GM joins Ford in jettisoning the minivan market

Could be that they haven't completely switched over yet. Takes awhile for the true cost to be realized.

Same at work, they thought they'd be saving bundles with the ford ranger instead of the f150s... wrong... 3 transmissions in 7 trucks died before 100,000 KMS, 1 just over 200,000. Two motors before 100, and one at 250,000 KMS.

I'm not really slamming ford or promoting Toyota/Honda here.

I live in New Brunswick, Canada. And I can't udnerstand why there are two ford dealers, two chev dealers, and two chrysler dealers... one closed, and i figured well ones enough anyway... then another opened.

Honda, Toyota, Nissan all have just one dealer. Ford should do the same

-- they wouldn't have to supply so many damn vehicles to sit on a lot.

Then most people check prices, and end up going up the river about an hour to another well known ford dealer.

$10,000 difference in price can do a lot of repairs.

We do also use Crown Vic's, but like I said, most of our cars are Impala's, and have been for many years. We used to use the old 80's style Caprice's back in the day. I guess it helps that we make the Impala's here as well. :-P

Huh? This has nothing to do with vehicle quality. You gotta get a grip Ed. It has EVERYTHING to do with financial management and the fact that the japs have never played on the same field as the Big 3. Soon, there will be no more guys with grade 12 educations slapping bumpers on cars for $25/hour. Thank God. But it may be too late.

Regardless of which brand is used in your area, what I posted is fact not opinion. ;)

mike

They need more than one dealer to store their excess inventory. >:)

Correct they don't build excess then dump it on rental & lease firms, killing the resale value for 1 or 2 years.

Why not? The Northstar is a great engine (for 1993), but it doesn't have MDS like the Hemi does.

The Impala has a niche. University and public school district police departments are what use them around here.

When the Ford Interceptor gets de-throned, it will be by a rear-drive car. The Charger is the best bet to do the de-throning right now, but a lot of PDs are very entrenched and slow to change. Hell, that's the same reason they were still buying M-body Mopar copcars back in the 80s- because they'd always bought Mopar in the past. It sure wasn't the blistering performance of an 8:1 compression 318 and 2.45 rear-end ratio!

You misspelled a word. Its not n-e-v-e-r, its spelled a-l-w-a-y-s.

Given that the Toy will break whenever you try to do any sort of work more serious than driving to dinner in it...

over-equipped

No, they will just be guys with grade 12 educations and 2 years run through an associates class trying to troubleshoot and diagnose the car that a bunch of robots put together on an assembly line. A car, that is, which isn't designed to be repaired. As a result if your a new car buyer you will probably be having to get used to discarding your car when it fails, and buying a new one. Hope your wallet can stand it.

Ted

Do you think they will be taught the proper use of contractions? :)

Really? That may be your opinion but crossovers are not SUVs and Toyota and Honda do not offer AWD sedans. Both of those markets are the fasted growing markets in the US Audi and Subaru are also-rans when it comes to sales in the US. According to CR's and several other recent new car owners surveys the Fusion and Milan have outscored the Accord and Camry. CR pointed out the V6 Fusion sells for thousands less than the 4 cy Camry as well. As to what buyers chose to buy based on past experience, both GM and Ford outsell Toyota and every other import brand in the US ;)

mike

What in the world make you believe import brands do not try to sell to fleets and rental car companies? They certainly do, they are just not very successful at selling to fleets, with the exception of the Koreans. Imports do in fact sell to rental car companies however and in bug numbers.. All manufactures offer discounts to fleets and rental car companies. It ranges between $600 and $800

mike

The highway mileage, listed in the CAFE Guide, is 25 MPG.

mike

No it was the $2,500 lower purchase price LOL

mike