THE CAR COACH REPORTS: WEEK IN REVIEW
ACTIVE AUTO INDUSTRY WEEK EDITION
It’s been a strange and eventful week in the soap opera I like to call the automotive industry.
First, New Yorkers and New Jerseyans were forced to wait in really long lines for hours at a time just to get gas due to Hurricane Sandy. Then they were told to ration their fill-ups by odd and even number days corresponding with the numerals on their license plates. Um, is this 1979? The hurricane occurred more than a week ago and the Northeast is still short on gas supply? I don’t get it. There isn’t a shortage and the oil companies have tanker trucks so what’s the deal? Ship the stuff in there and let people fill up. Perhaps I’m missing something here but if a man can jump to earth faster than the speed of sound from a balloon in space, why can’t we get gas to New York?!!
Second, Suzuki is pulling out of the United States. I can’t say I’m surprised. While the Kizashi sedan and their XLZ SUV are actually decent vehicles, it was too little too late. Suzuki had been an also-ran in the U.S. for years due to relatively few shoddy product offerings (remember the Samurai?) and a lack of widespread dealers. Perhaps the beleaguered Japanese manufacturer will retreat from our shores only to come back stronger in a few years.
Finally, Obama was reelected. What does this have to do with the auto industry, you ask? Well, I’ll tell ya:
· The new CAFE rules he put into effect will result in slower, lighter, more dangerous and more expensive cars.
· Don’t like Ethanol? Get used to it. Obama is a big supporter of Ethanol, which has been shown to reduce gas mileage, harm catalytic converters and other emissions components, and ruin just about any two-stroke and/or carbureted motor including boats, classic cars, lawn mowers, generators, weed eaters, jet skis, ATVs, motorcycles and much more.
· Obama now needs to figure out a way to unload the government owned GM stock without further deflating its value. This will likely result in a long sell-off process, keeping GM under partial government control for an extended period of time. And guess what? We, the taxpayers, will end up eating billions of dollars in losses.
· Gas prices will remain high in the U.S. under Obama since he has no intention of drilling on our own lands and won’t allow the Keystone Pipeline to be built here.
What are your thoughts?
Post your comments at http://laurenfix.blogspot.com/
My Final Thought:
Please read this story: http://jalopnik.com/5958982/residents-claim-central-parking-locked-cars-in-garage-before-sandy-charged-owners-for-trapped-cars
It appears Central Parking in Manhattan bilked customers in evacuation zones and let other customers’ cars perish in Hurricane Sandy.
Shame on you Central Parking!!!
Love your car! See you next week!
--Lauren Fix
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