Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2001 13:57:24 -0700
Reply-To: Charles McGehee <chasm@ELLTEL.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Charles McGehee <chasm@ELLTEL.NET>
Subject: Re: Germans To Pay People To Crush Vanagons
In-Reply-To: <4.3.2.7.2.20010927155756.0681c990@pop.rcn.com>
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
I just came back (August) from a month in Germany and can say that the
gov't is going to have to look long and hard to find many Vanagons to
crush. You don't see too many old cars on the road anyway since the
Germans have very strict auto inspections, which include inspection for
structural rust, and since they salt their roads, cars just don't last that
long. The vast majority of vanagons I saw were commercial delivery and
service models as well a post office vehicles, and they seemed almost
universally ready for crushing with or without this edict. They looked in
bad shape. Or they may find their way to eastern Europe or Turkey where
the market for used western European cars is good.
Charles
'85 Westy
At 04:05 PM 9/27/01 -0400, Derek Drew wrote:
>>
>>September 27, 2001
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>>Volkswagen Asks German Govt. Aid
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>>By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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>>FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- The head of Volkswagen
>>(<http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/ap-germany-autos.html?pagewanted/redirect/marketwatch/redirect.ctx?MW=http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/nyt-com/html-companyprofile.asp&symb=VLKAF>news/quote).
>>Europe's biggest carmaker, called Thursday for government help to
>>stimulate new car sales in the wake of terrorist attacks on the United
>>States, although the company said it's too early to assess the full
>>impact on business.
>>
>>Chairman Ferdinand Piech said in a statement he would expect ``to see
>>clear political support'' from the government in helping auto
>>manufacturers make it through what is likely to be a tough time.
>>
>>Volkswagen braced for a potential drop in the market this week, idling
>>plants in the German cities of Wolfsburg and Emden as a preventive
>>measure to avoid possible inventory buildups. These plants make some of
>>VW's most important models, including the Golf, Polo and Passat.
>>
>>Auto analysts say new car sales and showroom traffic in Europe have
>>slowed in the wake of the attacks, as they did in the United States.
>>Before the Sept. 11 attacks, Europeans were expected to buy 14.3 million
>>cars this year, down from 14.8 million last year; now, analysts say sales
>>could go as low as 14 million.
>>
>>Piech proposed a program where the government would pay people to scrap
>>their old cars. He said such a plan would not only increase demand for
>>new vehicles, but help the environment as well.
>>
>>The government could recoup some money in taxes on the new car purchases,
>>he said, but provided no further details.
>>
>>German luxury automaker BMW said Thursday the attacks were not
>>anticipated to affect its business. BMW gets roughly half its profit from
>>selling its luxury cars in the United States and Great Britain.
>>
>>``We don't anticipate any drastic economic consequences for the BMW
>>group, based on available data,'' said Michael Rebstock, a company spokesman.
>
>><http://www.ap.org/>Copyright 2001 The Associated Press
>
>===========================
>
>The proposal above was met by immediate acceptance from the German
>government, and as a result all 16" syncros were immedaitely rounded up
>and destroyed. All T3 Westfalias are scheduled to be destroyed next week,
>and all modified T3 VW vans with other than stock motors the week
>thereafter. However, an exemption was granted for any vehicle purchased by
>FLO and sent to America for resale. :-) -- Derek
>_______________________________________________
>Derek Drew
>CEO & Co-Founder
>http://www.ConsumerSearch.com/
>New York, NY
>===========================
>"Best Expert Review Site"
>for product reviews on the Internet
>Jan. 2001, PC World Magazine
>==========================
>derekdrew@rcn.com
>212-580-6486
>
>Alternate numbers for the industrious phone caller that wants to try every
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