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Automotive News & Views July 07 - Foreign Brands Outsold Big 3.
6 messages, Last post on Aug 09, 2007 at 10:00 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070801/UPDATE/708010451 I don't know if this is the right place to post this,(hope it is,if not, sorry, moderator!) or if anyone cares, or is much surprised by this news? I have debated nearly a week whether to post this, or not.... But, here it goes.... Foreign cars outsold Big 3 for the first time ever ...in July. Does this mean No More Dominance for Big 3- ever again- in the U.S. market place? I do know 2 guys, 1 an angry retiree(paying more for medical than he thought he would have to, when he retired from GM) and 1 guy about to lose his job at Ford, who is also angry. The retiree did buy a Kia, and the soon-to-be-Ex-Ford employee is buying an Hyundai Accent SE. He already is working elsewhere, btw. Why do I bring this up? I am wondering if these disgruntled (Ex) Big 3 workers aren't taking their business elsewhere, vs supporting the "home team"? Or is it other things, too, as some said gas prices, and foreign competitors have higher mileage cars, etc.? Or, is it Lack of what people want(not just higher/40+ MPG cars/vehicles?) A relative bought his 1st foreign vehicle last year, the SX4.... and is happy. He has driven 45 years, and never owned any "foreign"(well, rebadged Suzuki, Tracker for GM) cars, so-to-speak. The choice, he said, was that he wanted a new vehicle, and since Chevy no longer sells the rebadged Suzuki(Chevy Tracker).... he went directly to the source of the "new" version(so-to-speak). What do you think, folks? Me, I just buy what I like. take care/not offense. |
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Apparently, many industry analysts are already taking bets on when the domestic share will get down to 40% combined. I think it will get close to that just as a result of finally eliminating all the fleet sales they want to kill. Once we are talking retail sales for the most part, I think domestic market share will finally stabilize, and won't drop much lower than 40%. Depends on Ford, really. Recent short-term profits notwithstanding, can they stop the tailspin? I am thinking, probably not. They are getting set to start selling the "all new '08 Focus" in a couple of months.....a mere reskin of an 8-year-old model that will continue to swim in the rental fleet bucket as it deserves to. The Freestyle will be renamed the Taurus X for a year or two, then will be abruptly dropped. The Edge seems to be doing OK, but can't top the 4-year-old Pilot in sales volume. Looks like the Ranger will go bye-bye permanently, they're using what extra money they have to pull forward te new F-150, even as GM's GMT900 truck sales are going down down down (as are all full-size truck sales). I will stop there, but there are few bright spots in Ford's future plans. If it drops even more market share, I could see the domestics' combined share dropping to maybe 1 in 3 by the year 2012. GM, I think will hold the line once it eliminates the rental fleet sales. Chrysler is a wild card - will Cerberus eventually chop it up and sell off the pieces? Or will it maintain market share, even grow perhaps?
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Replying to: nippononly (Aug 07, 2007 9:36 pm) |
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but chopping it up and selling it off in pieces probably has a spot in their business "vision." The Chery of China Dodge Hornet is an example of new Chrysler product that could help Chrysler make it through. I read on one site that the new manual transmission Dodge Hornet could sell for around $12,995 here in the States. One reason for that low price being low labor rates of Chery. With a long Warranty there may be an audience in America for this car, with the large ghastly prices we're seeing these days. A mpg estimate I read today on the net pegged the Hornet for mpg in the 40-45 range. |
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Of course, the Hornet is never going to sell in enough volume to gain back significant market share for the domestics. And the latest Sebring/Avenger was a major leap down the drain for Chrysler Group. I bet that within five years Cerberus sells off a lot of Chrysler Group, starting with the Jeep brand. Chrysler could be Chinese by 2012! That will be a culture shock - from German to Chinese in less than a decade. |
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I know that Dodge won't make much profit but it's interesting the possible prices the Hornet may be available for in the U.S. This is more good news for the consumer, not Chrysler. Cerberus would certainly sell off Chrysler in bits and pieces to Chinese factories. Chery Motors might be interested in rights to the Hornet, for instance. Small cars sell very well in China. There are some Chinese carmakers that specialize in trucks that might want a part of Jeep, yes. That one will not go over very well at all with a lot of Americans, though. By that point Cerberus and their gatekeeping helldogs won't really care if they're pissing other Americans off or not. Ya don't wanna buy our cars? Well then, we'll just disassemble Jeep and sell them to SAIC of China. They'd love to produce carbon-copies of the Jeep models and sell them in the huge Chinese growing car, SUV and truck market. |
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