Open Bicycle

I found this pic on the Guardian website.  No, it’s not the parking lot at the new Ikea, it’s a holding space for unsold cars in the UK, and it’s full.  Carmakers around the world have seen sudden staggering sales slumps and resultant losses, and the number of new cars awaiting distribution and sale is climbing.  Production has ground to a halt and hundreds of thousands have been laid off.  Land Rovers and electric hybrids, hatchbacks and Hummers alike are sitting in lots like the one shown above, with little prospect of a eager new owner awaiting.

According to the Motley Fool,

“Toyota said that sales fell 32% in January, with Honda and Nissan down 29% and 30%, respectively.  In the US, Chrysler’s sales fell a whopping 55% in January, followed by GM falling nearly 50%, and Ford seeing a 40% decline.”

In Europe, many countries offer a “scrappage” incentive- usually a few thousand dollars in exchange for an older model auto to encourage the purchase of newer, more fuel efficient models.  Even this (no doubt well-lobbied) government bribe, however, seems to be having little impact of the decline of automoble consumption.  I’m not even going to try to venture an opinion on the US auto industry bailout.

It turns out that new cars are not the only ones feeling lonely right now- it’s been reported that thousands of Indian and other South Asian workers have been fleeing the once-booming Middle Eastern port city of Dubai and leaving their cars behind in the airport.  So far nearly 3000 autos have been abandoned as their owners flee the economic crash and untenable debt.

On the other hand, cycling (ahem) giant Giant Manufacturing Inc. has found itself unable to meet dealer demands for many models, and ended 2008 with sales up about 6%.  Data is spotty, but this writer found similarly upbeat sales numbers from several US, European, and Pacific rim bicycle makers.  Treehugger has also reported that bike mechanics have one of the hottest “green jobs” going right now. (see here and here)  Apparently, our employment futures are looking rosy over here at OPEN.

The (very cool) shop build-out will be done soon, stop by next month and we’ll pour ya a beer- we can talk about how this crisis presents the global community an opportunity to make real social and infrastructural change, chat about local hand-built track frames, and show you an awesome cargo bike that we have in the works… you can even carry that cool Ikea desk home with it!