Chengdu Sings Ode To Joe

@sunridge: Hard to argue with that. And no, my bitterness is not selective, it applies to many things I choose not to discuss here. That said, yes, you are right, emerging markets are the key to viability in the increasingly competitive automotive market. Why does everyone think Acura/Lexus/Infiniti still exist in NA? These in particular are, have always been, and will always be, 'niche' markets'. For example, the median income of a '13 Acura RDX buyer is approx. $120k/US. Not sure about you, but I know FEW people who bring home even close to that. The f***ed up thing is, where I work, we still sell a LOT of them. The fact that Honda has decided to import to Canada Chinese Fits are proof of this. The markets that are established will continue to struggle, since most of NA's prime age demographic that could and would spend $ on a new ride would rather get a $1500 rusted out 1992ish Cutlass Ciera and enjoy other creature comforts (iPhone, sat tv, booze, illicit drugs, et. al.) instead is indeed a challenge for the industry as a whole, just to avoid the dreaded burden of a car payment, and increased car insurance payments (unrealized repair costs of an older chariot out of warranty notwithstanding). Thank Dave Ramsey for that, that bastard. :) Bring back a sub $15k -RWD!- car (and the 'easy' credit that goes along with it) that gets 35-40mpg and NA would see sales boom in a heartbeat. Caveat there is, most that could afford such are working the oil fields in North Dakota/Montana/Alberta, make a s#!tton of money, NEED a 3/4 ton truck in order to do their job, and will spend $40-50k on a new truck at the drop of a hat; thus buying "Murican" (whatever the f*** that means anymore)... There is a lot of money to be made in China/India/Thailand by all automakers (especially since they own increasing amounts of NA's money, treasury bills, real estate, etc.) and the automakers all know that, but...culturally, if we in NA don't want to be driving used rusted-out, sex-stained crap in the next 10-20 years (since that is all we will be able to afford), something needs to be done. And i'm afraid the most likely to fill this void (at least presently) isn't 'American' or Japanese automakers, but the Koreans. Fiatsler/GM/Honda/anyone else with capital in NA, are you listening??? You haven't for years, but unless you want a market that has footed the bill for your operations the past three, four, five decades to go the way of Zimbabwe or Greece, you might want to listen to the rants of this working class hack (me). :)