U.S. Vehicle Sales Fall 13.2% Amid High Gas Prices and Tight Credit

News Type: Event — Seeded on Fri Aug 1, 2008 11:25 PM EDT

Article Source: The New York Times

U.S. Vehicle Sales Fall 13.2% Amid High Gas Prices and Tight Credit By NICK BUNKLEY
Vehicle sales in the United States fell last month to their lowest level in 16 years, as consumers continued to shun large trucks because of high gas prices, and tight credit kept less creditworthy customers off lots.

Sales were down 13.2 percent, at a time when the companies had expected to begin seeing an improvement.

Instead, the five largest automakers each reported sales declines on Friday. Sales fell 26.1 percent at General Motors, the largest car company, while Chrysler, which used to be the third-largest, reported a 28.8 percent decline and came within a few thousand sales of falling to sixth place. The Ford Motor Company posted a 14.7 percent decline.

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{"commentId":2346711,"authorDomain":"jenn79"}

_jen_

I can't even imagine buying a vehicle in this economic climate.

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1 vote

#1 - Fri Aug 1, 2008 11:27 PM EDT

{"commentId":2350022,"authorDomain":"sherwood-1"}

atsidiwashichu

Just read an article about a guy named Doug Pelmear, a master mechanic in Napoleon Ohio who claims to have engineered the engine in his '87 Mustang and now gets 110 mpg. out of it with no loss of performance. Most I.C. engines run between 8 and 20% efficiency with 8 to 10 or 15 being the norm. Mr. Pelmear claims to have run his Mustang up to 38%. That is still not what a company like G.M. or any other American manufacturer could tweak it up to with what they have to work with. Just replacing the friction bearings with roller or ball bearings would probably boost mpg significantly.

The whole point to my little missive here is that there are lots of things "they" could do, they are just not or won't for whatever their reasons are. Wouldn't need a new car, just a new engine for it.

{"commentId":2350022,"threadId":"324448","contentId":"1714629","authorDomain":"sherwood-1"}

#2 - Sat Aug 2, 2008 3:02 PM EDT

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_JEN_

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U.S. Vehicle Sales Fall 13.2% Amid High Gas Prices and Tight Credit

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