An 'operating profit' of 29% will equate to roughly to 10-15% net profit, which is outstanding for an auto manufacturer, but merely very good for a well-run company.

Separately, the article states that <The University of Gelsenkirchen's Dudenhoeffer said customers for bigger, more expensive models wouldn't balk at paying a bit extra to gun their engines. "For the premium car manufacturers, they will simply pass the extra costs on to their customers, who are not especially price sensitive,'' he said. ``This shouldn't hurt their profit.''>

Clearly, Dudenhoeffer doesn't understand a thing about the marketplace for premium cars. The US Congress thought like Dudenhoeffer and tried a 10% tax on "luxury" items, only to find that they bankrupted many yacht manufacturers and throwing thousands out of work plus decimating other companies and their employees in other industries as well when the "not especially price sensitive" customers stopped buying.

The majority of premium car customers aren't rich and the rich don't get rich by throwing money away. Dunderheads like Dudenhoeffer don't get it and never will.

 

lol if 29% profit is only like 10-15% net then what's the figure for GM? like -100%

the worst part too, is that all the american companies who have fallen way behind the curve are getting the gov't help to keep them from going under when it's mostly their own fault for sacrificing quality of product for profit and now it's finally catching up... Daimler Benz learned the hard way through the Chrysler merger that dealing w/ an american car company can sink your brand even though they vowed that a Chrysler part would never be used in a Mercedes... thankfully they recovered

unfortunately Porsche, being an independent company as well as being considered a high-end "luxury" item does not get the protection that these goofballs in Detroit get... it also doesn't help w/ all the power that the Green party has in Germany when their main agenda is going after an easy target to try to reduce pollution instead of going after the true sources of pollution... the mass production corporations

 

Yep!

 

Maybe we will get to see a Porsche badge on a diesel VW !!!!

Geoff

 

Huh?! That's pretty damn great for any company that actually makes things. Even highly profitable fashion product companies that pay next to nothing for their products like Nike or Oakley have a net margin of under 10%.

 

What concerns me far more than the supposed global warming hysteria (which was global cooling hysteria in the 70s, by the way) are the people who are advocating those that disagree be denied their free speech. They've even started using the term 'global warming deniers' in the same vein as holocaust deniers.

Unfortunately the truth does appear to be secondary; politics instead appears to be the focus.

 

don't forget that those same ppl are at the anti-Iraq rallies saying "No Blood for Oil".... well let's see... how many ppl died 'cause we just let Saddam do his thing aka "appeased" him... hmm... isn't that what Europe did to someone responsible for killing millions in the 1930's... then again, it's really starting to look like that country is much worse off w/o him and especially a bigger threat to us as we don't know who's on our side there, when b4 atleast we knew that the threat to us was Saddam

the irony is that these ppl that compare themselves to "holocaust bashers" are probably from a family who practiced the opposite in WWII and thought that it was ok to appease Hitler as long as it meant not going to war and thus indirectly prolonged the holocaust

 

How would requiring all companies to abide by stricter emissions regulations do anything to effect wealth distribution? If anything, lower income brackets would be effected more, as cost passed on to the consumer would be felt greater by those with less expendable income. Care to explain your hypothesis?

 

i think he means that the ppl who are running the agenda are making their wallets fatter... i.e. Al Gore...

i think the funniest thing in politics is that while ALL politicians are part of the upper-class... the ppl they appeal to aren't necessarily... while conservatives are known to be the "owners" of this country and represent the upper 1% they also appeal very well to what we like to refer to as "trailor trash" and all these "bible belt" people, while liberals appeal to the "yuppies" and "upper middle class" they also appeal to all the minorities and many living below the poverty line...

as far as i'm concerned the political system is a bunch of rich, mostly white, mostly protestant a-holes who use the middle class to do their dirty work... unfortunately though, i'm part of this "middle class"... that's why i'm glad I try to stay out of politics... both sides are just as bad

as for cost passed on to the consumer... the biggest cost that is being passed on is GM making up for lack of profit by sagging sales thanks to better quality from foreign competition who also deals with lower operating costs

companies like Porsche passing costs on to consumer is 'cause they're an easier target to regulate... then again, they have a completely different gov't to deal with and the big 3 in Germany are BMW, VW, and Daimler-Benz

 

Who are these people then? If Al Gore's wallet is getting fatter from this, who is stuffing in the bills? Who is paying the scientists to create erroneous research studies? If there is an agenda, who is paying for it?

 

Hey, it is all not relevant any longer....given the temps in many parts of the country for the past week or so, big Al Gore has not only identified Global Warming, he has cured it in about the same amount of time it took Fat Al to invent the Internet!

 

I'll give Gore credit for all the doom and gloom he predicts will occur in 100 years, as soon as he can predict the weather next week.

As far as the money trail: politicians hype, the media wields the bullhorn, and the money flows from tax coffers gleaned from enterprising souls such as ourselves.

Even the local mayor is getting into the global warming hype business:

"Climate change may be the most critical issue we face today," Wynn said. "That may seem like a dramatic statement, but all the science points to catastrophic results if we don't quickly get a handle on this growing problem."

Yes, and Mars 'may' fall out of its orbit, too, Mayor. That also 'may seem' like a dramatic statement, too, right?

"All the science?" He perhaps should have worded it "all the science I've heard lately blasted down my throat by the mainstream media."

So Austin gets 'zero emissions.' How much will property taxes increase to pay for that?

Glad I'm not in the city limits.

Sigh.

 

If global warming exists, then Im sure Al Gore contributed to it more than anyone on this board combined;flying private jets to campaigns,using limos and so on...
Dont be fooled, he doesnt care.Its all political...

 

Remember Y2K? At least there was an end date for that incessant media blitz.

Now, we are going to keep hearing warning alarms for the next 1000 years!

"Humans have already caused so much damage to the atmosphere that the effects of global warming will last for more than 1,000 years, according to a summary of a climate-change report being prepared by the world's leading scientists."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...tory/National/

Now, about last weekend's forecast that said Austin was going to get down into the teens...they only missed it by what, 20 degrees?

 

We, the people. Hope Al is enjoying his heated homes. My old farm house barely creeps above 50 F in this global warming climate. :-)

Noah