I don’t think the outlook for the domestics is quite as hopeless as many think it is. It took them decades to get where they are, and the turnaround won’t be overnight. But there are some great new products on the horizon, and if they can really make some inroads in terms of quality, value, customer satisfaction, and style, there’s no reason they can’t turn the tide.

Spot on for sure. Case in point, my daughter who is 20 drives a Honda. Why? Because she remembers when her father-me was a loyal Ford guy. Then I purchased a 1997 Ford Windstar. The vehicle was a total trash can, self destruct rolling horror wagon. She remembers it and is ‘afraid’ of domestic vehicles, especially since her parents now drive Lexus and Mazda.
Sadly in our area, there are many domestics, but the reason is they are so cheap, discounts, rebates and on and on and well…
I like what my mechanic told me and on this I’ll close, “If everybody drove Toyotas and Hondas, I’d be out of business-the domestics are what keep me in business.” And this guy only drives Chevies!

The domestic carmakers can solve this with product. The goal should be that any car introduced should be the segment leader for one year. Example, the Mazda3 was the best small car for a year (maybe two) until the Civic came out. The Caliber and Cobalt were never considered the “best in class” by any reputable source. You can’t stay in the lead forever but if you can’t put out a segment leading product on it’s year of introduction then you are going to ultimately lose. Why don’t the domestics understand that?

Edward S.: The problem is a race against time. Even if Ford puts out great product, it’s going to take at least a few years (5? 10?) before the public, outside the midwestern states and brave enthusiasts, are willing to give the automaker a chance. Until then, we’re going to continue to see the company taking losses (and how!)

Duncan,
Very telling. Thanks for sharing!

Keith,
That’s a good idea. And it doesn’t even have to be a segment leader but just something to get people’s attention. Look at the Chrysler 300 for example. That got Americans attention (for good or ill. Personally, I find the thing hideous.)

Hmmm. Maybe what you said explains a little why Ford’s been putting some attention on the Mustang lately.

I have been selling Lincoln - Mercury products for over twenty years and very proud of the product. I feel alot of younger people have a perception that if it has a foreign name tag on the hood it has to be better than a domestic. Its like I ask people who tell me they do not buy domestic because they do not want problems. I ask them when they go to thier Toyota, Honda…. whatever dealership to have thier car serviced whats it like ? Its busy in there they tell me..and I say do you think that it takes money to have a business like that…Oh yes, well do you think that the dealer who owns that can pay for that on oil changes,tire rotations ?? Why do you think its so busy?? Thier fixing cars in there just like we are-wheather its under warrenty or you the customer are paying. The response always seems to be OH-I never thought of that ! Oh by the way several weeks ago Toyota reached a class action settlement lawsuit over sludge build up in engines of millions of vehicles, requiring the engine to be replaced-between 3-4 million vehicles are believed to be involved. This hardly made the main stream press..trust me when I tell you if this was a domestic it would of been all over the news !

Arthur,
Uh, import dealerships are also busy because of the sheer number of vehicles out there. If, for examples, honda’s outnumbered fords in an area 10 to 1 and 10% of each vehicle went to the dealership weekly, then, yeah, the honda dealership will look busy because there are 10 cars getting worked on while 1 ford is in in the shop.

Now, how often is a car in the shop is an entirely different matter…

Kids or teens influencing their parents buying decisions is not new, it happens everywhere form cereals to cars!. We should not be amazed, people are not buying american cars because of their poor track record, (see fortunes worst cars in 2006) and sad advertising campaigns (GM robot comercial) what else would you expect from GM other than a passion for quality?

Hello!

My problem is that I got my mother to look at a Camry years ago and now I can’t get her to even consider anything else. She’s on her fourth Camry now. I actually think that the Hyundais are better deal now.

My mother was influenced to buy a Camry by my teenage cousin and my uncle for the same reasons. (of course they really don’t know much about cars) Before that she had a Taurus and an Intrepid and the Camry has had far MORE major issues than either of the domestic 2. I know this is hard to swallow for many people who believe in the new status quo, but it sure hurts when you have to pay 2-3x more for Toyota parts and the vehicle is LESS reliable.

People are buying Asian cars because they are made with efficiency and affordability in mind obviously. I can go and buy a beautiful looking Nissan 300ZX thats ~15 years old, goes like all hell, and it still looks great to this day.

Anyway if you’re a car enthusiast please check out my website http://www.ridehustle.com , kind of like a myspace but for cars =)

I dont get all of this backlash for the GM robot commercial. People are talking about suing GM because they knew someone who commited suicide. Well, what about Budweiser, Miller light, Bud light, coors and so on. I knew people who died as a result of drunk driving but you dont hear me threatening to sue Anheuser Busch do you?

Another Joel. Kewl!

haven’t seen the commerical so i can’t comment.

I’ve driven imports and domestics, and my Ford Escorts (a 91-wrecked, and a 95-sold with 160k nearly trouble-free miles) weren’t noticeably worse in the reliability department than my Hondas or Subarus. And the Escorts’ engines were definitely domestically designed and engineered.

On the other hand, I made my parents test-drive a Subaru Forester, which they ended up buying to replace their early 90s fwd Olds Cutlass. They live in the north and are older, and it frankly gives me more peace of mind to know they have AWD and a vehicle that’s known for reliability and longevity.

In my mind the problem with domestics isn’t so much the reliability as the perception of cheapness and the reality of lack of refinement and attention to detail. Some of the newer GM cars have addressed the latter quite well, and whatever else happens I think if they can keep that up for the next ten years they’ll largely turn those perceptions around. I haven’t driven any newer-model Fords, but from what I read they are also putting in much nicer interiors these days, so the same should apply to them.

Domestics are going to have a long road to travel, as it were, because car journals are universally biased against them. (As the blog post points out.) As long as reviewers keep going on about garbage like “lesser-quality interior feel” or “mushy ride”, domestics will never get a fair shake. Buyers will say “hm, I’m interested in a Pontiac. Where can I find out what people think of Pontiacs?” They’ll go out read Consumer Reports, which makes DailyKOS and Free Republic look like paragons of objectivity. And they’ll say “wow, domestics are trash! I’ll just buy the cheapest import I can find.”

Its not “import” vs. “domestic”. The dividing line is UAW vs. non-union assembly and cutting corners on part quality to pay benefits vs. higher quality parts. I don’t see a way for “domestic” brands to pull out of their death spiral unless they can get more flexibility from the UAW.

I chose to “buy American”, purchasing an Ohio-built Honda Accord instead of a Volkswagen Passat. Considering the relative size of the US car market relative to Japan, I could imagine Toyota and Honda eventually becomming primarily US focused brands.

good points, stay, densityduck. i just don’t know, though, if the companies can hold out that long unless they shrink considerably

george b,

regarding toyota and honda. i don’t know about that. i think both companies realize they’re reaching saturation point in the U.S. market. i think the new battlefield will be china, europe (east and west), and south america.