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I saw a Buick ad during a March Madness game yesterday pushing a 16%-off MSRP deal. There must be a huge glut of unsold Buicks to need to discount like that.
Dodge had a huge issue with sludge motors on 4.7/5.7 and the funny.....government did nothing to dodge. It’s not a new GM. it’s the same old GM . The ONLY reason they improved was because they had to. They still lost millions of customers. The Big 3 always play the patriotic card in marketing
And that’s why they are giving up sedans and only making pickups and SUVs and cuvs , they are leaving the sedan to the other manufactures. They are doing ok in their business with just making full size pickups especially Ford because no other Japanese manufactures can come close to the number of f150 sales, or GM and Ram pickups sold. And the numbers don’t lie on those statistics. Japan can have the sedan business they have essentially givin up trying compete on the full-size pickup market here in the USA Toyoda is trying but nowhere near the numbers of the American automakers. Americans could give a rats butt about made in the USA anyway.
Yup that’s my stepdad. Won’t even look at a import. Even if the import is a better buy and more reliable. He would get livid when people bought Japanese imports. He was Walt Kowalski without the Grand Torino. He bought a Caddy with a Northstar. To this day he will swear it’s a great car. Even though it was a complete pile of ****. That’s the problem.
I stopped being brand loyal around 2003. I had so many issues with Dodge and Ford trucks I seriously contemplated to go to Tacoma’s and Tundras. The only thing that kept me from doing so was they couldn’t take the weight that we put in the beds. Sure for a run around shop truck it would be ok. But for heavy duty work it’s unable to meet what a 1 ton does. . We needed 1 ton dual wheel trucks. I could of struggled but instead I bought a few used solid 7.3 diesel and 454 Chevy trucks in the 3/4 to1 ton range. I was gonna go with V10s but I started hearing plug issues from a buddy who had a V10 fleet.
As a business owner I was looking for best price with the longest reliability. We had this Chevy 3500 that went through a motor and then a transmission which was weird because it was the old 350/4L80E transmissions which were bulletproof. I ended up rebuilding both as the truck wasn’t that old but of course out of warranty.
When I buy a car today I look at reliability, maintenance, value, initial price and last on the list resale value. I keep my cars long enough that resale isn’t as important but it’s nice to have. And truthfully Japanese imports still hold the edge over domestics.
I had two Ford trucks, one Dodge, a Nissan Titan when they first came out, and for a long time my father's
1978 Chevy Silverado pickup truck. I never had any issues with any of the trucks, they worked well and was fun to drive, especially the Ram.
Dodge had a huge issue with sludge motors on 4.7/5.7 and the funny.....government did nothing to dodge. It’s not a new GM. it’s the same old GM . The ONLY reason they improved was because they had to. They still lost millions of customers. The Big 3 always play the patriotic card in marketing
What’s American and what’s not is pretty blurry unless you are just speaking of company headquarters
Indeed. The Ford Fiesta is made in Mexico. Most "Japanese" vehicles marketed in the U. S. are made in that country. BMW's largest plant is in South Carolina.
I had two Ford trucks, one Dodge, a Nissan Titan when they first came out, and for a long time my father's
1978 Chevy Silverado pickup truck. I never had any issues with any of the trucks, they worked well and was fun to drive, especially the Ram.
A 1978 pick up is the automotive equivalent of a stone ax today. There isn’t much on there to break and what is there is fixable with a pair of rusty pliers. I had issues with both my dodge trucks. Both bought brand new off the lot. I don’t abuse my vehicles and the maintenance schedule is followed.
Put 50,000 miles a year on those trucks and problems will show up pretty quickly. That was my average mileage. 4 years and I usually had 200,000+ miles by then. So I got to see issues that most people never do
I test drove a 300 with that 2.7. I actually asked the sales guy what was wrong with the car. It literally had no power. And from what I understand they are sludge monsters
A 1978 pick up is the automotive equivalent of a stone ax today. There isn’t much on there to break and what is there is fixable with a pair of rusty pliers. I had issues with both my dodge trucks. Both bought brand new off the lot. I don’t abuse my vehicles and the maintenance schedule is followed.
Put 50,000 miles a year on those trucks and problems will show up pretty quickly. That was my average mileage. 4 years and I usually had 200,000+ miles by then. So I got to see issues that most people never do
I understand what you are saying and all my trucks were bought new as well. Just saying that I had the opposite experience from what you had. I took very good of my things as well, and everything had slight mods done to them. Like cold are intakes and exhaust systems, and even replaced the headers on the Ram and Titan.
The Tundra was king for a very short time when the new redesign came out in 07. But the big three quickly changed that, they went back to the drawing board and came out with more powerful and quicker trucks. It was never king in sales, but that 5.7 was the talk of the town and how quick it was. And you have so many choices in cab configurations and beds, and also engines. Then you have the heavy duty segments like the 250s, 350s ,and 450s, and the gas options.
What is your definition of "king?"
Even when the brand new Tundra came out in 2007 it was getting destroyed in the market so not sure how anyone can say "king" and "Tundra" in the same sentence.
Here is how bad of a flop that Tundra has been. Toyota initially felt that product would be so good they built a whole new assembly plant for it. (San Antonio.) They thought they could sell 250-300K of them per year. When the '07 launched, they never even hit the 200K sales mark (about 1/3 of what F-150 sales are) and it has been downhill ever since. They had to re-tool the plant to allow other products to be built there because they can't sell enough Tundras to fill it.
Now they sell about 120K Tundras per year. In the full-size truck segment that is a fraction of the overall market share.
I don't think there's any chance because the current trend, the US companies are getting worse.
Ford/GM not making cars and concentrating on trucks/SUV only. Cars is a very important market because majority of those that still buys cars will eventually buy another vehicle such as SUV or Truck and they will most likely buy the same brand due to loyalty.
The attention to details and market research done by Japanese companies surpasses US auto. Honda consistently key segments shows they listen and are more likely to put out higher tech than US auto.
Of all the SUVs on the market, US Auto has the worst technology such as safety, AWD drivetrain, suspension tech, and driving dynamics overall. Both Europe and Japan mfg leads while US Auto only concentrate on ICE, cargo, HP, and cup holders.
Then there is risk reward, US auto are no longer willing to take risks. US car designs are usually safe, boring, or plain ugly. Not one US car I can actually put on my wallpaper on my phone or PC.
Years ago, I was talking to one of my wife's cousin who worked in the auto parts manufacturing industry. Their company make parts for both domestic and foreign cars. Didn't go into the exact details of these parts.
He said that American companies will still order parts with minimal imperfection but when it came to the Japanese companies, they will not accept these parts at all and demand that these imperfect items be remade again. He said the Japanese companies will not compromise when it came to quality.
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LOL
