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Filed under: Car Buying , Chrysler , Ford , GM Showing great discipline amid declining sales, the Detroit 3 have held back on the temptation to dump vehicles on fleet customers in order to boost numbers. As we reported last month , selling vehicles to corporate fleets and daily rental companies has been a long-practiced method to offload automobiles when sales slow down. Unfortunately, it also results in lowered residual values in the marketplace as these vehicles are dumped in quantity at auctions at the end of their service. Over the years, some models have even earned a "fleet" or "rental vehicle" stereotype, additionally damaging their public image, and sales, at the retail level. The Ford Taurus, for instance, was only sold to fleet customers during the last generation's final year of production, which may have further damaged the brand and affected sales of the renamed 2008 Taurus. Even though the Detroit 3 are limiting fleet sales, it is still a large chunk...
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Filed under: Chevrolet , Ford , GM , UAW/Unions Until Detroit automakers signed landmark deals with the UAW that shifted retiree health care costs to the union, it was cheaper to make vehicles in Canada. Government health care saved automakers about $6 per work hour, a savings of over $12,000 a year per worker. Since Ontario produces more vehicles than any state in the Union, that represented huge savings for the Detroit Three. However, after the new deals were struck with the UAW, that advantage has disappeared. To make the situation worse, the loonie has made huge advances over the dollar. At one point you needed $1.61 in Canadian cash to equal one greenback, but new oil wealth for our northern neighbors coupled with a growing US credit crunch have brought the two currencies neck and neck. With Canada's higher taxes and unfavorable contracts, the northern frontier could soon be the world's most expensive place to build cars and trucks. Wards Automotive thinks the CAW will soon...
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