It's no secret among those who follow the auto industry that the products that are currently coming out of Detroit, and/or about to come out of Detroit, are among the best vehicles in their respective market segments. They are certainly the best vehicles Detroit has ever built.
Yet--as we all know--Detroit automakers have been fighting tough battle of "perception." Despite the overall goodness of what they are now selling, they have been battling a decades-old image problem of building crummy cars and trucks. Hey, this this a problem they created; no question about it.
Now this perception problem has just gotten tougher to fight. You can thank the fear of $5.00 gas for that.
Detroit has no control over the price of gas--but they certainly share a lot of blame for not seeing this coming, and for not preparing for it. Yeah, they were riding the truck and SUV cash-cow for all it's worth, but in doing so lost sight of where the world was heading. Now it's come back to haunt them big time. Worst of all, it just reinforces that decades-old perception that Detroit just doesn't get it--and never will get it...
Peter De Lorenso of AutoExtremist.com has an excellent editorial on this very subject here.
brn says:
05:54 AM, 07/21/08
We have a perception problem in this article. Domestic makers are often blamed for being short sighted and putting all their money in SUVs. If you look at what the EPA says for 2007, Ford had 5 SUV offerings, Chevy had 6 SUV offerings, and Toyota had 6 SUV offerings. The media's darling, Toyota, was doing the same things as the domestics. Oh yea, they had a hybrid. So did Ford.
This perception thing amazes me.
opfreak says:
07:17 AM, 07/21/08
so was honda short sigthed when the big 3 were building suv's and they had a civic?
albook says:
09:05 AM, 07/21/08
Who ever posted this article went over board. Detroit doesn't get it and never will? Are you not the same person who just said Detroit is building cars that are some of the best in their segments? Sure, they have a stigma to kill, but have done well in wearing it down. Toyota, too had to overcome a bad image. Hyundai is doing it right now. And not to be biased, but Toyota is going through the same sort of thing with its trucks. Only difference is, GM cars have just picked up speed, while the Camry has been in and out of the top selling spot.
brn says:
09:25 AM, 07/21/08
opfreak,
All makers had economy cars. Honda isn't special there. Even they had more SUVs than they did economy cars.
The main reason Honda didn't fair as badly is because their SUV's didn't catch on. Honda would have been happy (then) to sell SUV's. That failure turned out to help them today.
Bob Holland says:
09:33 AM, 07/21/08
Who ever posted this article went over board
Huh? Just reporting on what Peter De Lorenzo wrote.
I do agree with him on "perception" vs "reality," which is what his editorial and my post are about.
crowb says:
09:58 AM, 07/21/08
Whatever, Bob, we're wise to your agenda. (sarcasm)
Bob Holland says:
10:57 AM, 07/21/08
Agenda, no. Opinions and points of view, yes. :)
carlisimo says:
12:05 PM, 07/21/08
Toyota's a full line manufacturer - they can get by on truck profits, and they can get by on car profits. The Big 3 don't seem to have car profits... they're truck makers who build small cars because they have to.
As usual, they have a few wonder products in the pipeline, which seems to perpetually be the case.
bepperb says:
12:43 PM, 07/21/08
It pains me to agree, but "As usual, they have a few wonder products in the pipeline, which seems to perpetually be the case" sums up the domestic small car market completely.
Every year we get the same crappy cavalier/cobalt, and somehow a newly engineered Corvette. Something to compete with the CRV/Rav/Escape? Oh, no, busy with the volt.... of course....
It's not even worth discussing the Caliber. At least Ford seems to be selling the Focus well, and it is probably a decent car, sans the fender vents.
gstill45 says:
01:13 PM, 07/21/08
Detroit has no control over the price of gas?
You mean buy putting out inefficient cars for the public to buy and having increased consumption and depletion on a limited resource, they couldn't have had ANY effect on price? If they put out vehicles that used less gas, then consumption and PRICE wouldn't be lower?
Oh and Chrysler is controlling the price of gas, $2.99/gallon when you buy a vehicle with the near worst fuel economy in each class.
bepperb says:
01:47 PM, 07/21/08
If Detroit had control over the price of gas, I doubt they'd have turned the dial to four bucks.
Consumers wanted the inefficient cars. Detroit still made Contours and ZX2's and Cavaliers and Cobalts, neons, pt cruisers. Just nobody bought them. But it wasn't their fault.
I'm far from liking american car manufacturers, but I don't blame them for high gas prices. It's the people who commute 40 miles each way to work at applebees that are the problem.
santiagofdz says:
02:59 PM, 07/21/08
It's sad that history managed to repeat itself.
In the 70s, oil prices increased greatly, the big 3 had no good small cars to fill the market, but the japanese did, and got very strong.
Fast forward some 30 years later, and exactly the same things happen. Consumers want small/fuel efficient cars(cars, not trucks), and Detroit can't seem to find a good one. At least Ford and GM have divisions in other countries from which they can/will get very good small cars, but c'mon they should be able to be planning how to get those cars in now, when there's money to be made off consumer panic, not in 2 or 3 years time. Who knows what the market will want in that time.
albook says:
07:33 AM, 07/22/08
Every year we get the same crappy cavalier/cobalt,
The Cobalt sells better than that crappy Focus. Ford really messed up because while GM never had a nice small car, the Euro focus is amazing. I'm betting they will have to play catchup once the new Cruze arrives, if it will be anything like the Malibu.
I do agree with him on "perception" vs "reality," which is what his editorial and my post are about.
That's why Honda is rated best in feul economy. True, they make good cars, but the new Pilot gets worst gas mileage than the minivan sized GMC Acadia, the Odysey getsthe same or worse mileage than a Caravan, and they have seemingly decided to make the Accord more Americanized by making it bigger and less efficient. Because bigger is better...
hondacura4 says:
02:24 PM, 07/22/08
"That's why Honda is rated best in feul economy. True, they make good cars, but the new Pilot gets worst gas mileage than the minivan sized GMC Acadia, the Odysey getsthe same or worse mileage than a Caravan, and they have seemingly decided to make the Accord more Americanized by making it bigger and less efficient. Because bigger is better..."
Honda gets the best overall ratings in FE because Honda isnt a full line manufacturer. They dont produce full size body/frame V8 suvs and trucks.
The current Accord is actually more efficient than the last gen. The current Accord is larger, weighs more, has a larger V6, offers more power yet still gets similar ratings as the last gen. That would make it more efficient.
albook says:
08:31 AM, 07/23/08
"They dont produce full size body/frame V8 suvs and trucks."
Also true.
"The current Accord is actually more efficient than the last gen. The current Accord is larger, weighs more, has a larger V6, offers more power yet still gets similar ratings as the last gen. That would make it more efficient."
If it is so efficient, how is it that the 4 inch shorter Camry has more interior space and a more comfortable back seat? Honda should have kept it the same size so they could actually increase overall feul economy. But since they aren't so miraculous that they can see into the future of the market, they too gave in to the trend of bigger is better.