In article ,
F. George McDuffee wrote:

On Sat, 29 Nov 2008 12:06:47 -0500, Joseph Gwinn
wrote:

Holman Jenkins asks a very good question: Why is it that the Big Three
automakers can make cars profitably everywhere in the world but the US?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122765959966358461.html

The Wall Street Journal, 28 November 2008.

Joe Gwinn
--------------
Everything but the real problem is discussed.

In point of fact, every man, woman and child in the US now
owns/registers slightly more than one vehicle [1.05], a vehicle
being a car or light truck, not counting motorcycles/scooters.

You can see the estimated 2007 per capita car and truck ownership
by state at http://www.swivel.com/data_sets/spreadsheet/1003554
I have sorted and analyzed this data and would be pleased to
supply you a copy in M/S xls format.

Several points:

(1) To put it bluntly, THE REASON DETROIT AND THE TRANSPLANT
CAR COMPANIES CAN'T SELL MORE VEHICLES IN THE UNITED STATES IS
BECAUSE WE ALREADY HAVE MORE VEHICLES THAN WE NEED.

Umm. Please stop shouting. We can hear you.


Individuals
and families in highly congested urban areas (with higher
incomes) such as New Jersey, New York, and Washington D.C. don't
have [multiple] vehicles because these are not particularly
useful. ==It would make just as much sense to "rescue"
agriculture by attempting to get everyone to eat more.==

[rest snipped]

Cars wear out. Cars last something like seven years on average, maybe
ten years for some kinds, and are replaced. (Yes there are cars that
can be babied to last forever, but very few people really do that, or
even want to.) So all car companies in the west (where essentially
everybody has a car) are fighting over the replacement stream. They are
not waiting for the population to suddenly double, and never were.

Joe Gwinn