I would dearly love to see a Russian Lada in a Ford parking lot.
Posted on 07/29/2008 7:14:54 PM PDT by Kaslin
Auto-industry insiders over the years have often blamed Detroit's mounting problems on mediocre management, poor technological leadership and a lack of vision for the future.
While the successful foreign firms relied on technological innovation, a thorough study of the market, clever marketing and high quality, Detroit's Big Three automakers relied on massive economies of scale, price discounting, zero-percent financing, rebates and volume fleet sales, all of which led to erosion of vehicle resale values.
What were customers to do? Buy highly rated "foreign" cars with high resale values or steeply discounted American vehicles with lower resale values?
The answer is in the numbers. From 1992 to 2007, the number of imported passenger vehicles more than doubled, and Toyota Motor Co. is now the world's largest automaker. According to a new joint study by TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence and Auto Futures Group, the No. 1 brand Americans will consider buying is Toyota.
Our study also shows that when it comes to brand power among customers, Toyota and Honda owners are — on average — four times more likely to promote their brands to friends than Ford owners are, and three times more likely to promote their brands than GM or Chrysler owners.
This does not bode well for Detroit, where the Big Three are at crossroads. Already bleeding from declining sales, increasing incentives and heavy lease losses, they must at the same time find the resources to retool their lineups, remake their images and shore up their market values.
(Excerpt) Read more at ibdeditorials.com ...
Sorry to hear this. I drove my 1993 Ford Explorer 250,000 miles with nary a blip. I traded it in on an Escape in 2003 (not really necessary) and I’ve had no problems with it whatsoever. I do think that there’s plenty of blame to go around. Detroit was extremely short sided. They should’ve been looking ahead about twenty years. They’ve just lived too long in the moment, a sure disaster for any company.
I hear you. That's what happened to my 1987 Alfa Romeo Spyder, back in 1991.
I owned a 1998 Honda Civic VX as my 2nd car and a 1988 Chevy Cavalier as my 1st car.
Now which one broke down more times than I can count? Anyone?
Honda Civic. My Chevy Cav 1988 only gave me a headache once, which only needed a generic alternator. The spare parts for the Civic WHICH IS AN IMPORT cost me an arm and a leg, while the “crappy American” car parts were dirt cheap.
And I bought them both in Canada from where I;m from originally.
Yep, there’s a VW plant opening in Tennessee. You’ll notice how Nissan moved their North American HQ from California to Tennessee, as well.
In the meantime, California is in the midst of increasing its income tax to 11.3% for the top bracket. Tennessee’s? 0%. Nothing to see there, folks. Move along...
Looks like Audi may be using either the same VW plant in Chattanooga or building one of their own by 2011, as well.
I’ll be glad to see the change. I’ve heard great things about VW’s from friends who have one built in Germany. My Jetta, on the otherhand, was assembled in Mexico, and I’ve had quite a few problems with it. The engine failed, for one thing, though thankfully still under warranty.
It does get 45 mpg, so I can’t complain much about that, but European-made Jettas have better maintenance records. In Germany, they have fewer problems with them than Japanese cars.
Cars, cars, cars!
You know, there are a lot of people who don’t buy cars ... they buy trucks!
Name me a foreign manufacture’s truck that will pull 10K with no problem? How about a fifth wheel trailer or gooseneck trailer? And please, don’t make me laugh if you bring up the wussy little Tundra.
My old Cummins diesel has over 250,000 miles and my new Dodge 4500 pulls like a freight train even with 3 yrds of stone/dirt in the dump bed.
When you need to get some work done, American manufactures have the only choice.
Now ... you can have my little VW Jetta TDI turbo diesel when you pry it from my cold dead hands! You gotta love the 51-55 mpg it gets for the long “no work” trips.
I would dearly love to see a Russian Lada in a Ford parking lot.
I have a friend who owns his own tow truck business.
the other day he pointed out that he has NEVER had a honda or toyota on his truck. Its always american cars
A problem with most companies is that they don't understand that what they view as "customer loyalty" is just inertia. The majority of people do not like to change. You may lure a few people with your ads but the majority will come to you because their former supplier ticked them off royally.
And once they leave they tend not to come back.
My brother had an accord for about 14 years with about that same amount of mileage on it. It still had the original water pump on it.
The Escape (XLT or higher) is a nice midsize SUV. So far no complaints. Of course not the first model year, but it’s been real good. Handles well. Hauls what I need to.
My 1986 Accord was great for the first 110K miles. After that, it ate me alive.
My 1998 Accord was great for the first 125K miles. After that is was a huge money pit. I serviced that car religiously, garaged it and drove it primarily on the freeway.
That was the last of three Accords. A year ago I went out looking for a Camry, Accord, Mazda, or Nissan. Took a look at the Ford Fusion and the Saturn Aura XR just to placate my Dad. I was shocked how nice the Ford and the Saturn were. Serious cognitive dissonance after years of owning Japanese cars which were better than American cars. It was very difficult to overcome my built-in bias toward American nameplates, but the Aura and the Fusion were such better values that in the end it was an easy decision
I ended up buying the Aura XR because it blew the Japanese competition away. A comparably equipped Camry was $7K more and I didn't even like it as much as the Aura. It's the best car I've ever owned and it's a blast to drive.
GM's new models are great cars. Perception hasn't yet caught up to reality.
” Detroit was extremely short sided. “
I see the quality issue as a choice. Ford could make cars every bit as good as the Japanese brands, but they choose not to. It probably costs a incremental amount more to do it, but in this era, quality should just be a given.
It makes me mad because these are American owned companies. Our country can do better. We have the best engineers and other talents to do it right.
It just galls me that we let other countries use our intellectually capital to beat us at a core industry.
We make the best aircraft in the world because we choose to do so, why not cars?
I’ll be getting a new truck soon but there is no way I’m trading this car in. It’s a 1992 EX BTW.
American cars suck. I always buy Toyota or Honda.
Remember the Gremlin!
Precisely. American cars manufacturers need to get their shit together and make a better product, then they will get buyers. I’d love to buy American. LOVE TO. Bad news is I’ve owned 4 Toyotas and they’d have to be BETTER than what those guys make for the price.
Rebates are the worst gimmick ever. They simply raise the price by a couple of thousand dollars and then “give” some back to you.
Toyota - Kentucky here. 80,00 miles in 3 years and I have had zero problems with it. When I bought it I asked the dealer about how much an extended warranty would cost and he said, "I don't know, I've never sold one" Good enough for me, I didn't waste my money buying one either.
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