Projo Cars Blog

It is all very well piling on the preposterous John Thain (the former head of Merrill Lynch who was fired for dishing out mega bonuses from the trough of taxpayer bailout money) for his vanity and greed, but here we go again with our own case of the grabs with sales of gas guzzlers inching up now that gas prices have come down from last summer's highs.

This according to USA Today which reported Chrysler President Jim Press saying the full-size Dodge Durango SUV is in the shortest supply among all its vehicles.
Trouble is Chrysler decided last year to phase out the Durango when gas prices were high.

The increased demand shows "the fickleness of the market," Press told a J.D. Power and Associates conference for auto dealers.

It certainly makes forward planning a nightmare if trying to satisfy that fickleness is the only consideration.

But here's an idea. Why not just say no to the guzzlers and concentrate on producing fuel efficient vehicles? It's a win-win solution that fits in with President Obama's order to the Transportation Department to boost fuel-efficiency standards for 2011 model cars.

(Obama also told the Environmental Protection Agency to re-examine whether California should be granted a waiver to become the first state to impose greenhouse gas.)

Folks, the writing is on the wall with this new administration and it is up to the auto companies to innovate and produce cars for a new era.

Certainly let's have no more whining about such moves being too difficult or expensive. Cowboy up, Detroit!

But hey, let's get back to Thain and pile it on!

Did you see Maureen Dowd's column in The New York Times today in which she outlined Thain's interior decorating binge in which he spent more than $1 million on refurbishing his office.

Reported expenses included "...curtains for $28,000, a pair of chairs for $87,000, fabric for a "Roman Shade" for $11,000, Regency chairs for $24,000, six wall sconces for $2,700, a $13,000 chandelier in the private dining room and six dining chairs for $37,000, a "custom coffee table" for $16,000, an antique commode "on legs" for $35,000, and a $1,400 "parchment waste can."

You just can't make it up!

- Peter C.T. Elsworth

 Tags  Chrysler Fuel efficiency gas guzzlers gas prices NYT Thain USA Today

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