> Waiv>
> >> >
> >>> Waiv>
> >>>> i find it amazing how bmw, honda and toyota can manufacture here,
> >>>> using american-made components, and do so profitably, yet our
> >>>> domestic dinosaurs say they can't.
>
> >>> BMW, et-al, don't have the legacy union retirement and health benefit= s
> >>> to pay, which cost those who do something like $2,500 per vehicle > >>> built.
>
> >> actually, they do. =A0you're just repeating the smoke screen bullshit,
> >> red herring swallowed hook line and sinker propaganda from detroit and
> >> not looking at the wider picture.
>
> >> vw, bmw, mercedes, porsche all have much higher employee costs
> >> [including unions and retirees], higher commodity costs, and higher
> >> capital overheads than here in the usa.
>
> > I should have been more clear. =A0I was referring to those foreign
> > manufacturers who have auto plants here in the USA.
>
> how does their presence explain how u.s. auto manufacturers can make a
> profit manufacturing in the higher cost environment of europe, but not
> here??? =A0afterall, it's not like they haven't been happily shipping u.s= .
> jobs to even lower-cost locations like china and mexico for the last
> decade. =A0[like we /really/ want to condone and bail-out /that/ kind of > behavior...]
Cars sell for more in Europe. The Ford Focus starts at 12.5 pounds in England -- that's $25000! The Fiesta starts at $16000. That might make it a LITTLE easier to make a profit.
If entries from lower-cost labor markets take hold in Europe... who knows how things will change?