Thursday, Aug 28, 2008
are people now stopping buying cars?
CNN: Toyota lowers 2009 global sales target
When will toyota lay people off? Is it now a matter of time, places like North wales will be affected!!Or will it just affect the USA?
Posted by mark @ 12:27 PM (818 views) Add Comment
15 Comments
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1. handle_it said...
When I grew up in the 70's only the well-off owned a new car. When the new reg came out it was an event to spot them ! Now days anyone who can scribble their name can "own" a new car. The days of over production and fullish employment look to be over. Fixing things will come back into fashion...
2. jack c said...
Indication of things to come - see todays Times "Pendragon profits tumble as new car sale slump" - business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article4625105.ece
I have some Pendragon shares which odly enough I forgot about - probably just as well now that they are currently worth 9p each !
3. japanese uncle said...
Ditch cars for public transport, cycling and walking.
I don't give a damn to those silly global warming mantra just trying to lure us into nuclear power plants construction, but the danger of pollution is a totally separate genuine issue. We should stop emission in this respect indeed. Restore all disused railways (UK has the most extensive network of disused railways that are currently used footpaths/cycle paths) while cars and petro must be subject to penalizing taxation. Motorization will hopefully prove to have been just a ephemeral passing phenomenon.
4. mrmickey said...
There was a programme on the radio about how modern cars are now so complex you can't even change the headlight bulb without a degree in Physics. This guy from the car manufacturers said that people were demanding more & more complex cars that did more & more things.But do people really want this or is it just the manufacturers forcing us to buy cars that can't be serviced by the man in the street and need to go to a dealer who charges £100 labour per hour.
5. montesquieu said...
I'm told that on the new volvo S80 you can't change the headlamp bulbs without removing the front bumper - considering they are switched on full time and consequently only last around 10,000 miles this will soon be part of the ridiculously high standard servicing fees.
I paid Pengragon over £600 for a 94k mile service for my S60 last week, the very last time I use them (will be the local independent from now on). Pendragon wanted £40 plus vat for wiper blades plus fitting - needless to say I told them where they could stick that particular charge, if I had agreed to everything they wanted to do the bill would have been over £1400 - total rip-off.
6. renting2 said...
It's not 'motorization' JU, it's how truly polluting that mobility is. Take the tube for example, for every full train going into London in the morning there is an empty one going the other way and converse in the evening. This is just the dynamics of the tube system. Buses are probably the same. Taxis are empty when rushing between clients. Far better that you only transport the minimum amount of metal around at any one time. What we need is more and more efficient personal transport with lower and lower emissions.
Good first steps would be to dust off the mopeds and tarmac over all rail lines and put all the buses and lorries on there instead. (I'm now ducking!)
7. jack c said...
@renting2 - talking of dusting down the moped reminded me that Vespa have in recent weeks announced they are ceasing production -stringent new European emission norms mean that the Vespa PX is no longer
8. drewster said...
jack c,
They're only stopping production of the ancient Vespa PX, which is some 30 years old now. I'm surprised they were still making it after so long. Piaggio, parent company of Vespa, still makes dozens of other models including a 170mpg hybrid.
9. jack c said...
@drewster - thanks for the info - I'll get my parka and copy of The Who's quadraphenia on vinyl out of the loft tonight.
10. str 2007 said...
renting2
Agree - almost. The tubes seem pretty effivient and relatively cheap.
Trains on the other hand are a total rip off. Far cheaper to drive.
So lets tarmac over all the railway lines and use them for lorries coaches and caravans.
Now with all that space cleared I think we should reserve the outside lane of motorways for vehicles travelling 90+.
(Yes I know it will use a bit more fuel but look at all the time and fuel we'll save with the extra roads and less conjestion.)
11. japanese uncle said...
If millions of people shift from cars to public transport, train fares and bus fares will certainly be reduced to a fraction of current level.
12. last_days_of_disco said...
Does anyone have real numbers for any of this?
Trains vs cars for public transport.
13. Advokat said...
@12 you never will old boy the railways are one big black hole, where a selected few reside at the end coining it in big time...
14. str 2007 said...
Japanese Uncle
I believe the railways have had massive subsidies for a long time, if everyone switched over they might just break even, as soon as they did all the drivers would go out on strike for a pay rise and knowone would be able to get anywhere.
The only reason other countries railways work is they have even larger subsidies than ours.
Anyway everyone did used to use public transport and they all chose to use cars instead.
I think tubes seem to work quite well around cities but cars are the best option elsewhere. And buses are just great big polluting monstrosities for poor people and spend there time mostly empty.
I'm having a Clarkson moment
15. Vin Rouge said...
JU @11
"If millions of people shift from cars to public transport, train fares and bus fares will certainly be reduced to a fraction of current level."
If that happened they would increase fares (as they have done already) to prevent overcrowding.