They missed the EV push in the 90’ by GM, in the 2010’ by Tesla and now once again. They would never change without market pressure.
Would you like a buggy whip with your gas guzzler, Sir?
“It’s bad for consumers” is one of those phrases that’s been misused so often I’m amazed these cunts still try to use it with a straight face. It’s like “I’m not racist, but” in terms of phrases that are widely understood to mean their direct opposite.
They’ll stop using it when people stop falling for it.
I’m not sure anyone actually does fall for it per se; it’s one of those lies that literally everyone knows is a lie, but CEOs and corrupt politicians need it to be true in order to justify what they want to do next so they have to go through the process of saying it first.
You must have the pleasure of not knowing those people, then. A lot of people genuinely still believe in trickle-down economics and the like.
They are collectively known as “Fucking Stupid”
American free market advocates when the market is free:
When all you want to do is sell vastly more expensive but quality poor versions of last century’s product, you should be afraid. American automakers have had the government prop up their manufacturing for decades leaving the rest of the world open to create this century’s products.
Oh man…I am American but I yearn for the day when I can buy a pickup with a full bed the size of a Daewoo Lanos
This might be the best thing to happen to Americans in a long time and it’s the result of shitty anti consumer US policy 😂 at long last I might be able to buy a Toyota helix
I’m an American… The US deserves this. Glad this is happening.
I think you mean this as deserved punishment and I agree, but maybe there’s also a silver lining: we deserve this, to break up the dead dinosaur cartel, to restart innovation, to free consumers from a prison of protectionism around overpriced legacy vehicles and help light the way to future technology
I would prefer the Toyota HiAce or Crown Comfort.
God I fucking hate stealerships. If car dealer cartels in the US as a concept die as a result of this era of idiocy we’re in, that’s a pretty great silver lining.
Such a weird, American-only practice, like with American health insurance. The whole country is a scam, jeez.
Um, only having been tourist to the US, how does it work?
Edit: the car dealership. What’s different to e.g. Europe (the referenced American only practice)
That’s the neat part, it doesn’t!
Which one?
The first comment talks about stealership, the next about weird us practice and I have no idea what they are referring to 😁.
In Europe we habe car dealers, franchise, independent or do buy privately but they can all act independently.
Is there a cartel or something in the US for car dealerships?
In most states, manufacturers are prohibited from selling directly to consumers.
There are a variety of reasons for it, some were consumer-friendly (like preventing the manufactures from monopolizing repair/service), but it basically created a system of middlemen that raised costs.
I worked at a Honda dealership in college and I learned a lot.
For example, when you finance through a dealership, the dealer doesn’t actually put up any money. They find a 3rd party financer then tack on a few percentage points.
Salespersons also earn higher commissions on dealer-provided upsales, such as window-etching, rust-preventative, custom badging, extended warranties, etc, so they try to push those things.
Dealers are also locked into individual manufacturers, usually. That is, a “family” of dealerships, are actually multiple businesses, each with a contract with a different manufacturer.
The person that owned the Honda dealership I worked at, owned others. On one side, they had a Pontiac-Buick-GMC dealer, then Chevy, Chevy truck, and Cadillac on the other side. Even they it was all General Motors, they were run separately. Down the street, they had a dealership that sold both new Toyotas and Subarus.
Thank you.
Sounds like a lot of lock in or lock out.
It really is
Want wasn’t it regean that made it a law you couldn’t buy directly from the manufacturer because he was buddies with people who owned major dealerships. And it just stuck since then.
He also imposed an import tax on motorcycles because Harley Davidson was deathly afraid that riders would rush out to purchase a Japanese bike that didn’t drip oil everywhere and reliably starts when you press the button.
Things like that and tariffs are absolutely useful tools for trade issues: TARGETED, TEMPORARY tools. There would have been nothing wrong with temporary protection for Harley Davidson if it were temporary, if there was a deadline where they have to start competing again.
Regulations were put in place to prevent manufacturers from opening their own stores right next to the dealers they worked with. Dealers assume some risk when they take on inventory. Apparently it’s not like a bookstore where any unsold copies just go back to the publisher. It’s still a flimsy justification though and enshrined these middlemen who then enshittified everything. Worse, in some cases manufacturers are entirely prevented from selling direct, even if they don’t work with dealerships. It’s too much.
GOOD
Removed by mod
Don’t forget their political aspirations!!
Car Dealers Recipients • OpenSecrets https://share.google/4nIu8I09iOKCgt4wH
Boo mods
I was confused too. This comment doesn’t look too bad but given it’s a 7 hour old account it made several multi-paragraph comments like this in a formulaic outrage-bait kinda way. This comment looks fine but the full comment history is pretty AI like
Full comment history: https://files.catbox.moe/uf48if.png
Fair enough. Wish we’d get a reason something was removed though.
That’s what the modlog is for. You can check and see the given reason is “slop spam”, it’s very transparent.
Must not be something the app I use is capable of showing. Thanks. Didn’t know they had that.
Yeah, they’re part of the problem.
We need new instances with better moderation.
Make one, or just try some of the many existing ones. That’s the beauty of federation.
Do you write for a living? You should write for a living. 👌
Was gonna say the same thing, evocative
And now a mod removed the comment?! 😔
It’s an AI bot
Huh, well, it made good points anyhow, I guess the one thing it’s decent at is fooling me every now and then lol
This community has an AI bot as a mod?
How many US car manufacturer CEOs endorsed Trump? I’m betting a lot.
“It’s bad for our industry, it’s bad for our country, it’s bad for consumers.”
I think they (accidentally, of course) left out the people that it’s worst for.
Once these guys are gone, where are the Better Business Bureaus gonna find smarmy guys in suits?
Ah, the “American dream”. Competition. Sadly only if it is competition not just lobbying power.
Good.
I see we’re in the "find out’ stage of FAFO. Well all the other industries in the Us are imploding, we might as well do the auto industry too. You auto workers are welcome to pull up a stump in front of this nice flaming trashcan I am warming my hands to.
At least for the last year, the only thing that has tempered Donald’s worst impulses is markets.
So in a way, these kinds of movements and deals are essential to international security.
