Re: When will people get their facts straight?

You can read about it here

and here

Point is that there is evidence that IBM sold punchcard machines to the Nazi's, which was then used for who knows what & how many purposes. This was the German branch of IBM, but the insinuation is that IBM USA knew what was up and gave the OK. Point is, depending on your mindset, you can blame just about any firm for some past injustice, no matter how big or small. Another case in point DB

Well, to me it really doesn't matter as the past is the past. But it was enough to spur at least one lawsuit for reparations. Admittedly, I do not know what came of the suits. My point again being that look hard enough and you'll find something that somebody objects to in just about every company (you can substitute everything or everybody for every company). - DB

& I typoed it should be and possibly the data processing technology - DB

I would have thought a lot of cars would have outsold it - there are a lot of countries which don't even get the f-150 - almost everywhere gets corollas and the likes... weird!

I have a brand new Nissan Pulsar. On a trip with four in the car (and the roads are not motorways here - they are hilly and windy but all low altitude) I got 40MPG on regular gas, without even trying! And it's still faster than most SUVs and I *KNOW* it handles better :-)

I'm sure I could get close to 50 MPG with one in the car and driving slow/sedately/consistantly

Allan :-)

..............This is a common misconception around the world. North America isn't just one of several vehicle markets throughout the world. It's by far the largest single entity in the car/truck marketplace. There are probably as many registered vehicles in just California as in all of Europe.

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You got that right.

California has about the same population as Canada but we've got something like six times as many registered motor vehicles. Indeed, the market in California alone is sufficiently large to be specifically addressed by some auto-makers, offering models, engines and body styles there which are sold no where else.

-Bob Hoover

Hehehe... lucky you guys aren't like us... we have the most registered cars per capita than anyway (last I heard anyway). We have 5 here (there's just the two of us). If you count my direct family theres 12 cars for 8 of us :-) If you count my wifes family as well..... theres 23 cars for 14 of us :-) And thats not counting Emiles wreck! :-) hehhehehe.

We tend to have more used cars than new, because we import used cars from japan - they are cheap as hell and we get cool models like the Skyline GT-R, Suzuki Cappuccino, Mitsubishi Dingo, Honda Type R's (the REAL ones)....

We actually register more used imports than new cars! I avoid the imports though - they sometimes have plagues of problems because the japanese often don't bother with oil changes and the like :-(

Allan :-)

If I am not mistaken, doesnt Japan have very strict safety regulations or something that gets most cars over a few years old off the road.

Bill Berckman

67 Beetle

I seem to remmeber they have to pay a much higher insurance or "annual tax" on cars that are over 5 years old. I could be wrong.

Jan

.............Name a car model in New Zealand that isn't an import.

Did I tell y'all about my idiot (and former) insurance agent? He told me my rates were high on the Bug because "We don't use imported parts."

.............I read it Ben. I just thought that it was odd to characterize any car new or used as an import in a place where they don't manufacture any automobiles. You guys in Michigan tell each other that your new Hyundais come all the way from Korea? If it's a Hyundai, of course it did. In New Zealand, if it has four wheels, of course it's imported.

:-)

I actually just watched a business report that basically said in Japan you can't sell a used car, nobody wants a used car - only new, so there is a large export market to developing nations for late model Japanese vehicles. DB

California is afterall the 5th largest economy in the world. - DB

Right now I have 6 registered, insured vehicles and two trucks. Yes, I am going to cut down.

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">Den's 1978Puma

They have an inpection every 3 years - at the 3 year mark, a few things are replaced, at the 6 year mark, there is a list of things that *MUST* be replaced reguardless of condition, they are things like balljoints and brakelines... it makes it really expensive - time to buy new. That is also why the cars are so badly serviced. You can three years and 50,000Kms out of the original oil!

Allan :-)

I meant Used imports... but:

Fraser

:-)

We were also assembling Toyota, Holden/ GM, Ford, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Mazda, VW, Austin/BMC etc, Skoda, Simca, Renault, Daihatsu, Suzuki, Honda, Fiat, Chrysler......

Allan :-P