Last week, we remarked that the Motown media had finally put down the pom-poms. The Detroit Free Press' Mark Phelan seems determined to prove us wrong. First, the scribe offered us a rah-rah-siss-boom-bah on the plug-in electric gas hybrid Chevrolet Volt. To which Phelan adds a who-do-we-appreciate? look at The Big 2.8's "race to build fun, fuel-frugal cars." Yes, "They are honing new technologies, refining designs and scouring the Earth for fun, fuel-efficient cars they can build or sell in North America. From Chevrolet Corvettes and Ford F-150s to small cars engineered in Europe and Asia, every vehicle is being rethought as fuel prices skyrocket and new fuel-economy rules loom." That's all well and good if this was 2003ish. But it isn't. GM's market share is below 20 percent, Ford's racing against "last orders" and no matter how you measure it, Chrysler is in the toilet. Meanwhile, the transplants are eating Detroit's lunch. Never mind. Phelan reckons it's a "level playing field," now. "Unlike the 1980s, when small Japanese cars started the race a full lap ahead of the Detroit Three, the new technical challenges are equally daunting for everyone. 'They've all been dealt the same hand this time,' said Michelle Krebs, editor of AutoObserver.com. 'Now it's a matter of how they play it.'" Huh? "Vast and slow improvements in the cars the domestics build haven't been enough to change that perception. The massive, fast changes every automaker must make in the next few years could be their last chance to hit the reset button on how the American public sees them." Or not.
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Being an effective cheerleader, i.e. raising the spirits of (cheering) the objects involves intense activity with much movement that is constrained by too much clothing.
Uh huh. All Toyota has to do is cut production on it’s trucks (which, by the way, still leaves them solidly in the black).
All Honda has to do is, well, exactly what they’ve been doing.
All GM or Ford has to do is somehow attack the Asian’s core market, one they’ve wholly owned since 1980 and haven’t been challenged in since Ford released the Focus. And the Focus was a stronger challenger; much better than the Civic or Corolla of the time than, say, the current European Focus is versus the current North American Corolla or Civic.
If the work of weakening the Asian’s lock on small and midsize cars had continued from the Focus’ release in 2000, rather than from some mythical point in 2010, this would be a level playing field. As things stand right now, GM and Ford have a 45 degree angle to run up. In a pouring rainstorm.
Hello! I fully realize that MPG is MPG, but I have to wonder…even if the domestics equal or better their transplant counterpart’s numbers, how many would switch to domestic offerings instead continuing to buy the transplants?
Yes, fuel economy is the name of the game now, but what part of the purchasing decision depends on dealer service, resale value, driving dynamics, and prior experience?
Even if the Domestics released a totally killer, top of the line product line from top to bottom in 09… it’ll be 5 years at least until the transplant buyers even start going back.
Car companies don’t lose reputation very fast, nor do they gain it back. The idea that they are going to release some competitive EV cars and shazam! they’ll get their reputations back is just proof of how out of touch they are.
And really, what are the odds that the domestics have the juice to develop these amazing cars? Slim to none unless the transplants manage to drop the ball in a massive and totally uncharacteristic way.
Sometimes I think GM believes that inside every Lexus owner is a Buick owner screaming to get out. Not gonna happen. Even GM knows its not gonna happen. Unfortunately, GM is too broken to fix at this point I think. They can’t get a small car here before 2012, so they will sell 10k Volts at a loss and this is…progress?
GM may need the volt long term if they can make it that far, but first they should fix the Cobalt. I mean, they produce Corollas under license as the Vibe, why can’t they do as well on their own? I mean, the answers are pretty obvious…four cylinder small pickup, improved Cobalt, updated Aveo…
psarhjinian :
…If the work of weakening the Asian’s lock on small and midsize cars had continued from the Focus’ release in 2000, rather than from some mythical point in 2010, this would be a level playing field. As things stand right now, GM and Ford have a 45 degree angle to run up. In a pouring rainstorm.
It’s Detroit. They get snow and ice and freezing rain.
Two articles in The Observer puts it in context. One says: America’s love affair fades as the car becomes burden of suburbia.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jul/06/travelandtransport.usa
The following excerpt runs down what’s happened with gas at $4+/gallon. What happens when it hits $8?
In Riverside, bus travel is up 12 per cent on a year ago, rising to 40 per cent on commuter routes. Use of the town’s railway link is up eight per cent. A local car pooling system is up 40 per cent. It is the same in the rest of the US. In South Florida a light rail system has reported a 28 per cent jump in passengers. In Philadelphia one has shown an 11 per cent rise. Even nationwide scooter sales have shot up. At the same time car sales are hitting 15-year record lows. Last week major American car-makers reported a devastating 18 per cent drop in car sales.
The other article describes how groups in the U.K. are questioning the need for large road projects, instead claiming that the money should be spent on expanding rail and other public transport.
What the U.S. car industry needs to do, if it wants to save itself, is to rethink the transporation equation from the ground up. Because a lot more is needed than just a leaner car – and Detroit could contribute, and in fact set the goalposts for that change. Here’s a hint to GM: the value of suburban housing is plummeting, just as inner-city housing values are rising (measured relatively, against a generally dropping housing market.)
What does that tell GM about what needs to be done? Because savvy customers are already way ahead of them.
Well put Rix. I owned a buick lesabre, and trust me, thats not what lexus owners are thinking. Lets see, do the people want a corolla or a civic that gets 30mpg for 200,000 miles? Or an aveo or cobalt or caliber that gets 30mpg until the head gasket pops? Or the “lifetime” warranty doesnt cover the tranny that craps out at 45,000 miles? Or the window tracks fall apart…or… well, you get the idea.
With all these news item pics, I want to know when TTAC is planning to put out a Girls of TTAC Calendar.
Phelan reckons it’s a “level playing field,” now. “Unlike the 1980s, when small Japanese cars started the race a full lap ahead of the Detroit Three, the new technical challenges are equally daunting for everyone. ‘They’ve all been dealt the same hand this time,’ said Michelle Krebs, editor of AutoObserver.com. ‘Now it’s a matter of how they play it.\'”
One word… Prius
A pretty damn good navel to drink a cabernet chauvignon from. The pious ones and those afraid of Zeus outrage can use a straw. Schlurrrrrr. And cheers!
I regret more and more each day not becoming a professional football or basketball athlete because of reading TTAC News… thanks! Or not attending a major sporting event in 9 years… I did play blackjack at a Cincy area riverboat casino with two of the “BenGALS” cheerleaders for 5 minutes. Those girls do exist in real life, I can attest to that. I remember one of them split face cards then sixes against a face card showing… twice…
If there’s anything GOOD about Ford’s upcoming Fiesta, it’s that some older folks have good memories of them. I was a wee toddler, I forgot an uncle had a baby poop brown one he had good service from. A friend of his owned one from 1981 until 1995. “Hopefully it’ll be a Mazda again” his words, not mine. 30-years-old hanging out nursing a hangover at the donut shop with retirees at 7am on a Sunday morning: Priceless.
QOTD: What were Toyota and Honda thinking when they began working on the Prius/Insight in the early ’90s when gas (in the US anyway) was hovering at a $1/gal? Just luck?
BTW, from Wiki:
The word prius is a Latin word meaning “[to go] before.”[6]. A Toyota spokesman stated that “Toyota chose this name because the Prius vehicle is the predecessor of cars to come.” [7]
Is this a new definition of “level playing field” that I’ve been unaware of?
Ford and GM are racing to copyright Atergo.
“From Behind.”
Now I’ll use it in a sentence:
“We squandered our profits and now we are trying to compete atergo.”
Or
“My buddy coined the license plate because the women he dates like it atergo.”