7 American Cars Worth Bailing Out

Battery pacs

It is my understanding that a battery pac will last approximately 100k miles before replacement at an estimated cost of 10-15K. Who will buy a used Volt when you have to spend 10-15K for a new battery? It would seem that the resale might be very limited. Also, sources of lithium come from volcanic areas of South America and a few other sources world wide. Not nearly enough can be produced to make a 100k batteries. And, the disposal cost of worn our batteries, which may be considered a "hazardous waste" under federal EPA guidelines, also will add to the cost of ownership.

JA Ercole of MI @ Aug 19, 2009 17:58:09 PM

Electric Cars

Sorry, I can't get excited about $40,000 car that only goes 40 miles.Will it do 70mph?

Will it accelerate to highway speeds without getting run over? How much will it cost to charge the battery for 8 hours.

Vehicles need to be built so a family can get in

it, and needs to be fuel efficient.

Bill of TX @ Aug 19, 2009 15:19:27 PM

GM

As long as GM is owned by the US Government there is no sence in supporting it. I will never buy a GM car built by the good old USA. Sorry Corvette of my dreams.

What does it mean to buy American any more? Is it the fact that the Company has a mailing address in the US and builds their cars overseas, employing their workers? Or is it a Company that is a foreign corporation that builds cars here in the US and pays good wages to our workers and sells the cars here?

Personally I would accept the latter. Isn't it about the jobs? Yah the company may send its profit's overseas but what about all the income generated here and of course the tax dollars generated for the US Gov. We all know they don't have enough.

It would be real great someday to walk into a dealership and have them say 100% of this car was built here in the US. No parts brought in from overseas, no overseas workers employed, and assembled right here in our great Country. Until that day happens there will always be the question of what does it mean to buy American.

JWG of WA @ Jul 12, 2009 09:56:00 AM

Chevy Camaro

My first car, bought for me from my father, who was the 1st State Farm agent in the US, was a Chevy Camaro. It was white with buckskin leather interior. It drove amazingly well...except in heavy Chicago ice storms. Chevrolet was good...Chrysler never good. But, as they go down, have at least a fond memory of one care you loved made in the USA.

karen Karr of FL @ Jun 27, 2009 00:06:49 AM

Bailouts

I still find it amusing that Ford and their cars somehow end up included in every bailout article. By the way, they are the ones who didn't take any money and didn't declare bankruptcy!!!!With the wealth of information and thousands of articles out there why does this still happen?

Brian Smith of NY @ Jun 15, 2009 09:15:08 AM

Response to Response to the USA cars post

Well, If we look beyond the grammatical and spelling errors of Bob's post, we will see Bob has excellent taste in cars, hence he still owns his 64 GTO. Anyways, global warming and its sub-topics are still debated topics even within the scientific community, but it is generally accepted it is happening. But hypothetical speaking, even if the US stop producing carbon emissions starting tomorrow, global warming will still continue because of carbon output of other countries like China and India. In addition, they lack the ambition to change these policies because of economic motives.

Dear Chris of PA, your an ass for belittling someone. He is a gentlemen of at least 61 years of age ideally 65-70 y/o, based on his car statement. He clearly made spelling mistakes because of his age and/or could not see the micro print of the text box he wrote in. The approach of scrutinizing someone's intelligence simple because he doesn't agree with your ideology or liberal ideology is very naive. You need to stop watching MSNBC and grow up.

Chris of OH @ Jun 15, 2009 00:45:44 AM

Response to the USA cars post

This Allenby guy must be a right wing nut who as is their habit is to look at something in a very narrow view. They rely on ignorance...in fact it's a virtue to them to know a little but not too much about a subject. His quote: "...green hype is the biggest fraud ever..." is a perfect example of the little knowledge he owns: "Globle (sic) warming is a natural evelotion (sic) of eartes (sic) cycle" Yes there is a cycle and if he really knew more about that topic, he would also know that the cycle runs over 100's of thousands of years and caused by carbon dioxide building up as a result of natural seismic activity. With the advent of the machine age, that cycle is being reduced to just a couple of centuries. These conspiracy fools likely don't even know that global warming will create an ice age in Europe. Why? Because the Gulf Stream which is basically a warm "river" that runs across the Atlantic is what keeps Europe's climate similar to the Mid Atlantic States despite the fact that it is much further north. As the polar ice cap breaks and ice floes and ice fields move south, they will come in contact with that Gulf Stream, lowering its temperature and thus cooling Europe. Of course these Allenby type conspiracy zealots will scream "GLOBAL WARMING!!!! HOW CAN THERE BE GLOBAL WARMING WITH EUROPE GETTING COLDER?"

A little bit of knowledge definitely is dangerous. Spend more time watching the Discover Channel and less watching NASCAR if you are going to make sweeping accusations.

Chris of PA @ Jun 14, 2009 19:09:10 PM

U.S.A. cars

i am the original owner of a 1964 G.T.O. tri. power etc, 180'ooo miles ALL. original never any problems and wouldnt trade it for ANY forign any thing. i think the biggest problem with American cars are not the cars but lousy dealer treatment as a whole and to this day they have not learned that fact this green hype is the biggest fraud ever to find another way to rip off the low income american buyer with laws equip. etc to cost cost cost to once again fill certain corp. pockets with what little money they have.Globle warming is a natural evelotion of eartes cycle but used to make money for the clever at the expense of the masses.to bad

bob allenby of CA @ Jun 14, 2009 17:59:03 PM