Ford to tntroduce new compacts next week

Call me a communist, but I think that a lot of the cars in Europe (including ones made or partnered by our domestic automakers) are kinda neat.

-J

I like the looks of the Ford Transit van.I am hanging on to my big old

1978 Dodge van and my 1983 Dodge van though. cuhulin

Call me a communist, but I think that a lot of the cars in Europe (including ones made or partnered by our domestic automakers) are kinda neat.

******* I agree with you. The Chevrolet Impala (new) and the older Ford 500 (now a freaking Taurus) have some clean lines.

Why, pray tell, would that make you a communist?

phaeton wrote in news:b05dac3a-bc71-4882-b3c8- snipped-for-privacy@m20g2000vbp.googlegroups.com:

I recently read in Forbes magazine (in Steve Forbes's own column) that foreign-built cars don't count towards American automakers' CAFE numbers. If they did, you'd probably find more of those European cars making it over here under domestic brand names.

The Transit van reminds me a lot of the OLD Pinto delivery wagon with a raised roof!

I have been looking for a nice Panel Delivery for a while. Not sure if I want one of the older ones like this

Or something newer like this one

My bad, It won't make me a communist. I'm overreacting to something else, that had nothing to do with this ng or anyone in it.

But I'd love something like this:

00105_e2f8ab277d.jpg

-J

"Tegger" wrote in message news:Xns9CD594EE58B19tegger@208.90.168.18...

They do if they are built Canada and Mexico. [Forgive me for implying that people who live in Canada and Mexico aren't Americans. Since both Mexico and Canada are part of the American contient, citizens of those two countries (and all of Central and South America) can call themselves "Americans." However, I am sure that you meant USA based car makers.]

Ford cars imported from Europe, or Toyota cars imported from Japan go into a different pools of vehicles from domestic cars for calculating CAFE numbers. I saw a few years back that Nissan asked that some import and domestically built models to be counted together but I don't recall the details or the outcome.

Fords or Toyotas built in Canada and Mexico may be counted as domestic vehicles.

From

"Under current law, manufacturers must divide their fleets of vehicles into two sub-fleets, based on the domestic content levels of those fleets. See 49 U.S.C. 32904(b). This requirement divides fleets using a 75 percent domestic content criterion, with each sub-fleet (vehicles having high U.S. content and those with low U.S. content levels) being treated as if produced by separate companies for standards compliance purposes. The requirement was originally intended (as part of the original CAFE statute) to assure that U.S.-based companies did not simply import large numbers of fuel-efficient vehicles from overseas in order to comply with standards. However, recent years? experience has shown that the principal effect of the provision has been to act as a disincentive to increasing U.S. parts content for foreign-based companies and to encourage U.S. companies to reduce the U.S. content of their less fuel-efficient models."

Read the actual law at

. Let me know if you understand it all... "....In this subsection, a passenger automobile is deemed to be manufactured domestically in a model year, as provided in subparagraph (B) of this paragraph, if at least 75 percent of the cost to the manufacturer is attributable to value added in the United States, Canada, or Mexico, unless the assembly of the automobile is completed in Canada or Mexico and the automobile is imported into the United States more than 30 days after the end of the model year. (B) Subparagraph (A) of this paragraph applies to automobiles manufactured by a manufacturer and sold in the United States, regardless of the place of assembly, as follows: (i) A manufacturer that began assembling automobiles in Mexico before model year 1992 may elect, during the period from January 1, 1997, through January 1, 2004, to have subparagraph (A) of this paragraph apply to all automobiles manufactured by that manufacturer beginning with the model year that begins after the date of the election. (ii) For a manufacturer that began assembling automobiles in Mexico after model year 1991, subparagraph (A) of this paragraph applies to all automobiles manufactured by that manufacturer beginning with the model year that begins after January 1, 1994, or the model year beginning after the date the manufacturer begins assembling automobiles in Mexico, whichever is later. (iii) A manufacturer not described in clause (i) or (ii) of this subparagraph that assembles automobiles in the United States or Canada, but not in Mexico, may elect, during the period from January 1, 1997, through January 1, 2004, to have subparagraph (A) of this paragraph apply to all automobiles manufactured by that manufacturer beginning with the model year that begins after the date of the election...."

To many ands, ifs, or ors for me...

Ed

"C. E. White" wrote in news:hf8to8$rnh$ snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal-september.org:

For the purposes of auto manufacture, Canada hasn't been considered "foreign" since the Auto Pact of 1965. Prior to that, it was another story indeed.

Blah, blah, mumble, blah, bullshit, backscratching, union-pleasing, more blah. Jeez. How can anybody be a politician or government bureaucrat and be able to sleep at night knowing the sort of shit they do?

When a government's employees have power, that power will be used and abused by all who stand to gain from the manipulation of that power.

In June of 1992, I visited Mexico for five days, only to see what the place is like.Near Saltillo,Mexico I drove past a GM factory and right next door to the GM factory is a Dodge factory. cuhulin