Sunday, December 14, 2008

Vauxhall

How keen is the government to rein back employment in the public sector when it expects taxpayers to dig deep into their pockets to support third rate car manufacturer Vauxhall through the economic downturn!?!

Vauxhall was rated 26th out of the 33 car manufacturers in the JD Power survey 2007!

"Vauxhall Vectra Rating 76.4% Overall ranking 93rd: The Vectra's only saving grace is that it proved reasonably well built. Otherwise, it could have been looking at its second consecutive year at the bottom of its class [ Family cars]. Owners didn't like how it drove, its running costs or the interior's lack of practicality, and slated the service from their dealers. However, the biggest criticisms were for how the car looked, its uncomfortable seats, awkward dash layout and poor stereo and ventilation systems. The Vectra was by far the worst car in this class for these aspects."

6 comments:

Letters From A Tory said...

It's a classic case of conflicting objectives - they either use taxpayers money to prop up the business or use taxpayers money to pay benefits for those who lose their jobs.

Lesser of two evils, perhaps? It's a tricky situation.

Anonymous said...

LFAT

Not tricky at all. If worthless jobs are preserved, it means that further down the line, give it 12 months maximum, another load of taxpayers' hard-earned dosh will be earmarked to preserve these very same jobs (and, by no coincidence at all, Labour votes). I'm all for being generous (for a time) to people who lose their jobs because their employers produce crap but why should I (and you) continue paying workers to produce cars which nobody wants?

BTW, before anybody starts on about "saving greedy bankers" so why not Vauxhall, imagine life without the banking system compared with life without Vauxhall.

Snafu said...

LFAT, I'm with Umbongo on this.

Why should scarce resources be wasted producing items that no one values!?!

Anonymous said...

Umbongo: "imagine life without the banking system compared with life without Vauxhall."

A couple things.

1. Why bail out Vauxhaull but no money to Nissan or Toyota?

2. We should neither have bailed out the bankers, nor loaned them money. We should instead have set up new banks with the bailout money (thus the new banks would have been debt free) and allowed the old ones to implode or otherwise according to the skill of their management.

That would have allowed lending at normal commercial terms to continue in the economy.

Eventually, we might even have been able to float the new banks and recoup the initial outlay.

Anonymous said...

SNAFU: "Why should scarce resources be wasted producing items that no one values!?!"

The banks were in the business of force feeding the economy with cheap finance at uneconomic rates.

Vauxhall is in the business of force feeding the economy with cheap cars at uneconomic rates.

There was an unlimited demand for free finance, there is probably an unlimited demand for free cars too. Where is the difference?

By the way, there is unlimited demand for free health care too, do you suggest we should at this moment in time expand the NHS?

Zoey R said...

Goodd read