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Sedan sales are trending downward, so why waste resources on a broad spectrum of vehicles, many of which are uncompetitive and in decline? Focus on what consumers want (pickups and SUVs/CUVs) and put all your money into developing what sells. And let the competition fight over an ever shrinking market.
Because abandoning a whole market segment and assuming those buyers will choose your other vehicles instead is wrong and has been proven wrong time and time again
Toyota abandoned sports cars. Did those buyers say "Oh well I guess I'll just buy a Camry"? Nope. Ford abandoned offroad vehicles for a long time. Did people say "I'll just stop offroading"? Nope, they bought Jeeps
Because abandoning a whole market segment and assuming those buyers will choose your other vehicles instead is wrong and has been proven wrong time and time again
Toyota abandoned sports cars. Did those buyers say "Oh well I guess I'll just buy a Camry"? Nope. Ford abandoned offroad vehicles for a long time. Did people say "I'll just stop offroading"? Nope, they bought Jeeps
American manufacturers are abandoning cars that don't sell well in favor of vehicles that do sell well.
This is a free country drive what you want, there are BMW fans and their are Jeep fans, but i bet you would not take the BMW of yours four wheeling would you.
My son ends up at Denver airport with a reservation for a rental SUV. He is given an X5. A couple days later he is on a gravel forest road (designated as "high clearance 2WD recommended), miles from the blacktop. A bit of very, very light four wheeling was too much for the BMW and it went into limp mode. He then spent a couple of hours travelling at a walking pace to the blacktop, then down the shoulder to a town. A few hours later the rental company delivers a GC, and took the X5 back to it's natural habitat (the dealer ) on a rollback.
My son ends up at Denver airport with a reservation for a rental SUV. He is given an X5. A couple days later he is on a gravel forest road (designated as "high clearance 2WD recommended), miles from the blacktop. A bit of very, very light four wheeling was too much for the BMW and it went into limp mode. He then spent a couple of hours travelling at a walking pace to the blacktop, then down the shoulder to a town. A few hours later the rental company delivers a GC, and took the X5 back to it's natural habitat (the dealer ) on a rollback.
Because abandoning a whole market segment and assuming those buyers will choose your other vehicles instead is wrong and has been proven wrong time and time again
Toyota abandoned sports cars. Did those buyers say "Oh well I guess I'll just buy a Camry"? Nope. Ford abandoned offroad vehicles for a long time. Did people say "I'll just stop offroading"? Nope, they bought Jeeps
I guess you don’t look at sales numbers of sedans do you, like others like you, you just don’t want to believe that sedans are not selling.
Didnt state anyone was being forced. What Im stating is, the big 3 cant seem to make a competitive sedan to challenge the Foreign's, so as a buyer, if they cant engineer a competitive sedan, why would I even trust them to make a reliable CUV/SUV, if they cant get the Sedan part right.
I know the foreign makers are without their issues too, like Nissan CVT failures, Hyundai/Kia engines failures and fires on the 2.4 and 2.0T, Honda 9spd auto problems, but as someone that has always bought American cars, I think ill actually admit, that the Honda, Toyota, and even Nissan seem to put more effort into their products. All American car makers care about are these overpriced Trucks and SUV's.
The american manufacturers need to make vehicles that they can PROFIT on. They could build and sell a bunch of Tauruses, but could they PROFIT more by building and selling SUVs and trucks? That is the question and it had obviously been answered.
Because abandoning a whole market segment and assuming those buyers will choose your other vehicles instead is wrong and has been proven wrong time and time again
Given that the big three are selling the living snot out of SUVs and trucks, and have made record profits doing so, your argument for continually losing money on unprofitable and undesirable product is a bit weak, to be charitable.
Toyota abandoned sports cars. Did those buyers say "Oh well I guess I'll just buy a Camry"? Nope. Ford abandoned offroad vehicles for a long time. Did people say "I'll just stop offroading"? Nope, they bought Jeeps
No they don't say, "I'll guess I'll just buy a Camry". The customer went to a builder that better fill a very, very niche market, one that most builders have little interest in, and others do extremely well. No different than any other product. Just because you are making a half billion sneakers a year, doesn't mean you need to offer custom, hand made cowboy boots in your product line, since it is also a shoe. Toyota viewed the sports car market as unprofitable at that specific time, and in that specific segment of their worldwide portfolio. Much like they don't offer Tundras in Japan or Europe, nor Kei cars here.
Your Ford comment is curious, also. Having been interested in all things vehicle related since I was old enough for a sand box and a Tonka truck, I can think of the entire uninterrupted lineage of off-road capable SUVs and trucks that Ford produced since the first gen. Bronco in the 1960s. The fact that Jeep continued to make a crude, outdated CJ series for decades after Ford abandoned their similar 1st. gen Bronco, certainly didn't mean much, other than the fact that Jeep hung onto a niche market, and Ford later hit it out of the park with the first gen. Explorer. BTW, I've owned multiple CJs, and an early Explorer, so I don't play favorites, or pretend I know better than car execs. who are currently shoveling in tens of billions in profits based on selling extremely profitable, and desirable products.
American manufacturers are abandoning cars that don't sell well in favor of vehicles that do sell well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by earthisle
Their total sales will decline and their profits will decline
But remember, manufacturers have a limited amount of factory capacity...
they can only build a certain number of vehicles in a year.
Why would they keep building slow-selling low-profit-margin sedans if a plant could be converted
to building more profitable SUVs and trucks?
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) on a rollback.
