Halls of Shrewd'm / US Policy
No. of Recommendations: 2
I wonder what they'll do when one day they wake up after years of "productivity" gains and start figuring out that there's fewer people who can buy a burger, a car, or who can travel or buy a TV.
It's gonna be funny when they figure that part out.
Thank Heavens i'm retired. Left some money on the table -- lots -- it sucks --but -- i'm not dealing with the blue haired pronoun labor force, and call me crazy, i want customers with jobs, incomes, and money. Not customers who lost their jobs to some robot.
Yeah yeah I know this has happened before and we come out beter.
Lemme know what entry level work the fast food dude does, let me know what truckers do to replace that income and benefits one day.
There's a reason fishing ponds are re-stocked with fish..... if you catch all of them, eventually -- there's nothing there.
No. of Recommendations: 2
It's gonna be funny when they figure that part out.
You do know there's lots of people thinking about this besides you, eh?
No. of Recommendations: 2
I wonder what they'll do when one day they wake up after years of "productivity" gains and start figuring out that there's fewer people who can buy a burger, a car, or who can travel or buy a TV.
The "JCs" don't care about volume. I have been posting, for a while, how managements want to move "upmarket". Automakers drop their smaller, lower priced, models, to juice ATP and GP, so they make more profit, while selling fewer cars, closing factories and laying Proles off as they go. I have posted about airlines increasing their "luxury" offerings, and stuffing more money in their pockets.
No-one seems to want the Prole for a customer, no matter how many Proles there are.
Steve
No. of Recommendations: 2
t's gonna be funny when they figure that part out.
You do know there's lots of people thinking about this besides you, eh?
***
By that reply - you aren't one of them.
And by the looks of paper assets for wanabee schmuk 401K'ers -- im not sure how much of this sentiment is priced in. Quite the opposite.
No. of Recommendations: 0
steve.....
Believe me, I've had a front row hands on seat to the whole "move upmarket" thing and I've seen the merits and pitfalls of it.
But -- even if everyone "moves upmarket"
Is there enough of a pie for everyone to do business upmarket?
Furthermore - when the upmarket people (401Kers lol) get hit with the same 'efficiency' and 'redundancy' that other workers are used to for decades.....when the "upmarket" get their ranks thinned....will there be enough of them i can sell a computer, car, TV, or vacation to?
The AssAndPee500 crowd.... it's nice toi see them start to sweat employment wise.---but i still fear where this is going
No. of Recommendations: 0
Is there enough of a pie for everyone to do business upmarket?That's what I was wondering, when the automakers started abandoning conventional passenger cars, for SUVs, because they could make more profit: when everyone is building nothing but SUVs, will they still command as fat a margin?
two years ago:
Ford CEO Farley Says Two Row ICE Crossovers Going Away
"So I'm very optimistic about our eight percent because we are not going to be playing in the two-row commodity crossover market because that's - because Ford's tried that in the ICE business and it didn't really work out for us," Farley said when asked about the company's profit margin target. "We want to play our hand, our strength, commercial, truck, larger vehicles on the category side."https://fordauthority.com/2023/02/ford-ceo-farley-...So, now, Ford is dropping the Escape and Corsair, two row SUVs, and, supposedly, retooling the plant to build "affordable" EV pickups. I have been saying the probabilities are non-zero that that EV pickup is vaporware, to provide political cover for their closing Louisville Assembly, and laying off 2800 Americans. While Ford tells customers "either pay up for an Explorer, or go away, because we don't want your low margin business".
Steve
No. of Recommendations: 1
So Ford is abandoning the compact SUV market? LOL. Farley has lost his mind.
Just saw a headline where the Toyota RAV4 just broke the F-150’s 40-some year streak of being America’s best selling vehicle. Somebody is obviously buying these things.
No. of Recommendations: 1
Replying to my own post:
The RAV4 is not only America’s most popular vehicle, it’s the most popular vehicle in the world.
So Ford kills its small SUVs not because the market doesn’t support them…they killed them because they suck.
Decision like this get CEOs fired, and deservedly so.
No. of Recommendations: 0
Come on and move to the Big Road Apple.
Free car, truck or SUV of your choice!
Courtesy of Caliph Mamdani.
No. of Recommendations: 2
The RAV4 is not only America’s most popular vehicle, it’s the most popular vehicle in the world. Management doesn't care about volume anymore. They are focused on escalating ATP and GP. As volume falls, because more and more people are priced out of a new car, they close more factories, and lay off more employees.
Management hubris.
In an interview with Financial Times, VW Group Chief Financial Officer, Dr. Arno Antlitz, explained that the company’s sales strategy will be changing drastically with the company moving away from large-volume models like the Golf and Tiguan and toward few but more premium models. Of course, this direction has become quite common with larger legacy automakers since premium cars have become more in demand lately. However, it leaves one to wonder if Volkswagen can pull it off. I’ve always said that Volkswagen thinks it’s more premium than it is, which is the exact reason why the Touareg failed in America – Volkswagen was charging premium prices for an SUV that had more hard plastic inside than your typical GM car.
According to Antlitz, the company wants to step up quality and margins as opposed to volume and market share.https://www.topspeed.com/cars/car-news/volkswagen-...Audi Is Moving Upmarket with Fancier, More Expensive Cars
Future models will come with "a significant increase in price."https://www.motor1.com/news/750730/audi-moving-upm...So, with VWs priced like Audis, and Audis priced like Bentleys, what is Ford thinking?
CEO Jim Farley Is Turning Ford Into The 'Porsche Of Off-Road' Vehicles
Ford’s CEO promises the automaker won’t make boring products as he says the German sports car maker is an inspiration for its off-road vehiclesRead More:
https://www.jalopnik.com/ceo-jim-farley-is-turning...Porsche is, of course, known for exorbitant prices, and exceptionally fat margins.
Seems they are all listening to the same management consultant, who is telling them "how to make more money, while doing less".
Steve
