Word: carly
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...wound up 1977 with about 10% of the market, its lowest share since the early '60s. But the company has high hopes for its Omni compact, which made its debut last week. At a list of $3,706, the Omni is Detroit's first front-wheel-drive car with a transverse engine, and has earned Motor Trend magazine's "car of the year" award, which is usually a boost for sales...
Also faring well, but not as well as expected, are Detroit's "scaled-down intermediates," mainly such mid-size GM cars as the Oldsmobile Cutlass, Pontiac Grand Prix, Buick Century and Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Lighter and more economical than their ancestors, the new middies' prices are causing some buyers to balk over what they see as getting less car for more money. That has put dealers on the spot. Says Detroit Ford Dealer Jim McDonald: "The customers feel that since a car is smaller, it's bound to have less in it. Our job is basically education...
Result: the 36-month car loan is on the way out, with as many as 40% of buyers opting for 42-and 48-month loans. But prices are such that payments are still high. Laments a Detroit ad salesman: "I used to pay $131, and now it's $186 a month. That's a helluva jump...
...producing small, or at least smaller, en masse, instead of simply talking about it. The resulting products are leaner, tighter, more economical and technically sophisticated than any other crop of vehicles in the industry's history. Detroit's scale-down is already showing up in car-rental agencies. National calls a Pontiac Grand Prix a full-size car and charges accordingly, even though what the driver gets is a vehicle about as big as yesteryear's intermediate...
...defense, Luby's called the matter "a misunderstanding" on the part of an assistant manager who had merely thought Harmony should wait in the car because Garcia's wife was along to assist him. Retorted Garcia: "That dog is my eyes. You wouldn't ask me to leave an artificial leg in the car. Why my eyes...