Edmunds.com | Inside Line | Auto Observer Your Account | Help | Directory
You are here:
![[F]](http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com/media/townhall/webxicons/site.gif){kind=small}
Forums
Sedans High End Luxury Cars
24700 messages, Last post on Dec 01, 2009 at 12:24 PM
You are in the Sedans Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens
Let's try to define this forum as being limited to luxury performance vehicles where the mainstream version in a typical configuration has an MSRP of at least $60k.
A luxury vehicle with a base price of $59k qualifies because it would typically be bought with some additional equipment, bringing the MSRP over $60k.
Vehicles like the E, 5, A6, M, or GS, even if available in certain versions over $60k, don't qualify because they are cars from companies that have higher end cars in their lineups.
|
So Ford Motors recently acquired the Rover brand name. You would think acquisitons would not be a priority today at Ford. Shouldn't Ford be focusing on pruning its brands than buying new brands (as if buying brands in the past did not do enough damage to Ford) Will Mazda use the name Rover for new luxury autos? Will Rover soon compete with Lexus, Acura ,Infiniti and various German marques? This may make a lot of sense if Ford did not own a large portion of Mazda. But unfortunately Ford does have a major ownership interest in Mazda. Ford already needs to use various Mazda platforms for its existing luxury marques. Using Mazda platforms to a new Rover division will simpily spread the Mazda platform far too thin among too many non-luxury/luxury vehicles. This will be like the repeat of the bad old days when platform sharing was overdone among Mercurys, Fords and Lincolns. IMO a Rover division of Mazda would be a new disaster for Ford. A disaster Ford cannot afford. link title |
|
|
Here is a blurb from the Wall Street Journal: Despite Toyota's expansion and rising earnings, the car maker has recently made a series of embarrassing recalls, which have tarnished its reputation for quality. Last year, it recalled 2.38 million vehicles in the all-important U.S. market, more than the 2.26 million it sold. Toyota recalled more autos than they sold? OUCH!! To help prevent such problems, Toyota said it expected to hire 8,000 engineers over the next four years. President Katsuaki Watanabe said that Toyota would spend more time in the development process of each product, conducting more up-front quality checks and delaying product launches if necessary. I can recall in the 1980s Ford made the same promises and used the slogan "Quality is Job Number One". In fact every single auto maker with quality problems have made the same kind of promises that Toyota is making now and despite their promises these troubled automakers have continued to incur major recalls. Will Toyota be different from other auto makers? If Toyota contines to try to build as many autos as they can in the shortest time possible then the answer is no. It is very hard to focus on quality when your top priority is to build things as fast as possible (that applies equally to auto manufacturing and every other human endeavor)
|
|
|
These words posted above are right in line with my prediction that Hyundai will overtake Toyota by January 2009 in the USA. The timing may be off a bit but the phenomenon is inevitable. Yes. Even BMW has decided to go with the Hyundai Sonata rear for its next generation 5 Series and they could have "borrowed" from anyone.
|
|
|
Replying to: blkhemi (Sep 20, 2006 1:33 am) The SRX does not sell well here at all. Have you checked the nat'l sales figures recently? TagMan
|
|
|
|
|
Replying to: dewey (Sep 20, 2006 6:19 am) Well, data is just data, meaningless without proper context. Toyota sells as much as Ford in the US (exceeds Ford globally in 2003). Toyota's recalls is only a fraction of that of Ford.
|
|
|
Replying to: hpowders (Sep 20, 2006 8:02 am) Maybe the photo illustrator of those 09 5 series pictures was Korean? |
|
|
Replying to: killerbunny (Sep 20, 2006 9:24 am) But you are going a step further and saying Toyota recalls are a fraction of Ford recalls. If that is so then Ford recalls must be 4 million or above. I dont think so? And even if that is the case Toyota has far stronger recall momentum than sales momenutum. Quality and Toyota are synonyms. If this recall momentum continues then Quality and Toyota will become antonyms.
|
|
|
|
|
Replying to: blkhemi (Sep 19, 2006 1:19 pm) GM sales far exceeds Toyota in China because they started doing business at least 5 years earlier. As I mentioned, Camry was introduced to China just under 1 year. The sales number are not amazing because the plant just started and not to full capacity. I personally know people from China that Camry is now selling 10% more than MSRP there. |
|
|
|
|
Replying to: dewey (Sep 20, 2006 9:31 am) The source I viewed stated that Ford recalled about 10 million. If you are not too short-memoried you should remember the 1 million recall at a single time (for truck) just a couple months back. Remember, recall is not just for the new cars. It dates back as far as 10 years. Although Toyota's quality slipped recently, the earlier Toyotas (i.e. 1995-2004) are still far more reliable than Fords of the same year. Thus causing the total Ford recall far exceeds Toyota recalls. |
|
New? Join Now!
Forum Tools
Search Forums
Browse by Vehicle
2011 Audi A8
2010 BMW 7 Series
2008 Jaguar XJ-Series
2010 Lexus LS 460
2010 Mercedes-Benz S-Class
2006 Volkswagen Phaeton
2009 Maserati Quattroporte
2010 Mercedes-Benz CL-Class
Browse by Board
Browse by Topic
