Hertz CEO says buying EVs was a big mistake and very costly to the company margins
- Thread starter alarmguy
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The Chinese goverment has provided access to below market value capital to Chinese companies to develop and ramp up EV production. As opposed to other OEMs trying to fund EV development R&D funding through operations.
I'm not sure how much longer that GM and Ford can remain profitable leaning on extremely expensive trucks, in an era of higher interest rates. I guess we're about to find out. The least expensive full size crew cab truck at the local Ford dealer is $47,180. The least expensive vehicle period is an Escape for $31,835. How working class folks are going to afford this stuff at 8-15% interest rates is beyond me.
To me less about EV and more about emerging brands from dust burning Hertz.
Amazing things about Tesla EVs however certain horrible at best attributes like resale and also repair/parts networks especially backlog burned Hertz. Hertz makes no money waiting for parts and car not rented.
Amazing things about Tesla EVs however certain horrible at best attributes like resale and also repair/parts networks especially backlog burned Hertz. Hertz makes no money waiting for parts and car not rented.
Yes, it makes me wonder about the cost of repairing a Tesla vs reparing a Chevy Bolt or other EV from a traditional manufacturer.
Huh? GM's worst profit year in the last 10 years was Tesla's best profit year. GM profit every year for the last decade.
Tesla profitable for a whopping two years.
No disrespect I just like factual statements. Dying? GM most popular for 90 years, Tesla? needle in the haystack.
BTW- the UAW is coming after them after the current strikes and dont think with Ford and GM production workers making $80,000 a year and fully paid health benefits with no deductibles as well as a shot of other crazy stuff isnt going to bite Tesla and all the other non union. It's a pendulum, years back workers saw what unrealistic demands did to companies and they lost their jobs. History will repeat itself, it always does.
BTW- Its a shame, how unions and workers get so greedy to blackmail companies. Also just for the record, UAW representation is at an all time low in the automobile industry. At least some workers get it, but there will be trickle down effects to the non union companies or else they will be union too. Then at some point in time, we produce no product and send it overseas or Mexico.
It's almost like trying to fool Mother Nature. You cant, if a company cant compete here, they will produce it overseas.
I don't know that I would have said they were dying on the vine, but, they have significant structural issues. There's only so much that they can lean on the truck market. As I mentioned in the other thread, they're mainly putting out hugely expensive trucks. They're not going to be affordable at these high interest rates for many buyers. I, personally speaking, think they are additcted to the profit from upmarket trucks and SUVs. We'll see what happens.
A friend rented one from Vegas a few months ago and he was given the car with 10% charge. He eventually gave it back and rented a Hyundai which he hated but he just wanted something with a gas engine.
Thew impression I get from all vehicle manufacturers is that new vehicles are only for the top 20% of earners and everyone else can buy used vehicles.
If Ford still made a Focus, what would that cost now? The last model year was for 2019, but mostly 2018, and that cost 20K at the time in 2018 (I'm including destination). Using an online inflation calculator, that's already around $24,400. But vehicle inflation has been much higher than general inflation.
Or Ford could just import to the US the Focus that they already make in China. I bet that they could sell that at a profit. That's what it's going to come to at some point. I don't know why they don't do that or build another factory in Mexico.
Focus was a terrible product in 2010s and people lost interest when superior ones like Corolla and Civic existed and still today…Look up DCT transmission issues amongst others.
Other issues? I had heard many times that except for the DCT, they were good cars.
I rented a Fusion once and was very impressed. Easy to drive, easy on gas. I was surprised to see them discontinued, but Ford seemed to cede the business to others.
The early 2010's Corolla and Civic were awful cars, at least from a driving standpoint. Cheap interiors, the Corolla had the worst electric power steering of any car I've ever driven and the climate controls were completely mechanical - switching between modes was a joke.
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The Uber that took me to the airport this morning was a fusion hybrid. Seemed like a decent sedan. Asked the driver about his fusion, he loved it.
The fusion was built with a Mazda 6 platform. Why it's discontinued - I suspect was easier for Ford to quit that segment of the market than compete in it
No one buys sedans, that's the problem. Everyone is in a vehicle height arms race and they think they need a crossover.The Uber that took me to the airport this morning was a fusion hybrid. Seemed like a decent sedan. Asked the driver about his fusion, he loved it.
The fusion was built with a Mazda 6 platform. Why it's discontinued - I suspect was easier for Ford to quit that segment of the market than compete in it
