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Thread ID: 79127	2007-05-09 00:50:00	Let's Feed The Rumor Mill	SurferJoe46 (51)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
548487	2007-05-09 00:50:00	1) China engineers have successfully build a hybrid car that gets over 90 miles-to-the-gallon, and the Big Three (Ford, GM, Mopar) won't let them import them to the US . They will cost under $4,000 USD, (about 10%-20% of a new hybrid car here now) that's why . The oil companies don't like it either . China used a GM plant that was built there as a labor-trade incentive program a few years ago like US Caterpillar did . 2) FORD US is going broke from all the lawsuits and fires in their trucks and vans (F-Series and E-Series with ABS, some luxury cars with the same systems) because of the ABS spraying flames from brake fluid under the hood and setting the vehicles on fire about one-hour after driving . Contract sales are hurting as buyers stop making payments for vehicles that are waiting for parts under warrantee . 3) FORD is also under the gun from suppliers who have been receiving payment promises and rubber checks lately and have stopped supplying engines/transmissions and electronic parts for a while now . 4) Toyota offered a buy-out for FORD and GM told them to take their fingers out of the equation or they'd (GM) "call" the 40% or so they have invested in Toyota . 5) China (That really BIG company) has tendered an offer to buy FORD, opening the way to own the trademark and then sell cars in the US with no union wages or fees affecting the prices . 6) FORD dealers (the few who are still in business and not closed by the factory) have huge lots full of broken trucks and vans with no replacement parts available . Try to order something simple from them . . . a 2 year wait to "get on the list" to be able to buy . . if parts should become available again that is . Add up the numbers and let's talk! :xmouth:	SurferJoe46 (51)
548488	2007-05-09 01:11:00	21	plod (107)
548489	2007-05-09 01:59:00	1) China engineers have successfully build a hybrid car that gets over 90 miles-to-the-gallon, and the Big Three (Ford, GM, Mopar) won't let them import them to the US . They will cost under $4,000 USD, (about 10%-20% of a new hybrid car here now) that's why . The oil companies don't like it either . China used a GM plant that was built there as a labor-trade incentive program a few years ago like US Caterpillar did . Is that for real, and if so do you have a link to it	Morgenmuffel (187)
548490	2007-05-09 02:29:00	Not as of yet . . . the rumor says: "they "federalized" or took over a GM plant designated for building a super hybrid car . . well after the Chinese engineers got well into the design and then finished the project for themselves . Chinese engineers are the biggest human resource right now and they are grinding them out at astonishing speeds and with serious degrees too . Forty percent of all graduates are in the engineering fields . . not like here where grads are in the socio/rehabilitory/psycho/herbalist mode right now . There are however, too many verbal and "told-you-so" people who are pro-saying the whole event . . and it does sound about right . Acting as an old sage myself, I cannot say that this is happening to a more deserving and lying company full of bloated faces in boardrooms and in posh homes with bonuses every day for showing up for "work" . There HAS BEEN a car denied import to the US . . I don't know if it went to Europe or even NZ for field tests . . . but if there's much or even any truth to the primary part of the rumor . . . about the EXISTENCE of such a vehicle, then all the other pieces fit . FORD right now is in it's death throes and I don't suspect there's any bail-out on the horizon . Parts are gettng harder and harder to order, when they USED to be on the shelves . Lawsuits are sucking the bonds and insurance from the CEO's modest multi-billion dollar rewards for finding a cheaper widget or a cheaper way to build the vehicle in a foreign country . The labor unions have finally destroyed the BIG THREE . . . and the inferior products and lawsuits over them have taken their toll . Even most third-party producers are slow taking up the demand . for parts that the OE companies cannot produce or package and re-box for sale uner their own licensed logos . I waited for a whole year for some pistons for a 2002 Ford Ranger, 2 . 5 L 4 cylinder . The parts were in the TRW catalog, but grayed out as they were projected to be available soon . FORD wanted $238 . 00 for each piston, after a 100% deposit and delivery date unset . . . maybe a year or so down the line . I got them from a supplier who has recently tooled up to make engine parts for this engine as they saw an immediate demand for them . The price? $128 . 77 for the whole set of four . There's just too much coincidence for these things all at once . Ya know how rumors are . . . but there's something a-smoldering in the woodpile .	SurferJoe46 (51)
548491	2007-05-09 03:16:00	Sounds like the latest Urban Myth. www.treehugger.com realtime.com d=nandu.text-asset&pageregion=A5	pctek (84)
548492	2007-05-09 03:23:00	If GM had anywhere like 40% of Toyota why wouldn't their share price go up with Toyota's success instead of down? It would seem that even 2% puts you in the top 10 Toyota shareholders and that doesn't include GM. If it's loans you're talking about why would Toyota need GM money when it can use the Bank of Japan?	PaulD (232)
548493	2007-05-09 04:30:00	Absolutely agree with Paul D. God if GM owned owned 40% of Toyota then it would never have to worry about cashflow as the dividends alone would be alone to keep GM alive or atleast breaking-even. Would a 40% stake even be given the OK by the SEC considering how big a monopoly that would create??? I just wish that people who come up with this stuff atleast make it more plausible or just check commonly available data.	beeswax34 (63)
548494	2007-05-09 04:39:00	Double Post	beeswax34 (63)
548495	2007-05-09 05:06:00	Absolutely agree with Paul D . God if GM owned owned 40% of Toyota then it would never have to worry about cashflow as the dividends alone would be alone to keep GM alive or atleast breaking-even . Would a 40% stake even be given the OK by the SEC considering how big a monopoly that would create??? I just wish that people who come up with this stuff atleast make it more plausible or just check commonly available data . I'm gonna let this one play a while . . at least consider the unions of GM and Toyota . . . some of the hybrid cars with a small "h" there that signifies they are melded unions of two or more manufacturers . Together they produced a lot of cars with different namebadges on them that don't seem to be recognizable as either GM OR Toyota, but were a combination of both . Hybrid with a big "H" is the new wave stuff of getting manically more mileage on gasoline and batteries of butterflys etc . Somehow the sleeping arrangements of the big corps goes unnoticed until it's too late . I am a firm believer in the troika-lateral conspiracy theory . I tried to encrypt that word troika as the guys who banged on my doors a while back are still sitting in black FORDs outside my house . :p	SurferJoe46 (51)
548496	2007-05-09 07:30:00	s the guys who banged on my doors a while back are still sitting in black FORDs outside my house. :p They're probably waiting for you to buy a Watchtower.	pctek (84)
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