Cars and values

Even though my husband and I are very happy with our two
automobiles (mine, as you know, the little red Mazda Protege 5,
and his Mercury Mountaineer), I am always curious about the new
models that are out there, values, and trends. This morning, while
checking my e-mail and the latest headlines, I came across this
article that linked to automedia.com, with information provided by
edmunds.com (2 respected car info sites). I won't go over the entire
article, but basically, in a nutshell, it stated that cars from Japan and
Europe have the highest residual value ("predictor of what a new car
or truck will be worth,compared to its initial price, when it's two, three,
or four years old"). On the other hand, Korean and American cars
have the lowest residual value. These values are important as they
determine the resale value of the car if and when it reaches the used
car marketplace. I can't say that I am entirely surprised by this info,
nothing new to me; I had always driven European until I bought
my Mazda. It is just a shame that the American automakers can't
do something to bridge the gap....seems like for every step they
take forward, they are either taking 2 back, or the foreign companies
are taking 2 or 3 steps even more forward. I think my husband loves
his Mercury more because SUVs are not common on Europe; they
are a symbol of America and he may have gotten caught up in the
whirlwind of being new here and wanting to experience something
different. He even e-mailed his relatives overseas pictures of it, and
we bought it used! The Alfa Romeo he drove in the past was a little
over 1/2 the size of the Mountaineer; not sure if he would go back to
it if he could now.....gosh, guess hubby is Americanized!

technorati tags:automedia.com, edmunds.com, cars, residual, resale, value