Quote:
Originally Posted by FFMaro
Not their fault! The UAW and the frozen credit markets combined have brought them to their knees! They were getting along fine and were getting better up intill the credit froze. They have more models with over 30mpg than any other auto manufacturer out there, and you call that poor buissess? Its not a "bailout", its a loan, that they have to pay back, the media wants to scream "bailout" to make people pissed off becasue they have a bias for imports.
Toyota and Honda have NOT been #1 and #2, I dont know where your getting your info.  GM has been #1 for a long time, and only 1 year Toyota has outsold GM.
GM has been stepping up and getting better in the past 10 years, Honda just dosent have a union that wants to destroy the company, thats the diffrence.
All of this bias BS pisses me off   |
Ding ding ding ding! We have a Winner!!!!!!!!!
I might add to this a few other points:
The U.S. has had the strictest government mandated safety and emissions standards foisted upon the car industry than any other country in the world. a big part of the reason for their focus on trucks/SUVs was that the standards for these vehicles were less draconian. Trucks and SUVs turned into a profit GOLDMINE because the american people LIKE having large, safe, capable vehicles. It's what the consumer here PREFERS.
Why is it completely lost on the media that their beloved Toyota, Honda, Nissan, etc. have ALL been chomping at the bit to break into this lucrative segment with their own huge guzzling SUVs and Pickups?
Over time, the US companies migrated to the vehicles their core buyers wanted from them and away from small cars. To be competative in that market they had to produce cheaply made cars because of unions and all that. Import car companies come from places where gas was outrageously expensive and there was no love of trucks, so years ago their core market at home was to focus on small fuel efficient cars and distinguish them from their competition with better quality and features. They simply took that experience over to the U.S. and started making the same type of cars here and they naturally had better econoboxes than the domestics did. They were experts at building them and the domestics were building them as cheaply and as minimalistic as possible simply as a way to OFFSET THE CAFE STANDARDS IMPOSED ON THEM so they could continue to produce the SUVs and Trucks people were clamoring for.
When the imports tried to steal market share in the truck/suv segment, the reverse situation happened. They were the ones with no experience and no reputation and it showed. Their first attempts were laughable, the second round were improved but still not up to par. They suppered from quality problems and design flaws. They couldn't match the domestics because they had all the experience.
The domestics did realize a cycle or two ago that they needed better small cars and their first attempts were improved but still suffered. Their latest versions are as good as their rivals and only suffer now because of media bias and public ignorance.