This is a very true statement, in my opinion at least. My mom drives a Hemi Durango and loves it. It doesn't get stellar fuel mileage, but for a vehicle its size and power, it does alright.

 

There are lots of people out there, who bought them and would buy one again, because that's exactly what they need!! Imposing on the people what they "should" be driving, IMO is un-American! It won't stop with what we drive either. This country is in serious trouble folks....serious trouble!!!

 

They didn't predict jack ****. Honda wanted in on the truck money by adding the Ridgeline and upsizing all of their SUV's and cars over the years. Nissan wanted in too. They brought out the Titan, Armada, and their twins as well as upsized all of their cars/suv's. Toyota? Spent BILLIONS on the Tundra/Sequoia, upsized the Tacoma/4 runner, added the FJ to the line up, the huge *** Land Cruiser is still around, and for the most part have upsized every vehicle they make by a lot.

The reason they could jump to the front of the line in the US market when gas prices went sky high? Their HOME market. Think about it. Japan has a very competitive home market, and one that's not even open to foreigners! We all know how competitive the Japanese can be (meant in a good way.) Japan's automakers have had to build what the Japanese people want as well, which is small, efficient, vehicles. So all Japan had to do was bring them over here.

Not rocket science. Japan was no more prepared for the fuel crises as anyone else was, they just happened to have many years of experience and product already in place when the **** hit the fan.

The mistake the big 3 made was not having their cars "US ready" in all their markets. Japan was because they sell the same/similar cars in the US market as they do in Japan.

If the US home market was like Japan's, they wouldn't be in the mess they're in now. We didn't want detroit to build small cars, hell, most of us (including me) made fun of them/still make fun of people who drive small cars, etc. It wasn't too long ago we were all crying for a larger RWD Impala with a big honkin' V-8, not a 4 cylinder XFE Cruze!

One more note... the Prius? Total luck. What if fuel prices went crazy when GM had the EV-1? Who would we be referring to as the Genious then? Honda also had their insight about that time as well. I think Toyota did have something, but I can't recall what it was, but the EV-1 and Insight were the most notable at the time that I can remember.

 

Yes...all manufacturers have been "upsizing" their vehicles (my God, when I compare my '93 F150 to one of today's models it's like 50% larger) but what the transplants didn't do was get into the truck/SUV market while abandoning their cars.

I think your argument about Asian automakers simply bringing product "over here" is simply not true...most do offer essentially the same vehicles in all their markets but I don't think there is any models made in Japan (and not here) that have been brought in when gas prices went "sky high"? There may have been one or two but I honestly can't think of any off hand...can you?

 

They may have not been specifically in Japan, but when fuel prices went up vehicles like the Fit and Yaris were brought over. Toyota will also be bringing the IQ and Venza soon, I believe both are sold in/will be sold in Japan. The two most notables that have been here (and over there) for a long time have been the Civic and Corolla. If they hadn't been so popular world wide, would they have been popular here? Would they even be here? Look at civic/corolla sales from even around 2004/2005 compared to now. They were selling about 230-250K/year each and are currently on pace to sell 350K or so each this year. If it wasn't for high fuel prices, would american's really want to drive those cars?

My point was, because of their "home market" the Japanise have been "forced" to build efficient and smaller vehicles for many many years whereas in the US all we cared about was size (large) and power (big!)

Heck, look at EVERYTHING we have. It's all huge. Most people live in a house that's way too big, with huge TV's, some have big swimming pools, usually at least one SUV or minivan in the driveway, our restaurants give large portions when we eat out, and most fast food places give you the opportunity to supersize it! We've been a nation of "the bigger the better" for a long *** time while Japan has been a nation of "Efficiency" for just as long/longer.

 

Now wait just a minute…

I know that other people are guilty of having stuff they don’t need but I need my three bedroom/two bath home (even though I live alone except for my hound) and I need my 67” high def TV; Blue-ray player, Dolby 5.1 channel Bose sound system and two brand new vehicles.

Getting back to Japan's vehicles; it is true that Japan (like Europe and most of the rest of the world for that matter) have a lot more expertise and choices in "small" vehicles and in a sense, have been "forced" into building those types of vehicles because of difference between the U.S. and the rest of the world.

That said, I wouldn't put too much emphasis on that as an explanation for the import's increasing share of the U.S. TVM...recent spikes in fuel prices have certainly helped small/efficient car sales a lot recently but the overall slide of the Detroit Three (in loosing market share) has been going on for quite a lone time now.

 

Bingo. Bingo bingo bingo. Sales are down across the board because Americans, as a general rule, aren't buying as many new cars lately.

When you look at the overall hit and the overall health of the companies listed, it's clear that pretty much all but the American Automakers will likely weather the storm.

We can argue about products until we're all blue in the face, but the fact is that the formerly Big 3 are now, and have been on the losing end of the market. It's that simple. Make up your own reasons, but the rest of the car manufacturers will likely push through this without huge restructuring or bailout. This isn't a "this year" problem for American automakers...this is the culmination of years of poor financial planning and inattentiveness to trends.

 

Isn't the Acura TSX the foreign market Honda Accord?

 

I don't think so.

I think the "Accord", whatever it might be called in Japan is still differentiated from the Acura TSX (I don't know their entire line-up but Acura became a brand name this year in Japan and Europe for the first time).

 

Isn't the Acura TSX.....just another POS! <<<There fixed that for ya!

 

Do you bring anything to the table?

 

It's the European Accord.

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...ord_auto_shows

 

Thank you.
That's what I thought.

And that's just one example of the ability of the foreign automakers to just bring to the U.S. a car they already have elsewhere to fill a spot here in this country. Pretty smart if you ask me.

That's another problem for the Big 3 (or at least the Big 2). All the cars they built for their overseas markets should have been certified for the U.S.
So that, if needed (such as NOW), they could simply put these cars on a boat and have them here.
They build a lot of good stuff overseas and it would have probably helped over the past year.