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Automotive News & Views Inside Line Article Comments Article Comments: Perception Is Reality
149 messages, Last post on Feb 12, 2007 at 1:54 PM
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Article comments for Perception Is Reality - Witness the tale of two companies — Toyota and General Motors. Despite recalls and public relations woes, Toyota's image of bulletproof quality persists, and sales and market share rise. Despite concrete evidence to the contrary, GM's reputation for inferior quality remains, while sales and market share decline. (more)
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I'd definitely take even money $1,000 bets on ten Japanese cars picked at random and ten domestic cars picked at random, with the number of problems totalled up after one year. You get $1,000 for every domestic that wins, and I get $1,000 for every Japanese car that wins. I think the score would end up about $7,000 to $3,000, my advantage. Just a guess. Sure the best American car is better than the worst Japanese car, but overall, covering many brands and models, I don't think domestic cars can hack it yet. If you take a random sampling of "black dots" and "red dots" in Consumer Reports, the reality is pretty clear. Try it--just scan page after page quickly, and when you see a mass of black dots, read the brand name. Even if you gave the domestic a 25% error margin--a pretty serious penalty for CR survey methods-- it STILL doesn't look great. so when I went new car shopping, I paid attention to these owner surveys, longterm tests, etc. to be fair, I also avoided some rather spotty reliability records on a few foreign cars, like the MINI. the KIA, etc. Anyway, there has *GOT* to be a rational reason why domestics are losing market share year after year. It can't all "be in our heads" can it?
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Replying to: carlisimo (Sep 12, 2006 11:08 pm) I was born in 1979 myself so I really didn't see the Domestics fall from grace through an adult view. To me since 1997-1998 the Domestics have lost alot of market share. I think the Domestics had 70 percent of the US market in 1997 compared to todays 53 percent I think. Toyota's s market share in 1998 was 8.5 percent of the Us market. Today their market share is 15 percent of the Us market. In 1998 Honda's market share was 6.5% of the Us market and today they have 9.2 percent of the US market. Nissan's market share was at 4 or 4.3 percent in 1998. Today their market share is 6.0 percent of the US market.I wonder what Hyundai's market share was in 1998. I know Hyundai was behind Mazda in sales in 1998 and Mazda sold 240,000 units that year and Mazda had a 1.6 percent of the US Market back then I think. I know today Hyundai has a 2.9 percent market share in the US. I think Hyundai passed Mazda in sales in 2000. |
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Replying to: explorerx4 (Sep 12, 2006 4:49 pm)  Paid MSRP btw... T (Not sure what you're wondering, but I've never hidden that I work for a dealer  . These forums give me insight as to why people actually believe some of the stuff that they do hehe...)
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Replying to: tjw1308 (Sep 13, 2006 2:00 pm) for many automobile owners, there is more to owning a car than absolute reliability or resale value. hope you like the Yaris, although when i'm driving my focus, i'm suprised how much bigger the focus seems. |
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Replying to: explorerx4 (Sep 13, 2006 5:06 pm)
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Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Sep 13, 2006 6:33 am) "CR is biased against domestic manufacturers and loves all things Asian." "The survey is too subjective, so you can't take the results seriously." "Domestic car owners answer the survey differently compared to import car owners." "Domestic car owners are less forgiving of defects than import car owners." "Only those with problems will answer the survey. Satisfied owners won't bother." Meanwhile in these forums, JD Powers largely gets a free pass. 
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If you compare a XXXX from Japan to a YYYY from the Big three, you may find some quality differences between them if they are both 2006 models. If one is a 2006, and the other a 1996, the '06 is a better car no matter which brand. I have worked on all makes over a number of years. In the seventies Japanese cars were inferior. In the eighties they had improved dramatically. One problem the Americans had was the government passed CAFE laws, and their cars used too much gas. Shinking cars and cutting corners to increase the all important MPG numbers without improving the rest of the car was their big mistake. Now Japanese cars are heavier than they were, American cars lighter than they were, and economy is similar. Resale values are determined by supply and demand more than any other factor. Because the domestics sell so many to fleets that trade every year or two, while Imports sell mostly to individuals that finance them for five or six years, there are relatively few late model imports on the used market. My wife drives a 2005 Impala with the 3.8L V-6, and her best friend drives a 2004 Camry with a 4 Cyl. In similar driving the Impala get about one mpg better than the Camry, has a nicer interior, and a LOT more power. I chose the Impala because I work on a lot of them in police service, and even the village idiot with a badge cannot kill one. Is the Camry a good car? Sure it is. Better? If it is what you like it is the best car for you. I keep cars for eight to ten years, and totaling purchase price and repairs, the most expensive car I ever owned was a Honda. Harry
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Replying to: explorerx4 (Sep 13, 2006 5:06 pm) The truth is, I absolutely look for more than just reliability and resale. The Yaris is infinitely more unique, gets significantly better gas mileage, has more headroom, hip-room AND leg-room, a tighter turning radius, and was only $12485.00 MSRP (even AFTER all of Ford's "beg you to buy it" incentives, you still can't get a 2007 comparably equipped for that). Not to mention, when I DO trade it in a couple years, I won't be hopelessly upside down like I would be in a Focus  But whatever floats your boat... T
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Replying to: oldharry (Sep 13, 2006 8:32 pm) A village idiot with TWO badges couldn't stop that 3.5 from running either It's a flawed example because governments choose the Domestics BECAUSE they're Domestics, not because they're the superior car. If they spent our hard earned American tax dollars on a JAPANESE car we'd never hear the end of it lol... T
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Replying to: tjw1308 (Sep 14, 2006 11:21 am)
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