Hummer no longer topping environmentalists shit list?
July 23 (Bloomberg) — Holden Special Vehicles, the performance-car maker for General Motors Corp. in Australia, has produced the nation’s most expensive car, a 7-liter, V8 monster with brakes strong enough in my test drive to rein in its 503 horses before I hit an escaped cow.
The A$155,500 ($151,800) W427 is based on Australia’s everyman people mover the Commodore, so the muscle car’s looks won’t turn heads the way its European rivals do. In the same power class are the Audi S6 V10, BMW M5, Mercedes E63 AMG and Maserati Quattroporte, all of which cost more than A$200,000.
Nor is it the most fuel-efficient mode of travel in these days of record oil prices — expect just 13.7 miles per gallon.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601096&sid=azies8FOh6Qk&refer=auto
The domestic car industry continues to receive tariff protection and creates a 7 litre monster while Rudd hands over $70 million to Toyota’s domestic operation to produce a hybrid.
The irony.
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Since when were Libertarians supposed to care about what Holden do?
I thought the point was:
“The domestic car industry continues to receive tariff protection and creates a 7 litre monster while Rudd hands over $70 million to Toyota’s domestic operation to produce a hybrid.
The irony.”
The irony is clear. On one hand a politically incorrect car is introduced with the support of a tariff barrier; on the other the government hands out our hard-earned to a politically correct hybrid.
But it has long been known that super expensive cars sell in greater numbers during recessions. I’m not sure it will benefit the Hummer, but I expect Bentley and Ferrari sales will increase over the next 12 months.
If I was into muscle cars I’d buy one of those HSV Commodores myself. It would not only be fun to drive, it’s sure to gain in value.
John caring or not caring about Holden isn’t the point. The irony is the government nonsensical actions…..(not just this government to be fair).
I’ve only ever owned one Car. It’s a Commodore and I bought it from my sister second hand in 1998 for $8000. It still provides the same utility in terms of moving people from A to B. If anybody thinks it might have improved in value, they should know that I’m open to offers.
Aw shit, I want one of those.
It’s surprising how little GM seems to learn. It’s no wonder they’re going broke.
Well, just in case serious global cooling emerges, its going to prove wise to have these sportscars out there to help boost our carbon emissions.
I think Kevin Rudd should throw them another subsidy, you just can’t risk our children’s future now by doing nothing.
Could you imagine a government that did nothing ? Oh the humanity !
Conrad:
No problem with Holden as such as they could very well make money on this model even during times of high oil prices depending on their margins etc. in “suping” it up.
GM’s problems are that it is a health care company that happens to make cars on the side at a loss.
GM=General Medicines! It all makes sense! Thanks JC!
JC have you seen the stretch Hummer in the city? Fantastic.
It’s a love hate thing i have for it, Sinc. I really hate the look of it, but I also love how a certain element gets really pissed off by it. So net, net it’s a force of good in the world.
The stretch hummers are pretty ugly, and very uncomfortable to ride in. Great idea for teenagers going to a formal, but not much else.
But I do enjoy the reaction of green fanatics.
If you like the reaction of green fanatics, get a load of this, Fleeced.
If Hummer’s send them into convulsive rage see what this does.
The most expensive oil change ever. LOL.
Sheik sends his Lamborghini to the UK for an oil service… by plane.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1493291.ece
Note the horror of it all.
Carbon tariffs, the future for countries that don’t pull their weight. And I remind you once again, Europe is the largest economy.
You’re afraid of Portugal, Spain, Greece or Italy, Charles?
No JC, what I am afraid of is the changing world order. Or more correctly what I am hoping is Australia takes advantage of it. I actually think as a country we are well placed.
Unfortunately I was a Liberal party supporter because I have liberal views. What I see now is a conservative party putting itself on the wrong side of world events, and a blog that claims to be Libertarian attacking environmentalists.
If you want to own a car that does 13.7 miles per gallon, go for it, but don’t complain about the fuel costs, don’t complain as society puts more and more restrictions on how the common infrastructure ( the roads) get used and don’t complain when your girlfriend suggest she would prefer to see the money spent on fuel spent on her.
Charles,
You misunderstood the point of the thread. It wasn’t to support or criticise the 7 litre car. My point was the nonsensical nature of government policy.
On the one hand we have a tariff protecting a domestic industry that creates a 7 litre guzzler while we have a government handing out 70 big ones to the richest car maker in the world to produce a hybrid.
Does that make sense to you?
One more thing Charles.
Owning or a 7 litre car is not illegal yet.
Charles,
Environmentalism doesn’t force anyone to do anything per se. It would be entirely libertarian to get rid of the subsidies and tariffs and the net result would also be a better environmental income.
“Carbon tariffs” will by and large simply result in countries meeting emissions targets paying for polluters in non financial, but resource allocation terms. The tax will merely distort their domestic market.
The reason is that 90% of the benefits from trade liberalisation arise from internal productivity gains from removing tariffs and non-tariff barriers. This is especially true for liberalisation of economies with respect to relations with larger economies.
Effectively nations with a carbon tax will be paying 90% of the bill for other countries when they impose this tariff. In effect the split is 95%/5% in favour of the bigger per capita polluter.
If people wish to buy 7L V8 cars, let them. In the process, they lose the right to whinge when the price of fuel inevitably rises as supply drops and demand goes up (particularly from China and soon, India) and they are then struggling to afford to keep running them.
I also agree with dropping the tariffs, as the domestic manufacturers should have realised by now where the overall car market is headed and should’ve planned in advance accordingly. Mitsubishi Motors Australia should’ve seen that with the price of fuel going up, introducing a 3.8L petrol V6 model was not going to be a clever move, when they could’ve gone with a diesel option or with a smaller engine (i.e. something to differentiate them substantially enough from the other local offerings), and look what happened to them. Holden crowed loudly about the e-Commodore during the Sydney Olympics and boasted it was going to be the future of Australian motoring, then quietly canned it afterwards.
Then again, with the way fuel’s continually going up in price, maybe we’ll see more focus on diesel, LPG and hybrid options for cars and perhaps an increase in the number of scooters (which make more sense if you’re just going somewhere like to the nearest train station or you don’t need a lot of cargo space).
charles: And I remind you once again, Europe is the largest economy
Let’s say Europe experienced an economic downturn, stockmarkets corrections, slowing economies et al. Would the rest of the world be affected as much, or care as much, as for a US downturn? What about a Chinese downturn?
If we consider a European downturn, does the EU have such disjointed, relatively speaking, constituent economies that the word ‘downturn’ has a different economic meaning compared to a US downturn or even an Asian downturn?
I’m posing a serious question and would appreciate serious responses from our resident economists?
Then again, with the way fuel’s continually going up in price, maybe we’ll see more focus on diesel, LPG and hybrid options for cars and perhaps an increase in the number of scooters (which make more sense if you’re just going somewhere like to the nearest train station or you don’t need a lot of cargo space).
Diesel has become a moot point with regards to personal transport as it’s become near 20% more expensive to buy than petrol, negating any efficiency savings in car sized vehicles. Also, particulate emissions continue to be an environmental concern, although potentially mitigated with filters.
LPG is definitely a go in this country, costing the equivalent of paying around $1/litre if compared to petrol.
Scooters are already taking off as a solution. Although I suspect the future will be more hybrids (including diesel and LPG hybrids) and stuff like this. I personally don’t see public transport taking a greater role than it already does.
stuff like this.
Are the intiials Alan M actually yours or a play on Alan Mulally? Looks distinctly like geek humour, but am I reading too much into it?
Mark
I pretty much agree with what your saying. I also support the removal of tariffs, on that issue I do worry about manufacturing in this country, the current round of high exchange rates is pretty much going to see the end of it.
There is a problem leaving everything to the market, short term distortion of markets to get a long term advantage. Or to put it another way, buy a market put your competitors out of business and then extract monopoly rents.
“If people wish to buy 7L V8 cars, let them. In the process, they lose the right to whinge when the price of fuel inevitably rises…”
No they don’t… people are always entitled to whinge – especially when oil drilling is prohibited in certain areas.
Or to put it another way, buy a market put your competitors out of business and then extract monopoly rents.
Can you show us how that’s done, Charles… and who has ever managed to do it?
Or to put it another way, buy a market put your competitors out of business and then extract monopoly rents.
This is the most frequently repeated economic crap I ever hear. Show us a single example, charles. I bet you can’t.
Or to put it another way, buy a market put your competitors out of business and then extract monopoly rents.
The standard left-wing technique of taking a little truth and then, with a little massaging and imagination, turn it into a big lie to suit your definition of ‘social justice’.
Yes, charles, companies try to make life difficult for their competitors, like slightly dodgy advertising and legal bureaucracy. But your competitor doesn’t get put out of business unless their product is shit and you aren’t getting any ‘monopoly rent’ unless your product is great. So the consumer wins? And fundamentally the market is working, wouldn’t you say?
charles: And I remind you once again, Europe is the largest economy.
This weekend’s Australian Financial Review has an article on the global slowdown on pages 22 and 23. Cites the following figures for ‘share of global economy’:
Developing economies: 26%
US: 25%
Euro zone: 22%
(figures attributed to ‘Source: World Bank, IMF World Economic Outlook, RBA, US Federal Reserve, European Central Bank’)
If you can blow $150k on a bad ass car I doubt fuel prices will really bother you.
Charles:
“Or to put it another way, buy a market put your competitors out of business and then extract monopoly rents.”
Doesn’t happen. But yes we should produce to comparative advantages, which is what I think you meant. The market is the best way of seeing that happen.
Mick – Yeah, they’re actually mine. With diesel, if you removed the diesel excise tax (which funds the Renewable Remote Power Generation Program), it’d be a more cost-effective option, more on par with petrol. It allows for a higher-compression ratio as well, so by far they’re more efficient than an equivalently-sized petrol engine.
Didn’t really see much in the way of scooters when I was living in Perth, but I think they have much more scope for short-distance A-B commuting than requiring a 2 or 4/5 seater vehicle as is currently the norm. Just moved to Melbourne, so I’m still getting a sense of things here, but I think I’ve seen more scooters over here on the roads than I’ve seen in Perth overall.