Michael Soldan said: (quoted from post at 12:46:19 12/12/08) Welp let me explain something. This morning I went into the local Chrysler dealer and I looked at a Dodge 1500 regular cab 2 wheel drive..plain Jane truck...$34,000..next I looked at the same thing in an extended cab...$41.000....a 4x4 extended cab diesel was..$61,000, loaded. Now I have a decent income and there is no way in hell I would spend that kind of money on a truck because I simply can't afford it...if trucks were 25-30 grand I wouldn't hesitate...it is no wonder that these vehicles aren't selling..so what makes them so expensive? It has to be labour primarily,materials have no doubt risen, are these companies making a big profit?..they say not so why does a truck cost so much(vehicle)
Totally agree. Went to replace my leased '06 Jeep Gr Cherokee recently and was stunned to hear a model-for-model replacement would be about $250 more PER MONTH. I ended up buying a Saturn small SUV/crossover (with fewer features/options) to keep my payment reasonable.
I also own a plain-Jane '02 Silverado 4x4 work truck, bought used in '04 for about $13k. It serves its purpose, has NO power windows, NO power seats, NO CD player, NO Onstar, NO satellite radio, NO sunroof, NO leather seats, etc., etc. I don't think you could find a new one like that anymore. Bottom line is that mfrs will build what sells. Evidently work trucks weren't selling. So they "loaded up the truck" (to paraphrase Beverly Hillbillies song) with all the electronic goodies that jacked up the price. Plus all the govt mandated safety and emissions stuff costs a TON of money to put on a truck. Heck, look at the electronic controls on a new tractor compared to one sold 50 yrs ago. On a diesel tractor, you could remove the key after starting and disconnect all electrical and an old tractor would run just fine.
And Michael, reason the Big 3 are on Death Row is because their fixed costs require X number of vehicles sold to break even and sales volumes are dropping like a rock, so they can't cover their fixed costs. They can't cut fixed costs fast enough. Once the bottom is hit and sales start to rise, profits will return. Will certainly be long and painful and that's IF they survive the current crisis.
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