"Paul M. Eldridge" wrote:

> What I've been saying is that Chrysler needs to focus its attention
> squarely on the North American market

The whole world is entering a recession, possibly deflationary in
nature.

Most every sector of every economy is shedding jobs.

The US auto industry has been maligned as inept and foolish, but the
big-3 have done better than most mega-corporations in other sectors.
How many airlines have been in and out of bankruptcy protection over the
past 10 years?

How many technology, energy, telecom, banks and financial services
corporations have folded or have seen their share prices reduced to
penny-stock value in the past 10 years?

There is no correct path for any company right now. Every company is in
survival mode as consumers flee the markets. Now is not the time for
the big-3 to hatch long-term product planning and expensive R&D. Now is
the time to reduce costs and hunker down and hope for the best.

> It goes to the point I made earlier, that if you can't sell North
> American cars to North American car buyers who, ...

The big-3 have roughly 50% market share in the US. Saying that they
"can't sell North-American cars to North American buyers" is hyperbole.

> > And it's NOT like the big-3 don't have small car options to sell
> > when gas hits $4. They have always had small cars with small
> > engines, and they always do sell a lot of them.
>
> And North American car buyers have, for the most part, rejected
> them.

More hyperbole.

> I read this morning that, in 2008, the Dodge Caliber hatchback
> has sold for an average of $1,717.00 *less* than a Honda Civic.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20...0/1003/RSS6004

The Caliber does sell $1,717 less then the average Civic, but that's
better then the Chevy Cobalt and Ford Focus, which sell for $4,192 and
$3,371 less than the Civic.

However, Caliber 2008 sales (through the end of October) are less than
half of Focus sales (176k Focus) with Civic volume of about 304k units.

----------------
If the Detroit Three lower their labor costs, and retool to build more
compact and subcompact cars, but still have to get by on $3,000 to
$4,000 per car less than what Honda takes in for each Civic, they will
face a painful struggle to survive.

It will take years for Ford, Chevy and Dodge to heal the damage done to
their small car brands by years of second-tier quality, uninspired
styling and technology, and marketing strategies that focused on filling
rental-car fleets at the expense of resale values.
----------

Translation: The US Big-3 have never before relied so heavily on sales
of their low-end cars as much as they do now.

> Why then, even with this price premium, does the Honda Civic outsell
> the Dodge Caliber by, what, I'm guessing, ten to one?

Advertizing.

> > Why not buy the new Challenger then?
>
> Don't get me wrong, a 5.7 or 6.1L Hemi Challenger would be
> an incredible ride, but I'm not convinced it's the type of
> car I want to be driving now or two to three years from now,

You can get a Challenger with the 3.5L engine.

I have no problems getting 26 - 28 MPG on the highway in my 9-year-old
300M with the 3.5L.