And that’s my point - the entire change would be for internal metrics and wouldn’t do squat for the company overall - in fact, it would likely reduce profits overall.

There’s too much of this behavior in the business world - everyone has their own fiefdom and is worried about making it look good, the rest of the…

Realistically, it doesn’t matter whether the model is cheap or expensive. It’s just an accounting trick.

Say, for example, you have the option of building Corollas in Ontario and Camrys in Mexico or shifting Corolla production to Mexico and retooling for Camrys in Ontario. For simplicity’s sake, say each takes 30 man…

Got me thinking - and sure enough, Toyota is killing off their agreement with Subaru to build the Camry in Lafayette, so they need someplace to build more beigemobiles.

Yes, it isn’t the whole output - but it is a gigantic portion of it. In 2012, for example, Toyota produced 340,855 vehicles in Cambridge. 254,159, or 74.6% of them, were Corollas/Matrices.

In 2013, that percentage dropped a hair to 70.6%. That is still a huge gaping hole to fill.

Which would make sense, with the Mazda 2 made in Guanajuato as well, since supplier bases could be shared, though the articles I’ve read keep referring to the plant building Corollas. I could see both, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’ll have to figure out what to do with existing Corolla capacity...

I believe Maryland’s credit is $125 per kWh of battery capacity. The Spark EV has a 19 kWh battery, so that should be $2,375 in credits. If you get the $7500 federal credit, too, that pushes the price to $16,945 plus ttl (and tax will likely be calculated on the price prior to credits, fwiw).

Not bad - but still more…

Get rid of the centered layout, improve the handling, and put in some decent plastics. Seriously - the Prius has horrid interior materials by modern standards.

The Toyota plant is supposed to be to build Corollas. Which makes me wonder - Toyota already builds Corollas in Cambridge, Ontario, and Tupelo, Mississippi. There is no need for three factories turning out that car. So will Cambridge close, or just be repurposed? I doubt that Tupelo closes or gets repurposed - they…

I don’t think any of these plants are new - the Reuters article refers to Ford investing in a plant in the central Guanajuato province - where Ford already has a joint venture plant with Getrag. Other articles suggest that Ford is looking to buy out Getrag, while the International Business Times explicitly states that…

Meh.. THIS would be cooler... just get an Antonov An-225 and a really good winch... :)

I don’t think it was the barge moving too much - that rocket was in a pretty desperate last minute maneuver and didn’t appear to be in a stable upright position at any time in the last few seconds there...

Just because they’re non-citizens doesn’t mean that we can’t win out of the deal.

In the 1980s, the Japanese went on a real estate buying spree in the US thanks to their huge trade surpluses. Everyone freaked out about them buying us up. Turns out that they massively overpaid for many things, and ended up selling them…

Kasich isn’t saying anything because he doesn’t care what the heck the public thinks or wants.

Under Kasich, Ohio sold off the revenue stream from its liquor taxes to a “privatized” department of development that he renamed “JobsOhio”. Then he made all of JobsOhio’s activity secretive and not subject to any sunshine…

If I could get a roll of this in the right shade at a reasonable price, it would do wonders just for covering up the bumpers on my beater and making the car look much better - the paint never adhered well until I redid them myself, but getting a decent finish and color match out of spray cans isn't easy...

GM says to take your standardized controls and shove them where the sun don’t shine, and puts the headlight switch right about here on the driver’s side door (see 1992-1999 Buick LeSabre)

I pray you aren’t running a business, because your analytical skills are less than impressive.

Nonsense. Do you know how many Vegas GM sold?

Any business decision is reached via a calculation of the net present value - which is calculated as a set of alternatives to doing nothing. To eliminate the need to support the Vega, GM would have had to do an unprecedented forced buyback of hundreds of thousands of…

Yes, but because the plug-in Prius’ electric range is poor, the tax credit for one is small. While the Volt comes in at $22,633 after its tax credit using my insurance co’s buying service ($30,133 before credit), the Prius plug-in comes in at $27,434 after tax credit ($29,934 before).

So comparing the plug-in versions,…

The Prius doesn’t get a $7500 federal tax credit, though. You’re forgetting that.

The F-150 retooling was a massive job, though - they basically gutted the assembly line and rebuilt it from scratch. Most retoolings for a new model are in the 2-4 week range.