They are now calling the Explorer Extinct!

[Stic-o]

Well it looks like my new plates are now more relavent then ever

Read the story here

Is the midsize SUV dying?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25104788/

 

[freakyb]

They certainly are hurting. Every week the wholesale market value of trucks and suvs slips. I don't see them recovering.

 

[Charlie]

Powered by recycled materials??

 

[Flounder]

They certainly are hurting. Every week the wholesale market value of trucks and suvs slips. I don't see them recovering.

There's an 07 V8 Limited on a Ford lot nearby. ~18,000 miles, looks brand new. They want $30,000. What a joke. If anything decent comes out of the gas prices, it's that you can walk in, offer $17,500, and probably walk out with it. Use the $7,500 you saved for gas now, as opposed to if you were paying $25,000 (after haggle) and $1.99 or $2.49 to gas it up (in the end, it's about the total money spent, isn't it?).

And yes--I've been tempted to pawn off the Trac for it.

 

[Charlie]

(in the end, it's about the total money spent, isn't it?).

Yep.

 

[redneck21]

stic-o i love ur EX even more now that i seen ur plat and bumper sticker.

 

[Essex4x4]

Hey i don't know about you guys and gals but my Ford Explorer is no where near being EXTINCT. In fact i am just getting warmed up. The REAL fun will have to wait for a while until gas prices slow down a bit. If the price keeps going up its off to the ford dealer for my new Ford Edge.

 

[Bwana Bob]

Its a vast left-wing conspiracy! Here's what Barack Hussein Obama said:

“We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK. That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen.”


That's why he scares me, along with Gore and all the other fanatics

Hide the beer. Hide the pizza,. Hide your Explorer. The SUV, food, and thermostat police are coming.

But... In the Frenchified land of the future, somewhere, maybe in the frozen north or the desert sands, Explorers will still run free!


Keep truckin'.
Bob

 

[Dan Whitaker]

Looks like everyone got all wrapped up in thinking someone dared to call Explorers extinct to notice it is Stic-O's personalized license plate on his Jurassic Park Explorer. Also note th EF license plate frame.

 

[Stic-o]

I was consened about the story I posted. My license plate was just fitting

 

[Gator Jeff]

Its a vast left-wing conspiracy! Here's what Barack Hussein Obama said:

“We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK. That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen.”


That's why he scares me, along with Gore and all the other fanatics

Hide the beer. Hide the pizza,. Hide your Explorer. The SUV, food, and thermostat police are coming.

But... In the Frenchified land of the future, somewhere, maybe in the frozen north or the desert sands, Explorers will still run free!


Keep truckin'.
Bob

Yeah, God forbid conservatives would actually be asked to conserve natural resources and take personal responsibility for living to excess.

It actually is possible to have efficient SUVs and renewable energy that we don't have to kiss some Saudi's @$$ for. But that would require effort and investment in the United States. I'm sorry, what am I thinking. That might require American companies to hire AMERICANS again.

 

[Flandry]

Good article, though it could've used an editor. US carmakers are definitely in big trouble for their almost total reliance on our section of the market (light truck) to keep them profitable. Unlike the dinosaurs, and some of the other US manufacturers, Ford appears to be making bold decisions to adapt quickly, even if it means gambling on the entire future of the company.

 

[WhiteLimited]

 

[Dan Whitaker]

I was consened about the story I posted. My license plate was just fitting

Doh! I skipped right over the link. I thought you were just being funny.

 

[410Fortune]

conserve natural resources?

We arent even tapping into our own natural resources... by the time we do cars will fly and be powered by water

Obama will not even plege allegience to this country and you want to make him your leader?

That to me is INSANE

 

[Silver X]

....Yeah, God forbid conservatives would actually be asked to conserve natural resources and take personal responsibility for living to excess....

Yep, those evil conservatives are the ones using up all our resources and ruining everything.

Since when is Al Gore a conservative?

How about all those liberal celebrities and politicians who fly all around the world in their private jets to speak out about this same BS? Then bounce around to each of the mansions they own. A little hypocritical?
Hey, those rules are for everyone else...I'll do what I want then just buy up some more of those carbon credits.

 

[Gator Jeff]

conserve natural resources?

We arent even tapping into our own natural resources... by the time we do cars will fly and be powered by water

Obama will not even plege allegience to this country and you want to make him your leader?

That to me is INSANE

I'm going to ignore the ignorant political comments and presumptions. This isn't DMI.

As for conserving resources, even the oilmen will tell you that many oil fields are drying up and many that are out there still would cost more to exploit than even $150 bbl oil would justify.

In WWII, we were a country that turned our industries overnight into ones supporting the war effort. Today if we needed to do that, we'd be placing an order to China asking them to go easy on the lead paint.

The point of conserving resources is planning ahead. This greedy, spend it all attitude is going to eventually screw our children and grandchildren. The point of conservation is to plan for a "rainy day".

What is wrong with coming up with something better just because. If we didn't try so hard to put Americans out of work just so a few wealthy stockholders and CEOs can be even more wealthy, we might get something done in this country.

 

[CDW6212R]

I'm going to ignore the ignorant political comments and presumptions. This isn't DMI.

As for conserving resources, even the oilmen will tell you that many oil fields are drying up and many that are out there still would cost more to exploit than even $150 bbl oil would justify.

In WWII, we were a country that turned our industries overnight into ones supporting the war effort. Today if we needed to do that, we'd be placing an order to China asking them to go easy on the lead paint.

The point of conserving resources is planning ahead. This greedy, spend it all attitude is going to eventually screw our children and grandchildren. The point of conservation is to plan for a "rainy day".

What is wrong with coming up with something better just because. If we didn't try so hard to put Americans out of work just so a few wealthy stockholders and CEOs can be even more wealthy, we might get something done in this country.

We all want magic powered vehicles(alternative fuels). No matter what you say or we all do, now or later, it cannot fix the problem that we have now. Any talk about what we should have done, or every possible fuel alternative, that is a waste of breath to fix today's problem.

Dumb question, should we save all of this oil that we have, convert everything to not need oil, and then leave the oil in the ground? We conserved it(sic).

The oil that we have now(off limits to drilling) could provide all of our needs far beyond when we will no longer need it. We should use every bit of the oil sources that we can to satisfy our requirements now, no other fuel source can.

No other fuel source is developed yet and integrated into our infrastructure. That will take ages, as in 10 years, or 20 years, or more. Doing nothing till that day comes is stupid. I am not against developing other energy sources. I am against ignoring the energy sources that we have now, and paying for oil from terrorist supporting countries.

Stop whining about what should be happening 10-20 years from now. First correct today's problem, harvest the energy sources which we have now. Then after that has begun, concentrate on finding real energy sources to support us before the oil reserves do run out. Contact your representatives, they are the people stopping us from helping ourselves. They control the regulations which ban drilling in 85% of our potential oil sources.

 

[Gator Jeff]

We all want magic powered vehicles(alternative fuels). No matter what you say or we all do, now or later, it cannot fix the problem that we have now. Any talk about what we should have done, or every possible fuel alternative, that is a waste of breath to fix today's problem.

Dumb question, should we save all of this oil that we have, convert everything to not need oil, and then leave the oil in the ground? We conserved it(sic).

The oil that we have now(off limits to drilling) could provide all of our needs far beyond when we will no longer need it. We should use every bit of the oil sources that we can to satisfy our requirements now, no other fuel source can.

No other fuel source is developed yet and integrated into our infrastructure. That will take ages, as in 10 years, or 20 years, or more. Doing nothing till that day comes is stupid. I am not against developing other energy sources. I am against ignoring the energy sources that we have now, and paying for oil from terrorist supporting countries.

Stop whining about what should be happening 10-20 years from now. First correct today's problem, harvest the energy sources which we have now. Then after that has begun, concentrate on finding real energy sources to support us before the oil reserves do run out. Contact your representatives, they are the people stopping us from helping ourselves. They control the regulations which ban drilling in 85% of our potential oil sources.

Who's whining? Those who are afraid of change perhaps?

But you make some valid points. Of course we can't flip a switch and convert to zero-emission vehicles. But we have reached a tipping point from both a supply and a geo-political viewpoint. Before anyone starts screaming about all the supposed supplies we have, there are as many studies that say they are dwindling. Besides, switching to domestic fossil fuel sources will reduce our supply whether it be in the Everglades, ANWAR or Dick Cheney's arteries. BTW, I am all for new and cleaner running refineries. That is a huge bottleneck in our current petroleum industry that must be remedied now. The oil companies also need to start drilling where they already have rights instead begging for more.

My point which I think many have missed is we need to start preparing NOW. Preparing and creating new infrastructure for alternate fuels and maintaining (and improving) our current fossil fuel infrastructure are not mutually exclusive. Sitting there and failing to act because we have 10, 20, 50 years or whatever supply left is irresponsible. We all know how quickly our government works whether it be run by right wing or left wing nut jobs. Look how smoothly the Big Dig went.

If someone says it will take 10 years to create a reliable hydrogen infrastructure just for an example, you can bet they were using 5 year old data and it will take twice as long to create something that can barely meet demand.

Acting responsibly is acting now. Fix our roads, fix our bridges and figure out now what our next fuel source is going to be. Starting now, we might just finish in time.

 

[CDW6212R]

It has taken Brazil over 30 years to be almost energy independent. They started in the 70's after the first crisis, they will reach the goal once they do get their current ocean oil drilling up and running. We can do it faster of course, but no one should think that the answer is going to fix the current gas prices.

The new refineries have been avoided mainly because of their cost, and oil supplies which they have access to. They do not build refineries for oil in Alaska which they cannot touch. The same goes for all of the oil in our coastal regions, and the shale oil in Colorado. It's all off limits right now, most by two laws, both a state and federal law.

They are in business, and based on their projections of oil supplies(reserves), building new refineries would lose them money. It takes a certain number of years just to pay for building one. If oil ran out before then, why would they build that refinery?

As for them drilling etc. in places where they have drilling rights, I gather that the same analysis has stopped them. Why spend millions on a well when the final result could be a loss of money. They make projections on how much will come out of a well, versus the cost of the well. That is for all drilling, when a well turns up nothing or very little, that loss goes into the projections of all of the drilling.

Thus I think that they are in business, and if drilling anywhere would make money for them, they would be doing it. These are Americans who deal in freedom of their business in our free economy. Any country run oil company might do something stupid like drilling and losing money. I doubt that many independent businesses will do that on purpose.

The bottom line is simple, still. Drill where the oil is, drill where it is easier/cheaper/safer to get. Don't waste time or money on other places. Fortunately that is the way our economy does work, when it is allowed to. The government is responsible for the massive road blocks stopping oil companies, including making it unfeasible to build a refinery. They don't need the government to force them to do something. They need the government to get out of the way, and allow them to do what they do best. That is the fastest way to improve fuel prices.

P.S. Jeff, my comment about "whining" and most of what I wrote was about millions of others, not you.