Detroit losing auto race to the Japanese

[Doggiedog]

Text

 

[Anubis]

Thanks I didnt allready know that

 

[Schadenfroh]

Hate to say it, but, they deserve to win it.

 

[meltdown75]

Darn - link won't come up for me yet. But in a related news story yesterday, Canadian auto sales reports from the Big 3 show purchases up 20% from this time in 2004.

 

[Doggiedog]

That is one poorly written article.

 

[Doggiedog]

Originally posted by: meltdown75
Darn - link won't come up for me yet. But in a related news story yesterday, Canadian auto sales reports from the Big 3 show purchases up 20% from this time in 2004.

Detroit's cars of the future generate plenty of excitement. The problem is with the present ?and the attitudes of buyers like Robin Rene.

"I'd like to support strictly [the] U.S. economy overall," she says while shopping for a car in Denver. "But, you know, I also need a reliable and dependable car."

So, as she has for the last 20 years, Rene will get a Japanese vehicle.

Two decades ago, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler had 76 percent of the market. Today, it's below 60 percent and falling.

U.S. automakers are still haunted by an image that Micheline Maynard, author of "The End of Detroit: How the Big Three Lost Their Grip on the American Car Market," says they can't shake.

"It isn't that the quality coming out of the factory is so bad," says Maynard. "But as you get to about three years of ownership, which is when the warranty expires, people tend to have more problems with Detroit vehicles than Japanese vehicles."

Yet Detroit's reliability is getting better. U.S. manufacturers are still in second place according to Consumer Reports, but they are inching closer to their Asian rivals.

But the U.S. industry has huge expenses ? health care packages for workers cost the Big Three anywhere from $1,000 to $1,500 per vehicle, compared to less than $400 for the Japanese.

And then there are incentives. To move its vehicles, Detroit offered an average of more than $3,100 in February, nearly three times as much as Japan. It's a trend that GM ? with its falling sales and profits ? says it must reverse.

"One of the things is you introduce good new cars that command better margins, don't require as much in the way of incentives to move them," says GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz.

Even Oprah Winfrey isn't enough. The Pontiac G6s she gave her audience last fall today have incentives that take 20 percent off the sticker price, far more than the Toyota Camry or Honda Accord.

Having dominated passenger cars and made inroads with SUVs, Japan now has its sights on Detroit's last big profit center ? pickup trucks.

Toyota cenior vice president Don Esmond says the formula won't change.

"At the end of the day, it's who does the best job of listening to the customer" who is going to be the winner in the high stakes race to capture the loyalty and confidence of America's drivers.

 

[jemcam]

I think this has been a known fact since at least the late 70's.

 

[gscone]

Not one bit surprising to me.

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: Doggiedog
That is one poorly written article.

You got that right...cenior? Man.

 

[Stumps]

they forget to mention one thing...American products..poor quality!

 

[Mucho]

Losing or lost?

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: Stumps
they forget to mention one thing...American products..poor quality!

where's my top-notch quality BA Mk2 falcon to show them what can be done

 

[Tremulant]

I like the caption on the first pic. "Toyotas fresh off the boat"

 

[mobobuff]

At least we don't have any Mothras, Gamaras or Godzillas to worry about.

 

[gscone]

Originally posted by: Stumps
they forget to mention one thing...American products..poor quality!

I wouldn't say all American products are of poor quality. COme on- My lawn mower is great- And its Made in the good old USA...

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: Stumps
they forget to mention one thing...American products..poor quality!

It was sort of implied with that first woman quoted. They say their products are getting better...but doesn't it seem a bit late for that? Shouldn't they have mailed that to like 20 years ago?

Even if they throw really reliable cars out there right now, they can't just turn 20 years of image ruining around overnight.

And if the Japanese are the Japanese, they aren't going to sit still and let you catch up.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: mobobuff
At least we don't have any Mothras, Gamaras or Godzillas to worry about.

yea but that could make things intresting

i woudl enjoy seeing godzulla trample most of SOCAL

 

[Stumps]

Originally posted by: dug777

Originally posted by: Stumps
they forget to mention one thing...American products..poor quality!

where's my top-notch quality BA Mk2 falcon to show them what can be done

pfft even a VN commodore or EA falcon series 1 has better build quality to most late model american cars, I remember comparing an american spec 2000gt mustang to a Aussie spec mustang parked right beside it, the panel alignment was shocking on the yank version, the interior trim was rougher and fittings failed to line up in the cabin, the only thing it had going for it was the slighty better performance, but the ride quality was worse and handling was below average.
although the real difference was the $20000 in price the Aussie car had over the US model..I can see why.
I have also looked at GMC products and found them to be a lot poorer quality than GMH products..which is a hard thing to do cause Holden's suck big time.
I can see why journo's here gave up comparing aussie cars to US ones in the late 90's and started comparing them to german and japanese products.
the BA falcon is the icing on the cake..even the base models are a work of art..panel alignment so tight it's hard to see where they join, and the DOHC inline six..sweet

 

[rh71]

and yet Ford continues to make the news with QA problems (even without the bad PR with that roof problem from yesterday)

 

[StageLeft]

It's a tribute to how nationalism can drive economics that the domestics still have 60%. They've had demonstrably inferior cars (in most areas) for a long time, but Americans still insist on "buying American".

 

[Stumps]

Originally posted by: rh71
and yet Ford continues to make the news with QA problems (even without the bad PR with that roof problem from yesterday)

thats ford america...ford australia doesn't suffer from such stuff up...ok maybe the 1988 ford EA falcon series 1 wasn't the best car..but it is still ten times better than any US cars..in terms of build quality that is.

 

[sandorski]

They began losing back in the 70's. During the 80's they had a temporary repreive due to steep Tarrifs on Japanese cars, but that only delayed the inevitable. The Big 3 are Poster boys to why Tarrifs and other Trade Restrictions inevitably hurt that which is being protected. When the competition is being held back artificially there is no incentive to improve your own product in order to compete on a level playing field.

 

[Eli]

Gee, ya think?

 

[Stumps]

Originally posted by: sandorski
They began losing back in the 70's. During the 80's they had a temporary repreive due to steep Tarrifs on Japanese cars, but that only delayed the inevitable. The Big 3 are Poster boys to why Tarrifs and other Trade Restrictions inevitably hurt that which is being protected. When the competition is being held back artificially there is no incentive to improve your own product in order to compete on a level playing field.

thats the main reason that Aussie Manufacturers are so far ahead of their US conterparts..our government wouldn't impose any sort of Tarrifs and taxs on foriegn manufacturers..the result..at the end of the 1980's aussie car where still number one even after the massive jap invasion..hell our manufactures even wised up and used jap parts and rebadged certain cars to stay ahead..it all worked. now our cars a superbly manufactured, ev the 1998 AU has awesome build quality even if it does look abit crook(mainly the base forte model, the tickford series, especially the TE50 looks sexy)

 

[geno]

Originally posted by: Mucho
Losing or lost?

Losing.