I watched a number of news shows yesterday and this morning and when they talk about how bad the auto industry is doing they only talked about the American Big 3, yet Toyota and Honda sales dropped more than GM and Ford

At least NBC mentioned Toyota and Honda after they focused on Detroit, but just about all the rest only report how terrible American car sales are. Then they said that one of the reason Chrysler did so bad in December was because of all the negative media coverage and rumors of bankruptcy. One online source (cnn.com/money??) did report something positive, Ford gained 0.7% market share last month.

December 2008 sales

Chrysler -53.1%
Toyota -36.7%
Honda -34.7%
Ford -32.3%
GM -31.2%
Nissan -30.7%

 

wow.

 

Welcome to the club, Z28x.

 

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/01/05/b...-over-edition/

The only car makers that had an increase in sales in 2008 were Mini +28.6% & Subaru +0.3%.

 

They also missed other substantial issues.

In addition to increasing it's market share by nearly a percent (no small feat!!) the Ford Motor Company now sells more cars than they do trucks.

Chevrolet's car sales are down a meger 4.1% for the year. Add in trucks, SUVs, and crossovers and Chevrolet's sales drop to over 25% for 2008.

Ford's car sales are off only 8% for the year. Add in Ford's trucks, SUVs, and crossovers, and that number ballons to 20% for 2008..... (Ford lost 42% in SUV sales).

Since Honda makes primarily and mostly cars, one can say that Honda took a serious beating at the hands of Ford & GM as far as hits to car sales. I suspect if you pull out Toyota and look at how car sales compared, I think GM and Ford would compare favorable as far as sales hits.

Another fact the media (and Senators Shelby and Corker) will no doubt ignore.




Steping away from what the media ignored for a moment, the sales figures for December at both Ford & GM (I haven't taken the time to go over Chrysler and I have to go to work soon) have alot of intersting surprizes.

* GM's sales are down 23% for the full year, while Cadillac is down only 19.7%

* The sales of the G5 are down less than 2% for December.

* Corvette sales are down nearly 55% for December.

* GM still sold 265,000 Impalas last year, their best selling car. Cobalt was 2nd with 188,000. 3rd, Malibu at just over 178,000.

* Mustang sales are off over 50%. Corvettes nearly 57%.

* The ultimate Cadillac, the Escalade EXT is down only 3%, while Solstice is down nearly 70% (sold just over 400 cars last month!).

GM's biggest hits (discounting discontinued models)? GMC. Their trucks are taking 70-77% hits in sales.

Ford's?

Taurus X and the Volvo S60. Both are taking 80% hits in sales.

 

A lot of people say they think there is a bias in the American media against American auto manufacturers.

Why do you think that is?

(The answer is not obvious to me, so it's not a loaded question. Personally, I think American news reports on American automakers because our companies and our economy are BIG, front and foremost topics right now).

 

Toyota's and Honda's are not exactly niche products like in the 70's. Toyota and Ford very close as are Chrysler and Honda in sales.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/...to-sales_N.htm

 

You didn't answer my question. I don't care that they have similar sales. Why do you think American news companies are only reporting American automaker sales statistics?

 

Because they will take a 20 minute segment telling how sales have dropped xx% on the year, xx% for the month, they are going to be bankrupt, then tell you how badly American car companies are doing because all they make are trucks and SUV's, then at the last second just before the commercial they will say " Uh oh yea Toyota and Hondas sales are down too." And thats it. No numbers, no facts on how much the foreigners dropped just a quick line and off to the commercials.

 

For ratings. The failure of one draws a lot more attention than the other (American vs Japanese auto industries)

News companies are corporations.
Corporations are out for profit.
Increasing ratings means you charge more for commercial air time.

 

It presents a nearing danger that 'something is about to happen,' but you need to continue watching their broadcast to be up to speed when 'its' about to happen and how bad it is going to be. Its just a fear ploy.

 

Bah, I know how to fix that (well aside from banks refusing to issue loans), If you are a stockholder in Ford, your eligible for the X-plan discount (and if I read correctly - there is no minimum amount of stock you have to purchase - just need to be a shareholder) plus any incentives they have to offer.

Heh last time I checked Ford was trading under 3.00 bucks

 

I doubt this is true. But there are some ways to get x plan.

http://www.ford.com/purchasing-optio...discounts-128p

http://www.eaa.org/ford/

 

This wouldn't be a problem except for the fact that the ARE news companies, and that they need to report the "news", not "their personal agenda and idea of the news".

If you are going to report automotive sales, then you should report all of the foreign brands in addition to the big 3. If they want to be douches and sensationalize ****, there are plenty of ways to stir up the pot: talk about how some of the super high end brands (Bentley, Ferrari?) are doing well right now instead of crashing...rich get richer, right? That'll **** off some viewers enough to keep them watching and keep the ad revenue flowing

 

You would think that more people would have caught on to this statement.

American news corporations, talking about American companies. Like OMG!!!!

That's funny, I don't see anyone on here bitching that the media doesn't cover the on goings of the Central Bank of Madagascar's turmoil over Bank of America's.

People can't see the forest from the trees sometimes. Don't worry though, it should come as no surprise that humans aren't always rational.