What do you think is gong to happen now, with GM's situation and the crazy new mileage standards?

well Fiat now owns Chrysler and is looking at buying GM's european companies so hard saying what will happen...

Apparently there are loopholes big enough to drive an escalade thru the new standards, so I'm not too worried.

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US cars suck anyways, who cares?

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1987 Nissan "Datsun" S12 200sx XE notch
1988 Acura Da3 Integra RS
1981 Toyota Te72 Corolla
1983 Toyota Ae72 Corolla

no. not yet it doesn't

lol

that is what I heard anyways for fiat

but Saturn WAS bought by Rodger Penske

This might be a topic to move into the General Discussion section, because the changes in the auto industry are going to have a pretty big impact on the used Japanese car market.

Gasoline prices are starting to climb again, 5-10 cents per week as summer approaches. People are going to start looking for high fuel economy cars again, and the last round of gas prices pushed the price of older Japanese cars up already. Suddenly 1981-1985 I-Mark Diesels are selling on Ebay for $2,000-3,000+. These cars have a blue book value of nearly nothing. If you totaled one out, then went over to your insurance company's office and held a gun to your insurance adjuster's head, they might give you $400 for it.

The "Cash for Clunkers" law is going to give $2,500-4,500 to anyone who turns in an old car and buys a new one. Anyone shopping for older cars now has Uncle Sam as their competitor for that rough but fixable car. A few years ago, you might pick up an old car for $500, maybe less if you had to tow it home. Now your minimum opening offer has to be $2,500+, and maybe up to $4,500, in order to match Uncle Sam's offer.

There is a general feeling that the result of the new fuel efficiency standards is going to yield "little tin cans" that no one wants to drive. That is going to push people into the used car market. Those people might not want older Japanese cars, for the same reason they don't want the newer "little tin cans", but the increased numbers of used car shoppers will push more people into buying the older Japanese cars, if only be displacing normal used car shoppers out of the market for larger models and into the market for smaller models. More demand and decreasing supply is the very definition of increased prices.

Not many people picked up on the price increase associated with the new fuel economy legislation. Someone quoted $2,300 per car just to match the new fuel mileage requirements. That will push more people from buying new cars and into buying used cars.

There were comments last year that the economic situation had pushed so many people away from buying new cars and toward buying used cars, that the price of used cars had come within a couple hundred dollars of the slashed prices that desperate car dealers were offering new cars for.

And now they are closing Chrysler and GM dealerships, factories, and the ripple through the supplier networks supposed to put something like seven people out of work for each job lost at the assembly factories. None of these people will be shopping for new cars either, and they will be in competition in the used car buying market.

Everything in this situation makes buying and working on used cars more expensive. I'm probably cheering more loudly than most with every report of GM's demise, but I seriously doubt I will ever see another $500 used car.

Our hobby just got expensive.

Everything I've seen in the news said he offered to buy it Wednesday/Thursday. I think it's far from a done deal, though. Who's reporting it's already happened?

I think it was on yahoo. The way they said it, it was a done deal.

Now that made me lol.

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http://www.freep.com/article/20090930/B ... -backs-out

Posted: 4:33 p.m. Sept. 30, 2009 | Updated: 5:29 p.m. today
Saturn deal collapses after Renault-Nissan backs out

By TIM HIGGINS
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

General Motors said today it would shut down Saturn after respected Detroit businessman Roger Penske shocked GM and 350 Saturn dealers by saying that his plans to buy the storied brand had fallen apart.

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The announcement came a day before GM and its dealers expected the deal to be finalized. The failure could cost as many as 13,000 jobs at dealerships nationwide and GM.

I was just reading about that. Penske had a deal to source cars from Renault's Korean subsidiary Renault-Samsung to supply cars after the agreement with GM ran out at the end of 2010, but Renault's board of directors vetoed the plan. So without a fresh supply of cars, Penske decided to walk away. I can't blame him. I'm just not sure why Renault's BoD didn't want the deal to happen. My only guess is that they didn't want Saturn competing with Nissan which Renault controls.

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My JNC: 1983 Subaru GL wagon
My JNM: 1979 Yamaha XS Eleven

it's because Flavio Briatore told Piquet to crash a saturn into the wall... Penske didn't want any part of that FIA investigation...


(this only makes sense as a joke and if you follow F1. if not, please dis-regard comments..)