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The unfortunate reality is a lot of people still driving american cars haven't heard of the internet yet.
There is some truth to this since Detroit has a hard time to appeal to younger generations.
Most of their vehicles sell on low price and loyalty only, where a good part is employees (and close family) huge discounts.
Diving enthusiasts (of which majority post here) are considering sports sedans as preferred car, and here is where Detroit is still lacking. Trucks/SUVs are great (Detroit's money maker) but hardly considered for drivability by drivers.
Since sedans is preferred vehicle by professionals who love the driving experience, very few of them are considering spending more than $45k on a Detroit product. Reality is that there are very few Detroit sport sedans to come close with competing with BMW, Audi, Benz who continue to be in a class all by themselves. Then you have the Japanese sedans (Lexus, Acura & Infinity) that are second when considering a vehicle for professionals who have the money.
Unfortunately Cadillac is the only one from Detroit who has made the effort to come close to BMW - benchmark in sport sedans.
This is the true reason why it seems that Detroit vehicles seem to get the "misrepresentation" on this forum. I do believe all American wish the best to our Detroit industry since it affects our national economy, not to mention pride to know that we can create the best products here at home. But Detroit needs to know its weakness (reliable performance sedan), only way to improve.
I'm certainly not a jingoistic patriot. I've considered buying imported cars several times. For Japanese cars, the cost deterred me - why pay $7,000 (at the time) for a '95 Honda Civic with 150,000 miles when I can pay $4,000 for a newer, considerably more comfortable and roomy Chevy Impala with only 100,000? For European cars, it was both cost of initial purchase and ownership that bothered me. Sure, I can get 50 mpg with a diesel Jetta, but how much would the repairs be? And a kid actually told me that I should buy a Jetta with manual windows.
Domestic cars seem to be the best value, whether new or used. It also may be that in Northern Minnesota, domestics have traditionally ruled the roads. Obviously you see loads of imports, but domestics are still on top.
There's really not that many people in northern MN, thus very few car dealerships and even less import ones.
The times I've visited LA in the last two years, it was a car show everywhere you drive! I'm sure a few Grand Ams, Stratus's, and the like are around, but I never saw them either. Maybe it was sitting next to the Bentley, Ferrari, 911 turbo, etc etc etc and I didn't notice it for good reason!
There are many reasons people buy domestic brand cars, and not having access to the internet is not one of them. The Detroit three sell a good percentage off the top to employees, friends, and family. It is a big factor in why sales volume is higher in some regions than others. If you can get an extra couple grand off the price, it makes a detroit brand vehicle more affordable and attractive.
You also have people who have bought detroit brands, and not been burned. Therefore, they do not believe, or agree with the bad perception. Not every car the big three made was a lemon, and if you have been buying them and have gotten reliable and acceptable cars over the years, then you would not be scared away.
Some cars they have just done better. A lot of Detroit buyers have been owners of trucks and bigger SUV's. Both are segments where the import brands offer few if any offerings and have generally not been at the top of the heap. It's not just because of fuel mileage Detroit has lived on these vehicles. A lot of people want/need them for towing, hauling, etc, and find Detroit does it best in this area.
Some are just loyal and od not believe in imports.
Others have had bad experiences with imports too.
Freedom of choice is a great thing! It allows us all to buy whatever car we want, based on what we consider the top priorities for ourselves. There is no "wrong" choice.
That was meant as tongue in cheek - but basically I think most american buyers don't really know what else is out there. I'll give them the truck/large suv segment. But that's the only competitive area, and I do own one, my next one will probably be american as well.
American makes put out a lot of really questionable/unrefined/flawed cars that people end up not liking. Most of my american car experience is with rentals (well, japanese/korean as well) and I can tell you the most awful "I hate driving this POS" experiences were all american branded. Somehow these guys haven't figured out that pushing a bunch of mediocre cars into the rental fleets seriously damages brand image.
It's kind of telling that 6 of the 10 american cars I drove lately I could not wait to give the car back. All of the Chrysler cars were truly awful to barely adequate. (Charger, Avenger, Journey). GM was a mixed bag (Aveo sucked so bad I returned it after 2 days for a slightly less dismal malibu, G6 ok but unrefined, malibu = tin can, vibe = bad ride, couldn't believe it was a rebranded toyota, Impala = decent highway cruiser with a lot of room but very grandma-esque, Terrain = quite comfortable with good gas mileage, might actually consider one. Same with the Ford Fusion, I actually like it. Now compare that with the typical corolla/camry, atlima/maxima, elantra/sonata, mazda3/mazda6 - those cars are not exciting to drive, but they're also not offensive in their awfulness the way some of the american cars are. They're more than adequate for what they aim to be, and this is coming from someone that usually drives a BMW.
I think it is funny you isolate one issue for Hondas. But you don't want to talk about entire decades of poor quality from GM, Chrysler, Jeep, etc.
Perception may not always reflect reality at the current time. But perception originates from actual experience. Honda and Toyota didn't earn their reputation by running great ads on TV.
The Big 3 made really mediocre vehicles from the mid-1980s through the mid-2000s. They coasted on low fuel prices, profits from SUVs and trucks, and loyalty. The OP mentioned the Grand Am and Dodge Stratus. By any objective standard, those two vehicles were horrible. They did nothing well. There were at least 10 better vehicles to buy. Anyone that thinks those are good cars just has very low standards.
Exactly.
I remember a friend of mind got a brand new Pontiac Grand AM in 2002. There was nothing I liked about the car at all.
The number #1 car I see on the Road(s) everyday where I live is not even a Car it is a upscale model Ford F-Series pick-up Truck(s).
Then again since I own and daily drive a F-250 maybe I just tend to look for and spot more F-series trucks over any other car(s) or truck(s) brands in my city
Could it be, that there are like 7 different makes of domestic, 3 if you don't count the offshoots, and a whole heck of a lot more import makes?
If you throw every single model car that you can buy new today, and throw it in an excel spreadsheet, then pick one at random, you have a larger chance of picking a non american car. Unless of course you count 39 different model mustangs as separate models....
The main 'domestic' makes which are sold in the US are outnumbered by the amount of 'foreign' makes which are sold. It means there's plenty of choice so someone wanting to buy a car at a certain price has a wide variety of models to choose from. They are able to buy a vehicle which most closely fits their needs and wants and as there are many manufacturers the chances of it being a US make is less than it being a foreign one.
There are simply more people interested in imports than domestics. There are a variety of reasons but it's also important to take into account just how many import makes there are compared to three domestic makes.
I'm just going to quote myself from a prior post since everyone seems to be repeating the same thing
Overall, the Domestics account for around 45%-50% of the total US vehicle market. So, just based on that, there would be around a 50/50 split of people.
If you look at the truck/SUV market they own more like 65%+. So, when discussing trucks and SUV's the domestics tend to be overrepresented in the discussion.
In the car market they own around 40% and that drops to more like 35% when you remove rental sales from the equation. So, when discussing cars the foriegn brands tend to be overrepresented in the discussion.
As a previous poster pointed out, there are also a lot more foreign brands then there are domestic brands. Even if you unroll everyone's component brands, the foreign companies outnumber the domestic companies by over 5 to 1. This means that when you are discussing options for a particular need, you can usually come up with more foreign branded options. For instance, let's take mainstream midsize family sedans...
Domestic: Ford Fusion, Chevy Malibu, Chrysler 200, Dodge Avenger
Foreign: Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Nissan Altima, Subaru Legacy, VW Passat, Hyundai Sonata, Kia Optima, Mitsubishi Galant
There are 4 domestic entries and 8 foreign entries. If we combine the "sister" models, it takes us to 3 and 7. If we knock it down to cars people would actually recommend and consider buying we are left with 2 (being kind to the current Malibu) and 6 (7 if we don't count the Sonata/Optima as being basically the same). Based on that, any discussion of cars will most likely contain a large number of mentions of foreign cars, just to put all of the options out there.
Regionality also plays a large role. The domestic manufacturers have a true national footprint. In vast stretches of the country you will only find domestic dealerships and there are many areas where the smaller import brands simply don't have a presence. You see this most acutely in the Midwest and Plains. The "coasts" are where you see the full slate of import vehicles. For instance, in southern Illinois you have many small towns and will see very few foreign cars. In a town like Litchfield or Farmersville you will find a Chevy and Ford dealer. The nearest Toyota dealer is around two hours away. People in Litchfield and Farmersville largely drive domestics.
That also means that with such a strong "central" presence, the domestics tend to be less represented on the coasts. The Mid-Atlantic, Northeast and Pacific coasts tend to have a lot of import cars and generally outnumber domestics on the road.
As for why the seeming weight of imports on internet sites, a lot of that has to do with demographics. Outside of Toyota, import buyers are generally younger than domestic buyers by a decent margin. So, among younger people there is an overrepresentation of import ownership. Younger people are also far more likely to be active on internet sites and forums.
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