Sean Breheny wrote:
> What? Car prices consistently go UP,on an absolute scale,anyway. I haven't
> taken into account inflation,but my guess it that they would still have
> increased slightly. For example, my family bought a new nissan sentra in
> 1988 (the 88 model) for about $8000. The 97 model went for about $12,000.
> Perhaps I once again misread your post,but it sure seemed that you were
> saying that US car prices go down consistently.

Yes, I was talking about price/performance/technology and prices
at USA, that coincidentally an annual inflation of 4%, $8000 in 1988
means $11,384 in 1997.  The actual marketing and advertisement cost
is much more aggressive today than 10 years ago, and if they kept the
price somehow stable, it means that the production cost was reduced.
If you open the hood of an actual car, you almost can't see the
engine anymore, zillions of cables, tubes, electronics, servos,
there is an incalculable cost attached here. If you compare with
the simple carburetor, coil and distributor used 10 years ago, we
did a long progress without increased the price at the same rate.
Technically it means a reduction in the price/(performance+confort).
--------------------------------------------------------
Wagner Lipnharski - UST Research Inc. - Orlando, Florida
Forum and microcontroller web site:   http:/www.ustr.net
Microcontrollers Survey:  http://www.ustr.net/tellme.htm