It is unfortunate that all the car plants are closing, but it seems to me that this country is already saturated with decent cars. Cars built in the last 10 years have long anti-corrosion warranties, extendable manufacturers warranty plans and are designed to run and run with easy dealer maintainance at long intervals. I see 2001 cars running everyday that still look like new.

Yet still they are making new cars at the same high rate. What are we supposed to do - just get rid of our perfectly good cars just to keep people in jobs? What about our money and security - now is not the time to make such purchaces even if we think it can be afforded. Even the esteemed Autocar magazine has a piece on 'bangernomics' and how liberating it is not to be tied into credit or expensive servicing. Buying a new car now is akin to buying a fur coat - and even when I purchaced a 2 1/2 year old car I had much explaining to do to my friends and colleagues - I dread to think what would have happened if I had swanned in to work in a brand new car. "Won the lottery?" and "you must be doing well" were phrases that haunted me even with my used example.

So, our present cars are running well, new cars loose money that should not be wasted so fast that it is sickening and nearly new cars are as good as new - if not a little better as the faults have been ironed out and the car will cost the owner much less in the long run.

Sure we need new cars to replace damaged or worn examples, but I cannot see that producing so many new cars is the way forward - why not do as Eastern Europe does and also concentrate on other engineering projects at the car works?

As a last thought, have you seen a 09 car on the road this year? I have not, nor have any family or colleagues (and we travel a lot). That says something I think - we just don't need more cars at the moment.

So, what do you think?

TH

Edited 18 February, 200917 yr by Tailhappy
Sp.

As a last thought, have you seen a 09 car on the road this year? I have not, nor have any family of colleagues (and we travel a lot). That says something I think - we just don't need more cars at the moment.

So, what do you think?

TH

I'm not surprised you havent seen an 09 car they arent out until next month

The car makers have been in trouble for years Ford has been technically bankrupt for a long time but they employ hundreds of thousands of people in the US alone , the ramifications of a company like that going bust would be massive and would most of us one way or another

Investing in the country's infrastructure, such as roads, rail, electrical supply etc may not be the worst idea, you need skilled workers for a lot of that, and if the work is there, with retraining a lot of people would find positions again.

Pushing the bubble along for a bit longer without real demand will work for a short time, but I reckon that we are past that stage already with most of the companies involved unfortunately.

If our government invested in getting fibre broadband to every home and office, plus working from home initiatives then they would need spend less building new roads and would be able to take the nice carbon dioxide reduction that would come from people not driving 30 miles to work every day

That one too, plus that in itself would create jobs too

I meant it more along the lines of, let's use the money where it will create opportunities and those who get those opportunities will then be more likely to spend it. Car production is too high, no doubt about it, and unlike before, it is so widespread there is no dumping possible, nowhere near the levels it used to be at at least.

Totally agree, but at the same time the money that's been spent on the banks is nuts and in some cases you think they would have been better off letting them go bankrupt, paying back the people who had savings in the banks that went under and being free from the toxic debts

If our government invested in getting fibre broadband to every home and office, plus working from home initiatives then they would need spend less building new roads and would be able to take the nice carbon dioxide reduction that would come from people not driving 30 miles to work every day

I've tried pushing my glass and steel doors down the phone, not all it's cracked up to be.

Maybe if the government nationalised the car industry and made only 1 type of car that ran on Hydrogen, selling them at cost, then people may think about getting shot of their old cars. Cheaper to run, saves the environment and keeps people employed, but then again where is the fun in that.

"Maybe if the government nationalised the car industry and made only 1 type of car that ran on Hydrogen..."

The queues outside Jabba tuning would go several times around the block. Bolt on turbos, methanol injection and stiffer shocks.

Sure we need new cars to replace damaged or worn examples, but I cannot see that producing so many new cars is the way forward - why not do as Eastern Europe does and also concentrate on other engineering projects at the car works?

What does E. Europe do?

Seems to be plenty off new 2009Fiestas around here which are on 58reg. 09's start next month . Most carmakers have cut production to keep the list prices up so an end to fields off discounted cars is just around the corner. The second hand market will be in for a boost as well, especially 1year old cars with low miles.

TBH getting sick of all this cap in hand crap.

Banks fine. The rest, let them fold! What will we honestly get back when they return to profit? None of their profit that's for sure.