“And the fact the Chinese will most likely soon own Saab and Volvo – who cares?? At one time, those two nameplates were quite impressive, but they lost their luster as soon as Ford and GM took them over, so what’s the big deal?”

Volvo and Saab may have lost their “luster” under GM and Ford, but they both survived another decade or so because of GM and Ford. Both Swedish car brands were terminal cases, and GM and Ford saved them, for a while.

Max I agree. As someone in Gen Y I can imagine for our generation companies like: a VW, Hyundai, Subaru, etc… growing into very respected Luxury Marques, just to only be shunned by our kids. I hope these aspring makes learn from the Mistakes of SAAB, Oldsmobile, and Volvo that you cant just stay in the same Luxury Tier and expect people to still buy without radical change to the product over time.

Despite some beliefs here,china is,and remains a communist govt period.”

It has nothing to do with faith or beliefs. It has to do with the facts. You are woefully unaware of them. In your mind, the China of today is like the China of 1975. NO WAY. Get wise.

It doesn’t matter how many millions we have, if the unemployment numbers stay high, people just won’t buy new cars, they’ll keep buying used.

I thought it was clear that I was not talking about 2010 oir even 2012!

I was clearly talking about 30 YEARS from now, only then will the pop exceed 400 million.

Pessimists lose in the long run, as the historical record shows, especially re the USA. We survived MUCH worse in the 30s.

“”U.S. sales were 13.2 million in 2008, after averaging 16.8 million this decade through 2007.”

We had 17 million car sales back when the US population was 15,000,000 LESS than it is now, when we barely sell 10 million!

The US will have 400,000,000 million in 30 years. How many vehicles will be sold annually then? I am optimistic and expect 20 million at least, assuming markets will be OK.

One further thing I want to mention re China is that they should be commended for having their car market far more open for all kinds of foreign makers and imports than South Korea and even Japan, both allegedly good Capitalists.

CHina provides GM especially with a ton of sales and profits, 500,000 cars a year, almost 300,000 Buicks, about three times the number of buicks sold in the US, and the Chinese Buicks are actually better made and more luxurious than the US models were until recently.

If they keep their market open, this will be the new “wild West” in automaking around the world.

UNlike China, India may make a lot of cars but the local market absorbs only about one million (Vs the 7-11 million of the CHinese market), and they rely a whole lot on locally made small motorcycles like 125 and 150 cc Hondas made in the Honda Hero factory in India. The $2,000 tata nano may change that, but it will take years for its production to reach full levels.

I know we all hate to think that the United States will most likely one day soon NOT be the largest automobile market in the world. Again, change is inevitable.

I love the United States and all that we stand for, and I am a firm believer that anyone buying a new car should at least look at the domestic brands first. If you can’t find one that satisfies you or that does not fit your needs, fine, go to a foreign make – but at least give the domestics a chance as the big 3 build some truly remarkable vehicles (despite what the automotive press and that rag Consumer Reports might lead you to believe). And I absolutely enjoy the new GM commercials where they are comparing their vehicles to some of the Japanese makes, and then saying “Let the best car win.” They are now finally hitting the marketing concept right square on the head!

But lest I digress any farther, despite my love of the USA and our domestic car companies, there is at least a small part of me that admires the Chinese and their quest to be a powerful force on the world automotive stage. And cuss them all you want, but apparently their business model is working better than ours, at least for the time being. Through a keen business sense on their part and sheer stupidity on the part of the United States and many of our greedy companies, the Chinese hold a majority of our debt and are also accumulating a good number of companies that used to be ours. Do I like it? No. But they are simply doing business better than we are right now, so we need to get over it, maybe even tip our hat to their determination and skill, and move on.

And the fact the Chinese will most likely soon own Saab and Volvo – who cares?? At one time, those two nameplates were quite impressive, but they lost their luster as soon as Ford and GM took them over, so what’s the big deal? At least the cheap little Chinese cars we will soon be seeing on our roads will have some good safety and environmental technology in them, which is something we should all be thankful for.

I think the biggest problem in the automotive world is the fact there are simply too many nameplates on the market. Including all the little foreign and domestic startups, I truly wonder how many different brands of cars are actually available on the world market? John, can you help us with this question?

of course China needs both Safety and Emissions tech, otherwise why would they waste their good money on these terminal $-losers like Volvo and Saab? They are no fools!

But the above is not all they need to sell cars in Europe and the US, they need far more refinement than their current chinese brands have. In a few years, I am sure they can improve significantly if they put their minds to it.

PS China is not “communist” like North Korea or Cuba is. In Business there is considerable freedom. ANd I do not believe all these chinese automakers are all nationalized companies, many are PRIVATE and profitable good capitalist companies!

BEIJING—China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. said Friday it had reached a deal with Ford Motor Co. on intellectual-property rights in its bid for the U.S. company’s Volvo unit. …..

—-> “Through the Volvo purchase, Geely would own the intellectual-property rights to Volvo’s key technologies, including those related to safety and the environment, the Chinese auto maker said. “<—-

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703499404574561910396286466.html

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FOCUS ON THIS KEY PHRASE:
"…key technologies, including those related to safety and the environment…"

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SAFETY and EMISSION TECHNOLOGY IS WHAT COMMUNIST CHINA NEEDS TO FLOOD EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES WITH CHEAP VEHICLES TO DESTROY THE MARKET.

Without this technology it is very hard to sell into the largest markets in the world.

Who the hell is making these decisions at FORD ?

Subaru enjoys a very loyal customer base here in the US.”

Yes, and I do not know if it is the AWD or 4wd they all got, or also the fact that they are one of the very few makers that offer small and midsize WAGONS any more. I hope Honda, TOyota and Nissan and the domestics wise up and cover this market segment!

It sure is not the exterior styling, Subarus are among the ugliest designs, if not THE ugliest of any automaker!