I don't call $7.00 a gallon subsidized, gasoline is about $8.00 a gallon. The largest part of the fuel price in Europe are taxes.
People in England are furious because the cost of oil has more than halved, however the price at the pump has only dropped 20% (all because the taxes are so high).
You know why ethanol in the US is so expensive? It's all being exported to Europe.
GM (and I guess the other big 2 too) had a design philosophy that a car had to last 10 years or 100k miles, and then things had to fall apart. And so the alternator failed at 50k, powersteering at 65, plastic trim parts broke easily, at 9 years the dashboard cracked, after 11 years the ceiling fell down. What failed too early would be improved, what was too good would be degraded. This I've heard from someone who was actually involved in that process. Your neighbor with the 15 year old 180k Honda changes the oil and never anything breaks. A little spit and polish and it would look like new. So what would be your next car?
To satisfy the demand for small cars they would import cheap junk from Korea. Ford Aspire (aka asswipe), rebranded Kia's, Geo: (Metro=Suzuki Swift, Prizm = Toyota Corolla; were actually the better ones), the other models came from Isuzu. Their own designs were not good either: Dodge Neon, Stratus, the smaller Caddi (forgot the name). Nothing that would last, nothing that had any kind of decent road behavior. GM took a German product, changed a lot: different engines, plastic body panels, cheap interior and called it a Saturn. The best Ford Taurus was the SHO: power (Yamaha engine) and a good transmission. The standard's version automatic had a high failure rate.
Another design mistake: the original Ford Rollover (Explorer). Ford never admitted it. However, after being hit with law suits (that Ford blamed on tires) they very suddenly came with a re-design that had a completely different (independent) suspension. POOR design, nothing else.
GM and Ford might have nice vehicles now. I agree. But, how do they hold up? If I buy one 8 years from now with 120k will it give me another 7 yrs/100k, or will autozone / junkyard be visited as frequently as the grocery store?
When these cars are still in the rental fleet (usually untill 2 years/ 20k) you can see the first signs: plastic parts broken, little electrical problems, trim that's letting loose. The last Malibu I drove a year ago had only 4k on it. Nice car, no complaints.
If you look back 15 years, which cars have been fighting for best title of best selling cars? The Japanese brands and the Ford Taurus (which later in it's life started to have issues and lost out quickly). If the Japanese can sell so many cars in that market, why is there no Big 3 product that can compete with it? Same lasting quality, same ride characteritics and economy and there would be a very profitable product. Bigger cars? Please don't compare a Crown Victoria to a Lexus, Acura, BMW or M Benz.
Again poor leadership at the Big 3, let them walk to work, ride a commercial airliner (in coach!) and ask the folks next to them what they think about their products.
