::pretends he's psychic::

I think large SUV popularity will decrease and lower to the ground SUVs like that new one Ford has this year (the one that is barely taller than the 500) and wagons such as Dodge Magnums and cars that are between SUV and car will become more popular. I also believe front wheel drive will become increasingly unpopular on many cars, I would assume that Honda and Acura will have another RWD car other than the S2000 by 2007. Unfortunately sports cars will most likely continue to get taller as they have been for half a decade, however there will be at least 3 more "pony cars" (in style) by 2007 I figure -probably not American made. By 2008 I believe SUV popularity will have a change in direction, they will become unpopular because of social issues or environmental ones.

What do you forecast for this time next year?

 

*Big SUVs will decrease in popularity (finally) in favor of Crossovers.
*Coupes will become the "in" thing again.
*Cobalt's lineup will be in the top 5 in car sales.
*Charger will become the poster child of Muscle cars.
*Ford's market share will hit bottom, before rebounding going into 2006.
*Chrysler will come close to catching Ford on market share.

Of course, if the dollar's strength doesn't recover, foreign buyers of stocks and bonds drop out, the deficit continues to grow, and we continue to pump billions of dollars into Iraq for another year, all bets are off.

 

More hybrids
More AWD cars
More HP
More MPG conscious shoppers

 

I agree with the above and will ad..

*GM will continue to kill its self.
*GM's market share will drop even further....................

 

The large suv's and trucks will continue to decrease in sales due to gas prices, although the smaller ones like the rav4, escape, crv, etc i think will gain more popularity. I also see more rwd coupes coming to market and selling well.

 

Riced out econoboxes, SRT4, Cobalt SS, Civic SI ect.

 

I can guarantee that fewer fullsized GM SUVs will be sold because they already announced production cuts. (Dooming the entire fullsized SUV segment is just "wishful thinking" by SUV haters.)

The 2005 Mustang will be a guaranteed hot seller. (That wasn't a hard one.)

The Cobalt will not be big moneymaker for GM. (Assuming that Cobalt sales go through the roof without any incentives, there isn't a big enough profit margin to make a dent in corporate earnings.)

Volvo will remain the most successful part of Ford's PAG, troubles will continue at Jaguar and Land Rover. (This is too easy.)

The Japanese manufacturers will continue to gain marketshare despite an overall decrease in U.S. auto sales.

Proposals will be made for a $1.00/gallon Federal gasoline tax. (I didn't say it would become law.)

 

pretty much the same as everyone else.

large SUV's will become almost unheardof
AWD and RWD will become much more popular
FWD will go downhill quick
sports cars will return, but in a more handling oriented fashion. not straight line.

 

- the HHR will be a sales flop
- the gto and ssr will continue to be sales flops
- the g6 will be a big success, as will the cobalt
- the charger will be a sales flop
- the general feeling at the 5th gen forum about the next camaro will dramatically flip-flop from optimism to hysterical pessimism with each new scrap of news

 

I saw on CNN the other day the oil priced dropped to a "record low" or something like that.