Chrysler and Caddy are well on their way. Hummer is there. Chevy will likely be next followed by Buick and hopefully Pontiac. Saturn will be distinctly European thanks to Opel, and SAAB just needs to find its niche. Sounds like GM is on its way. My question is will Ford be able to do the same?

 

I'm not sure how that affects selling vehicles and market share loss...but things like stagnant body styles going on for a decade without a real make over, OR, just addressing problems like; paint falling off their cars in huge chunks, trans failures for weak brads on "park rods", substandard materials in good designs...etc...would do wonders for "public perception".
Not that I agree with anything that worthless rag, CR, has to say. They sold out in the mid-'80's. If any vehicle doesn't fit their "Euro-Japanese" genre, it's pure trash...
They need to stop using their genre as a measuring stick, and evaluate vehicles on their own weight, in their own designed direction. American vehicle are designed in a different direction; more style, American Style.

 

I can see how living in MI might give you such a lighthearted, unrealistic view of the current marketplace. When I went to NAIAS, we got to the hotel around 11:30 PM. There were 18 cars in the parking lot outside my hotel room window. 15 were domestic. Come to New England, and do the same thing...you'd have about 4-5 domestics AT BEST. MI is a complete anomaly when it comes to cars, as you'd expect it to be.

People read CR. People value CR. People spend a lot of $$$ on cars. People don't want to make a bad choice. Therefore, they reach for CR. You can't blame the customer. You can blame the magazine. I think CR is pure ****. But you know what? All GM's whining will change nothing. I don't know what will happen, but my prediction is that unless we get some PHENOMENAL cars from the big 2.5 in the next 5 years (I'm talking nothing but 300-type fanfare...not 500-type "wow...it looks like a '98 Passat" type fanfare), its going to get ugly.

Hyundai is taking grasp. Toyota keeps on rolling, and has nearly DCX market share in the U.S. I would NOT count out the Chinese yet...the Koreans proved Americans love bargains, and proved that you can move up with time. We need product, and we needed it yesterday. If we had it, CR might not have such a grasp on people.

 

I've lived all over, partly thanks to six years in the USAF. Grew up near Cleveland, lived in Columbus OH while in college, then Dayton and Omaha in the USAF, then Denver five years and moved to Detroit where I am now. I've been driving GM cars/trucks and nothing else since 1976... so I suppose some could claim I'm biased. But I've already acknowledged the substantial success so far of the import brands. Fact is though, America's love affair with the automobile will not fade anytime soon, and distinctly American designs are perfect input to that passion. Sure, I realize how many more folks drive domestics in Detroit. But the domestics are still selling a huge amount of iron and making customers happy with world-class quality to boot. The myth of foreign car quality superiority is dead, despite CR's desperate attempts to keep it alive on life support.
It's already ugly. But GM's taking action to cut their costs so they can compete. Hopefully also, our government will do some things to level the playing field with the import makes... to prevent things getting so bad in the US that no one can afford new cars anymore. I'm all in favor of them selling here... and yes they do have some assembly here now... but we should levy the same taxes/fees/rules on imports from Japanese companies that they do on US cars being sold in Tokyo.
Maybe you haven't looked lately... but GM has a pretty good global strategy going (except of course in protectionist Japan). GM's got growing market share in China, and GM's Korean sub, Daewoo, is getting back online and hiring workers back.

 

GM is on the right path, back to American styled vehicles, but one thing they need to remember is; public opinion is largely affected by seeing how their vehicles hold up after 10 years on the road compared to the competition.
Anyone can make a New vehicle look and run good, but how good will they hold up?, is something value concious people do look at.

 

With all due respect, I really don't care much about other markets. If GM can't even get its home market straight, what the hell does that say about them? I can appreciate success elsewhere, but if they can't get NA right, we're screwed...

 

It matters how GM is doing overseas, because it affects how much capital they will have for making new hits for the USA. Their recent success in China for example, helps fund developments like the new Camaro, the 07 Tahoe whose sales are up 47% over last year, the new C6, the HHR, the STS-v and so on.

 

You mean there's no idiots at C&D?

 

has anyone emailed CR in anger to the article..?

If everyone that responded to each CR thread here and passed the message along to other boards like this..see where im getting at?
you got thousnads of letters of hate, hey it might get thier collective heads out of that giant butt of thiers.

 

Consumer Reports are geared for the naive. The rest of us use our brains.

If I listened to magazine reviews, consumer reports etc... I'd never buy a GM vehicle! Thank God we have forums like camaroZ28.com. It's members are able to have commonsense discussion without wasting time responding to CRs.

Btw, I congratulate Lori Queen for having the ***** to speak her mind! Pity some of her male colleagues lack *****. j/k