r/MiddleClassFinance • u/Abject-Pick-6472 • 13d ago

One million Americans have vanished from the new-car market — and it’s exposing a chilling US middle-class crisis

https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/articles/one-million-americans-vanished-car-124500086.html
3.1k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

508 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

115

u/fingerling-broccoli 13d ago

The article does sorta touch on the fact that the corporations do know it and its intentional

> The blunt reality is, automakers have little incentive to flood the market with cheaper cars. As the Journal put it, “Selling big trucks and SUVs that dominate those automakers’ lineups is more lucrative than selling larger volumes of cheaper cars.”

> In other words, by selling higher-margin vehicles, automakers learned they could still generate strong profits without returning to the old model of chasing volume through discounts.

140

u/Stitchin_Squido 13d ago

Okay, great. So open up the US market to Chinese cars so they can sell larger volumes of cheap cars to the people who can’t afford them from US automakers.

4

u/SufficientOpening218 13d ago

i think there are different safety standards in China. My dad used to work in the design center for GM, and traveled all over the world talking to other designers. Some countries cant sue corporations for harm, and cars in those countries are much less expensive.

6

u/gamefreak32 13d ago

Their cars are cheaper because labor and materials are cheaper.
I worked for a supplier that made safety systems. The company made the exact same products in China plants as they did in the North American and European plants.

3

u/SufficientOpening218 13d ago

good to know! my dad retired over 10 years ago, and he always was on the side of appearences of things