Well, I guess if your big SUV gets in an accident with a Prius, you have a better chance of survival, is a good reason to own a big SUV, you may have a point. I have heard this as justification to buy a big vehicle. I have seen how aggressive some large vehicle drivers operate their vehicles, apparently with this in mind. If we are ever going to wean ourselves from the problems of foreign oil, the smaller, better gas mileage vehicles are the way to go until we develop better fuel cell and battery technology vehicles or go to natural gas. WE need to settle on something because having gasoline, natural gas, electric and fuel cell cars all on the road will create problems to resupply their needs.

At first I was for it before I was against it (hmm, where have I heard that line before?), simply because I felt that this country needed to keep what small industrial infrastructure that it has, and especially because of potential threat from the "axis of evil" countries. But now I realize that nothing is going to keep these car companies solvent until they change their way of thinking. Any monies given to them will be just that-given, with no intention of paying it back. Plus, why would any of them want to abandon such a lucrative market where the potential to make money is boundless, i.e., with the right product. America will always have its love affair with cars, and the deciding factors will ultimately be what's affordable, how it fits into our lifestyles, and what colors are available.

I buy American cars because they are big. we have 4 full size vehicles and one Pontiac Sunfire. The big cars are wonderful and we need the size. The Sunfire, on the other hand, is a piece of junk just like all the other smaller American vehicles that I have owned through the years. Face it, there is no way that the big three can compete with smaller vehicles because the Hondas, Toyotas, etc. are much higher quality. Some people, like me, want and need larger vehicles and the profit margin is way up there, and if anything, the big three should drop their smaller vehicles and concentrate on the big profitable ones. By the way, Toyota makes about $6,000 profit on an SUV and actually loses money on every Prius, and this is the car that you want them to build?