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'The Supremacy of Japanese Cars Has Been 40-Plus Years In the Making' (bloomberg.com)
American business journalist Joe Nocera writes in a Bloomberg article about "how badly things have deteriorated for the U.S. car makers," after the recent news that both General Motors and Ford will soon be exiting the sedan market in the country. Slashdot reader gollum123 shares the report: Much of the analysis about Ford and GM's exit from the sedan market stressed that sedan sales have lost ground in recent years "as consumers have gravitated toward pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles," as the New York Times put it. If you look at the historical sales figures of the top Japanese sedans, you'll see a small decline in recent years, but nothing like the big drop-off in sales that have hammered the American companies. So in addition to the overall decline in sedan sales, there is a second, largely overlooked, dynamic taking place: Americans have only stopped buying American sedans, not Japanese sedans. The American car companies now say they are going to count on profits from trucks and SUVs while moving toward autonomous and all-electric vehicles. They had better hope that transition takes place quickly.
I couldn't help noticing that while the top three selling vehicles in the U.S. are, indeed, American-made trucks, No. 4 on the list is Nissan's top SUV, the Rogue, the sales of which have gone from 18,000 in 2007 to 403,000 last year. No. 5 is a Toyota SUV, the Rav4 (407,000 in 2017). No. 6 is the Honda CR-V (378,000). And the leading American SUV? It's the Chevy Equinox. Last year, Chevrolet sold 290,000 of them -- 100,000 fewer than the Toyota Camry.
I couldn't help noticing that while the top three selling vehicles in the U.S. are, indeed, American-made trucks, No. 4 on the list is Nissan's top SUV, the Rogue, the sales of which have gone from 18,000 in 2007 to 403,000 last year. No. 5 is a Toyota SUV, the Rav4 (407,000 in 2017). No. 6 is the Honda CR-V (378,000). And the leading American SUV? It's the Chevy Equinox. Last year, Chevrolet sold 290,000 of them -- 100,000 fewer than the Toyota Camry.
Ford, GM and Chrysler haven't given a shit about selling cars since the 1960s. As far as they're concerned, the car is just a tool for selling you a loan.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Once the US automakers have all gone belly-up, someone should buy the rights to their body designs at the bankruptcy auction, and sell vehicles with modern drive trains that look like the classic American designs.
I'd buy a carbon-fiber version of a 1970 fastback Mustang in a heartbeat. I'm sure plenty of people would go for a '57 Chevy or a '69 Corvette stingray, too.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Given how the modern automotive industry works, I'm not sure if it matters. Japan manufacturers a lot of the cars that it sells in the U.S., in the U.S. so I don't think there's much worry over jobs being lost. Also, all of the Japanese companies are publicly traded, with a few of the largest shareholders being American companies, American banks, or other foreign firms that are in turn partially owned by Americans. If it gets American companies to invest in electric vehicles in the hope of regaining market share, I don't see how anyone could really complain.
Hondas are good, just avoid the Renaults sold as Japanese cars (Nissans). They're just as bad as the Fiats sold as Chryslers.
My leaf SL is a fine car.
The 350Z that preceded it was a fine car
Bad ones I've had - Plymouth breeze: Just crap. Ford F350: a Dinosaur with a flaky FICM. Ford Ranger: At no point did everything work at the same time.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
cars.
Rust was the worst issue, but when Japanese and Korean cars started flooding the market for less money and lasting about 30-50% better (in terms of mileage and gas economy)
it seemed to be a wake-up call for US car makers. This was hubris on the part of Ford, Chevrolet, Chrysler... They had their cheaply manufactured, planned obsolescence system and they were going to stick with it.
I'm guessing at this point, more US vehicles are produced in Canada and places like the Toyota factory in South Carolina build more vehicles than Detroit.
New technology (self driving cars, electric cars...) eventually mean that people don't need to buy a vehicle unless it's for work. Need a ride someplace, just order a car...
The reason the US car makers favor trucks is that the japanese trucks have a 25% tarrif since 1973. It's much more profitable for US automakers so they emphasize this category over the thin margins on sedans. Additionally one has to consider the labor and material costs. For some cost structures it's much better to sell one high ticket item over two smaller ticket items, favoring the production of trucks over cars.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Once you get a bad broad reputation, it's hard to kick. Your newer stuff has to be better than the competition to correct the reputation. "Equal" is not strong enough. That's just human psychology in action.
It's like somebody with a notorious reputation for lying. To clean their reputation, they'd have to lie less than average for a good while to get back in good graces. Lying the same amount would supply enough lies to reinforce their existing reputation.
You hear that Microsoft, Oracle, Comcast, and IBM?
Table-ized A.I.
... from now we will be reading an article saying that "The supremacy of *Korean* cars has been 40 years in the making", and in 30 to 40 years from now, we will be reading an article titled "The supremacy of Chinese cars has been 40 years in the making"
that is the cycle of such things. Happened with cars, consumer electronics, tvs and monitors, computer components, appliances, the works.
I was born in late 1972, and I do remember a lot of things...
Remember the the 70's when japan was the place were cheapo-low-quality plastic toys and shoody appliances were made? everyone wanted a Zenith or GE, or RCA TV. No stinking toshibas, or Hitachis! And cars, everyone wanted a chevy or a ford (or a european). Japanese cars were a synonym of cheapo-low quality.
Remember the 80s when having a "Samtron" monitor in your computer was a sign of low quality? Rember in the 80's, when no one in their right mind would buy a Hyundai car? Nope, everyone wanted a toyota then, and a trinitron TV, or a NEC monitor. Samsung and Lucky Goldstar TVs were for loosers!
Remember the '90s and early 00's, when no one in their right mind would buy a Chery or a Geely car? Or a Haier TV or appliance? What now, GE appliances is a wholy owned subsidiary of Haier, which is the bigest Appliance manufacturer worldwide, while Geely owns both volvo and Lotus, and chery is assembling jaguars and land rovers for the chinese market.
So, countries upend other countries. do not dismiss them on the base of "percieived" quality (it will improve) or "perceived lack of innovation" (for they will innovate). Just take solace in that, just like in Japan, the chinese juggernaut will stop, and be upended by someone else...
*** Suerte a todos y Feliz dia!
Your average ICE doesn't even reach the distance that Tesla did one one battery without some very expensive maintenance, so waht are you moaning about?
-- Cheers!