Hard times as the prevailing Economic Crisis Downturn has no doubt enforced us to implement budget cutting measures. Even despite of government incentives, many folks will still have to postpone buying new cars. For most of these folks the only alternative is to keep the older car, and make the necessary adjustment to prolong its lifetime.
Many developed countries have devised their fiscal policy to help their local automotive industries survived, furthermore they also encourage for better environment as well as improving energy conservation. The German people has for some time enjoyed government subsidy up to Euro 2,400 for buying a new car and let the old one scrapped. Other countries have lowered the tax on economical city cars, some also apply more leniently on hybrid or electric vehicle.
So instead of bailing out the ailing auto sectors many governments prefer to provide direct monetary injection to the common public, the direct users. There was another massive additional budget which Germany has been allocated for. Hence as anywhere else new car sales are dwindling down, the German auto manufacturing have experienced surging orders. In fact currently the US government is considering to follow the suit, though it would not be as near as the Germans could enjoy! Since much of the bulk went to financial sectors already with many ended up at Wall-Street.
If that is the case, certainly it would be up to the ordinary folks for keeping their older cars longer than they supposed to be designed for. A three years old car with reasonably mileage will need a replacement for its OEM parts or more according to its maintenance schedule. More part replacements and garage works under out of ordinary circumstances.
Such typical replacements would be among other things; Battery, Brake pads, air filter, All fluids (hydraulic power steering and braking) and plugs. And on certain model mostly on premium cars ; spark plug wires, ignition coils, pollution control devices (mostly catalytic converter and sensor ancillary). Then to another extend for those high performance and advanced technology especially sport or muscle car category; set of clutch, fuel supply ancillary and a bit of electrical parts.
The lists might be fewer for those brands on the top of JD Power's, a bit more down the JD ranks. The thing is there has been more car recalls recently than any other past time. Even the trusty Toyota has suffered as such, it is no wonder since most auto manufacturing has undergone cost cutting measures long before even the crisis in order to attain higher margins.
And to make the matter worse, some brand have boldly shorten a number of part's lifetime. Have you encounter such experiences? Certain particular Mercedes Benz car parts are ought to be replaced in every two years cycle. A modern ignition lay out necessitate multiple electronic coils inside engine within the upper cylinder head space. Extreme heat and vibration will surely limit lifetime expectancy much shorter than single coil application on engine compartment that of 1990s car has.
There are other numerous vulnerable and highly sensitive car parts which in the name of advanced technology will override reliability issues. Aren't these technology supposed to be for the end customers' advantages? Apparently this is one reason for the after market industry's phenomenal growth within the last decade. And along with this sector the rise of tuner part makers such as ; Mallory, Superchips, K&N, Nology, NOS, Apexi, Borla, Pacesetter, Eibach, GReddy, Mopar and many other. From very specialized field to wider applications respectively.
The existence of these tuners opens a new opportunity window for us. It minimizes our reliance to those big auto makers by offering wide choices for OEM replacement parts. It will shift revenues from the big guy's coffer to smaller enterprise's which make better performance parts for us. Furthermore the end customers have incredible selection as to what level of performance that their cars could attain. From the level of prolonging car parts's lifetime, better fuel mileage to the performance level of which only muscle car and premium car has in the past.
No comments:
Post a Comment