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The Article 'No Traction: Europe's Car Makers Spin Their Wheels'

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Are cars going to still exist in Europe’s future? The article “No Traction: Europe’s Car Makers Spin their Wheels” written by Vanessa Fuhrmans states that there is a decline in people buying cars. Companies such as Ford Motors, General Motors, and Fiat SpA are showing that they have lost billions of Euros during this year. The loss of money is causing these car making companies to close down the doors on many of their plants. Companies closing its plants down has left many people without a job which has angered many of their previous workers; such as in Genk, Belgium; where they would “protest by torching cars, smashing windows and storming a building.” Some workers in Ugur Alkism have worked at a plant for 27 years are now left with …show more content…

Firstly, the price of related goods such as rental cars and carpool programs has led to people not needing to own a car of their own because these services are cheaper than buy a car. Another determinant is income. For example, due to the economic crisis people such as Mr. Felice decided to save his money and be prepared for the worse than spend in on an Audi TT that he has been saving to buy. People like Mr. Felice are not feeling secure about their financial stabilities therefore is being more cautious with whether he should be spending his money on something that is either a need or want. The last determinant of demand is number of buyers because due to the other substitute goods and instability of income the numbers of buyers are decreasing. If people aren't buying cars then the revenue of these car making companies will decrease as well because they are not having any money come in. The number of buyers is also decreasing due to the change of driving-age population in Europe. Compared to the United State, Europe's population is aging which leads to people not wanting to buy are car. An aging population leads to a decrease in car sales because people who are 50 year old or older will not be recommended or be allowed to drive themselves. However, Europe is not the only country that has car makers struggling to turn their sales into the positive but even in America sales have been down.

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