endurance -
Quote:
Originally Posted by endurance
I completely agree, with sub-$5/gallon gas, we're a small niche. However, I also recall car shopping for the GF who was in a 18mpg SUV in the summer of 2008 and having only a handful of options that were sub-$15k 30mpg+ cars that were in stock. There was a 180 day waiting list for the Mini-Cooper. While she eventually compromised on a used Protoge-5, because she hates the styling of Hondas (much like I hate the styling of the Prius), there's the potential for a flash market in a sudden spike in oil prices.
I agree, it's tough to keep a 40+mpg car on the showroom floor just for a few thousand units a year, but if you're the only game in town and you can ramp up production quick enough, you've got a hell of a winner. In the end, until gas prices go up and stay up, the population in this forum is not going to be happy with the choices.
As for the Smart Car, I think it's ahead of its time and we'll see them become the Geo Metros of the era (a small committed fan base that saw the real value).
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110% agreement. The Cobalt XFE tweaks were design-delivered in about 6-months, but long after the gas-price increase had damaged GM sales. With a little foresight it could have been a "niche bragging point" for the last 5 years if they had funded it in the salad days of SUV sales.
As I like to say ad nauseam, I *wanted* to buy a new Saturn Ion, but it had worse MPG than my current S-Series. All I wanted was equal-or-better MPG (
but they wouldn't give it to me). Give me that and I would have lived with other flaws that came with the car.
CarloSW2