt choice of brand and vehical

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