I wish the Aveo would get a more fuel efficent engine. How about a DI 1.4L Ecotec? or small Diesel. There is no excuse for the 2007 Aveo not getting 40mpg+ hwy.

 

But can't you see beyond the idea of a "single vehicle purchase"? If you treat that Aveo owner right & they have a good experience, they could possibly become a loyal GM owner for life. If you ignore/neglect the entry-level market, you have 0% chance at these sales.

 

Absolutely, I agree with your second point, but not your first.

 

I'd argue that where the profit goes is actually more important than where the rest of it goes. In buying a car from a company, regardless of where it is made, the parent company has more usable cash that they can use to pay the expenses related to bringing a new, better engineered car to market more quickly, through a greater and better scale of engineering work and testing, as well as greater manufacturing flexibility. This results in cars that are better and less expensive, while having shorter product cycles. This, of course results in more sales. And more profit. Following???

Also, American car companies obviously have a greater impact on the overall US economy than Honda or Toyota or whoever. So, what's better for American companies is better for us....or is that too easy???

The main point is, however difficult for you to see or accept, that profit DOES matter. How could it not?

 

I follow, but the exact same 'return on investment' (ROI) that would occur from their profits happens all the same but on a smaller scale with the distributors, assembly plants, and so on that get paid to make the parts and put the car together. It's just in one case you're allowing the big man to gain a small investment on your money and in the other you're allowing a bunch of the 'little guys' to gain a small investment on your money. But again, you have to look at what amount of $$ went to the domestic economy for reinvestment in either situation. And again, where the $18,500 goes is of far greater economic significance than where the $1,500 goes.

Yes, it is too easy - deceptively easy. Again, realize that I'm saying that GM is not the only company involved in the production of a GM vehicle, much less a GM/Daewoo vehicle. You also have the blue collar workers, parts suppliers, and so on. On average, a Honda or Toyota is less beneficial to the domestic ecnomy as per the numbers that we've seen posted before... but on a vehicle model by vehicle model comparison, that is certainly not always the case. The Aveo is one of those cases that you're doing more harm than good to buy an Aveo than many "foreign" cars in terms of your overall impact on the domestic economy.

I never said it didn't matter. I just said it's less significant to the domestic economy where the slim profit margin ends up than where the rest of the costs go. If 100% of all cars sold in the US were built and part sourced entirely in the US, it would be of little consequence where the actual car companies were based out of, relatively speaking, because we'd be bringing in 90% of the money paid for every vehicle and they'd be scraping off the top 10% at absolute best. Kinda like at the restaurant I'm opening up within the next month or so. At 400,000 in annual income I'll be breaking even. In other words, I myself (and the other owner) won't have made a dime, but all the people we've paid (food supplier, property owners, employees, contractors, etc) will still be getting paid. It isn't until we hit around 1.2 million in annual sales that our end profit will actually exceed what we pay out to others.

In GM's case and any other car company's case, they'd never dream of raking in 50% of the purchase price of every car as profit after all expenses... it's just not a viable scenario.

 

Just to let you know canadadian car and driver is a load of crap. They were the ones who in an unrelated review started talking about every Camaro every made being a slow worthless piece of crap, check out podcast 21 I think.