Back when GM and Ford claimed that foreign sales would keep them afloat long enough to patch their hulls, turn their ships around and avoid reefs of their own making, TTAC called bullshit. First, we pointed out that the domestics’ American losses were simply too large to sustain with foreign profits. Second, we said overseas car markets were hardly immune to the forces sending the States into the doldrums. And so… The Daily Telegraph reports that rising petrol prices have lowered UK vehicle sales to their lowest level since England won the World Cup against Germany in 1966. “The latest sales figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) showed that the number of new cars registered last month was down 18.6 per cent on the same period last year. Worst hit were luxury marques and 4x4s, with monthly sales of Aston Martin cars down by two thirds in a year, Land Rover suffering a 58 per cent drop and demand for Porsche models 58 per cent lower than August 2007.” Worse– much worse– is yet to come. “The car market is now in real pain, real free-fall,” Professor Garel Rhys, director of the Centre for Automotive Industry Research at Cardiff University, told the Torygraph. “It is not just the private buyers who are not buying it is also the companies and the fleet side who have decided to pull their horns in, it is a sign of pretty awful times ahead.” Oh, and The Times of India says “Sluggish outlook in India has forced Japanese car major Toyota to revise and extend further its market share target from the country by as much as 5 years.”
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If the UK enacted a gas, er, I mean petrol tax holiday, that really would be a break for British motorists. Their taxes are crushing.
@50merc: Got to pay for those toll free motorways, National Health Service, subsidised further education (it was free in my day), social security and housing for unemployed single parents somehow…
I was surprised to learn that only about 8% of the UK’s tax income comes from excise duties (taxes on booze, tobacco, fuel and vehicles -plus a few other bits & pieces). It covers Britain’s defense budget with a bit left to spare.
The recession is spreading worldwide.
The USA actually has one of the healthiest economies.
The USA actually has one of the healthiest economies.
So you mean to say there is no escape?
No, he means the US economy is better structured to absorb, cope with, and rebound from a downturn than most others. And the UK is better structured to cope than most of continental Europe. The US may hit trouble earlier, but odds are it’ll pull recover sooner than most. (Talking about developed countries here)
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if cash strapped UK motorists were interested in something that doesn’t cost a pound a mile to run at this point, say an electric car. Too bad the General massacred the EV1’s in the mid 90s and stopped development. The General could have cleaned up right now and actually have a chance of surviving the upcoming onslaught with a good EV in his ranks. Oh well at least the GM volt will be on offer by 2010 (provided it served it’s real purpose: gathering support for a bail out). Hopefully the UK economy has recovered sufficiently by than that motorists can actually afford to safe some money on gas by buying this expensive piece of kit.
A comparative very high share of employment in the UK is dependent on financial services, a sector which, with hignsight, doesn’t seem as profitable as thought. So claims that the UK is a better structured than continental Europe are unlikely to be true.
When America sneezes, all the western socialist countries get a cold. Their models simply rely on us for that little margin they need to keep their socialism from tipping them into permanent doldrums. We reduce their defense needs, buy their products, keep up incentive for innovation, and give the world markets a good cushion.
They have a decent deal going except that if we copy them, the whole game will end with a depression for all of us.
I’m surprised that nobody mentions the fact that everyone bought cars less than 10 years ago and those cars are still in perfect shape. Cars are so well made these days that there is no reason to buy new ones.
Foreign sales= China, India and Russia
davey49 :
I’m surprised that nobody mentions the fact that everyone bought cars less than 10 years ago and those cars are still in perfect shape.
I was unaware every car sold in the UK was japanese, and that there had been no car crashes in the past decade.
It’s been noticeable that there are fewer new registration plates showing on the UK Highways – the annual rush to be the first with the new plates has taken a nosedive!