Look to your north, health car costs are a fraction here as well.

Gordon McGrew wrote:
> On Wed, 26 Jul 2006 13:02:28 GMT, "Jeff" <jeff@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> "Bassplayer12" <perettij@nbnet.nb.ca> wrote in message
>> news:yfIxg.17744$pu3.351347@ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca...
>>> snip
>>>
>>>> While the power shift has been long in the making, it's nonetheless a
>>>> disheartening sign that Detroit's auto industry is losing the battle for
>>>> the hearts and wallets of American car buyers.
>>> Does anybody know how much it costs Toyota and Honda to build a car
>>> compared to
>>> the Big 3?
>>> What are the benefits and salaries paid to the employees?
>>> If there's a difference, the day may come when the Big 3 are going to
>>> demand concessions
>>> from them to save the companies and their jobs.
>> It's already here. The companies are demanding concessions involved health
>> care. Soon they will involve pensions. The Big 2 and the American part of
>> the Dialmer-Chrysler and many of their suppliers have pension obligations
>> that have not yet been met. IN most of Europe, the government takes care of
>> the pensions.
>
> And health care too. Of course, it has to be paid for by someone
> either way. In Europe and Japan, health care costs are a fraction of
> those in the US and everyone is covered.

 

In article <ECJxg.12340$2v.3538@newssvr25.news.prodigy.net> ,
"asadi" <j-s-baker@sbcglobal.invalid.net> wrote:

> > Wardlaw points out, for example, that the Ford Focus was merely refreshed
> > for the U.S. market while the Focus sold in Europe was completely
> > redesigned.
Interesting.
> >
> > "What Americans got was a rehashed version of the old Focus and as a
> > result, Ford isn't in a position to compete" against popular small
> > vehicles such as the Honda Civic in the U.S. market at a time when gas
> > prices are pushing consumers to cars.
> >
I recently rented a new Ford Focus (1.6 L ?) manual shift SW in the UK
and although it had excellent interior space I found it very noisy
(noise being amplified in the car) and the fuel mileage was low; about
the same highway mileage as my Sebring V6 2.7 L auto.
The revs in top gear were about 50% higher than the Sebring;
about 3,000 rpm at 60 mph.
Now I'm wondering how bad the NA Focus is, but I'll have to pass on it
based on my UK experiences.

 

In article <ECJxg.12340$2v.3538@newssvr25.news.prodigy.net> ,
"asadi" <j-s-baker@sbcglobal.invalid.net> wrote:

> > Wardlaw points out, for example, that the Ford Focus was merely refreshed
> > for the U.S. market while the Focus sold in Europe was completely
> > redesigned.
Interesting.
> >
> > "What Americans got was a rehashed version of the old Focus and as a
> > result, Ford isn't in a position to compete" against popular small
> > vehicles such as the Honda Civic in the U.S. market at a time when gas
> > prices are pushing consumers to cars.
> >
I recently rented a new Ford Focus (1.6 L ?) manual shift SW in the UK
and although it had excellent interior space I found it very noisy
(noise being amplified in the car) and the fuel mileage was low; about
the same highway mileage as my Sebring V6 2.7 L auto.
The revs in top gear were about 50% higher than the Sebring;
about 3,000 rpm at 60 mph.
Now I'm wondering how bad the NA Focus is, but I'll have to pass on it
based on my UK experiences.

 

In article <ECJxg.12340$2v.3538@newssvr25.news.prodigy.net> ,
"asadi" <j-s-baker@sbcglobal.invalid.net> wrote:

> > Wardlaw points out, for example, that the Ford Focus was merely refreshed
> > for the U.S. market while the Focus sold in Europe was completely
> > redesigned.
Interesting.
> >
> > "What Americans got was a rehashed version of the old Focus and as a
> > result, Ford isn't in a position to compete" against popular small
> > vehicles such as the Honda Civic in the U.S. market at a time when gas
> > prices are pushing consumers to cars.
> >
I recently rented a new Ford Focus (1.6 L ?) manual shift SW in the UK
and although it had excellent interior space I found it very noisy
(noise being amplified in the car) and the fuel mileage was low; about
the same highway mileage as my Sebring V6 2.7 L auto.
The revs in top gear were about 50% higher than the Sebring;
about 3,000 rpm at 60 mph.
Now I'm wondering how bad the NA Focus is, but I'll have to pass on it
based on my UK experiences.

 

Jeff wrote:
> "Bassplayer12" <perettij@nbnet.nb.ca> wrote in message
> news:yfIxg.17744$pu3.351347@ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca...
>> snip
>>
>>> While the power shift has been long in the making, it's nonetheless
>>> a disheartening sign that Detroit's auto industry is losing the
>>> battle for the hearts and wallets of American car buyers.
>>
>> Does anybody know how much it costs Toyota and Honda to build a car
>> compared to
>> the Big 3?
>> What are the benefits and salaries paid to the employees?
>> If there's a difference, the day may come when the Big 3 are going to
>> demand concessions
>> from them to save the companies and their jobs.
>
> It's already here. The companies are demanding concessions involved
> health care. Soon they will involve pensions. The Big 2 and the
> American part of the Dialmer-Chrysler and many of their suppliers
> have pension obligations that have not yet been met. IN most of
> Europe, the government takes care of the pensions.
>

This is the same in the US, to some degree, depending on who defaults on
their pension obligations.

 

Jeff wrote:
> "Bassplayer12" <perettij@nbnet.nb.ca> wrote in message
> news:yfIxg.17744$pu3.351347@ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca...
>> snip
>>
>>> While the power shift has been long in the making, it's nonetheless
>>> a disheartening sign that Detroit's auto industry is losing the
>>> battle for the hearts and wallets of American car buyers.
>>
>> Does anybody know how much it costs Toyota and Honda to build a car
>> compared to
>> the Big 3?
>> What are the benefits and salaries paid to the employees?
>> If there's a difference, the day may come when the Big 3 are going to
>> demand concessions
>> from them to save the companies and their jobs.
>
> It's already here. The companies are demanding concessions involved
> health care. Soon they will involve pensions. The Big 2 and the
> American part of the Dialmer-Chrysler and many of their suppliers
> have pension obligations that have not yet been met. IN most of
> Europe, the government takes care of the pensions.
>

This is the same in the US, to some degree, depending on who defaults on
their pension obligations.

 

Jeff wrote:
> "Bassplayer12" <perettij@nbnet.nb.ca> wrote in message
> news:yfIxg.17744$pu3.351347@ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca...
>> snip
>>
>>> While the power shift has been long in the making, it's nonetheless
>>> a disheartening sign that Detroit's auto industry is losing the
>>> battle for the hearts and wallets of American car buyers.
>>
>> Does anybody know how much it costs Toyota and Honda to build a car
>> compared to
>> the Big 3?
>> What are the benefits and salaries paid to the employees?
>> If there's a difference, the day may come when the Big 3 are going to
>> demand concessions
>> from them to save the companies and their jobs.
>
> It's already here. The companies are demanding concessions involved
> health care. Soon they will involve pensions. The Big 2 and the
> American part of the Dialmer-Chrysler and many of their suppliers
> have pension obligations that have not yet been met. IN most of
> Europe, the government takes care of the pensions.
>

This is the same in the US, to some degree, depending on who defaults on
their pension obligations.