policyvote Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Finally, they didn't listen to the marketplace when people began calling for more fuel efficient cars instead of bigger, larger gas guzzlers. They continue to make the H2 and the Explorer and the Tahoe and the Navigator and the Escalade. Ah but you see, the marketplace didn't REALLY start calling for more fuel efficient cars until last summer. What most people today consistently fail to realize was that AMERICANS were BUYING those big 'gas guzzlers' at incredible rates. The Big Three couldn't buld SUVs fast enough, and moreover they absolutely had the imports over a barrel in terms of quality, reliability, and understanding the marketplace. The Big Three, especially Ford, were just minting money with those things in the late 90s and into the aughts. Yeah, the SUV bubble burst when gas hit $2.00 a gallon, and the wretched passenger cars of the domestics were exposed then, but Ford and GM have really done incredible things since then, and built some amazing automobiles, and more are in the pipeline. What's really put the knife in the heart of the American automaker is that Americans aren't buying ANY cars. Toyota, Honda, Nissan, they're all down buy 25 - 35% too. Combine that with the fact that it takes perfect credit and a court order to get a loan nowadays, and you can see why no amount of government-mandated biznass stragegy is going to magicallly make it all better. Peace policy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaP'N GRuNGe Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Ah but you see, the marketplace didn't REALLY start calling for more fuel efficient cars until last summer. What most people today consistently fail to realize was that AMERICANS were BUYING those big 'gas guzzlers' at incredible rates. The Big Three couldn't buld SUVs fast enough, and moreover they absolutely had the imports over a barrel in terms of quality, reliability, and understanding the marketplace. The Big Three, especially Ford, were just minting money with those things in the late 90s and into the aughts. Yeah, the SUV bubble burst when gas hit $2.00 a gallon, and the wretched passenger cars of the domestics were exposed then, but Ford and GM have really done incredible things since then, and built some amazing automobiles, and more are in the pipeline. What's really put the knife in the heart of the American automaker is that Americans aren't buying ANY cars. Toyota, Honda, Nissan, they're all down buy 25 - 35% too. Combine that with the fact that it takes perfect credit and a court order to get a loan nowadays, and you can see why no amount of government-mandated biznass stragegy is going to magicallly make it all better. Peace policy What models for instance? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azazello1313 Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Ah but you see, the marketplace didn't REALLY start calling for more fuel efficient cars until last summer. What most people today consistently fail to realize was that AMERICANS were BUYING those big 'gas guzzlers' at incredible rates. The Big Three couldn't buld SUVs fast enough, and moreover they absolutely had the imports over a barrel in terms of quality, reliability, and understanding the marketplace. I would think "understanding the marketplace" entails a little more foresight than the sort of reactionary short-sightedness you are describing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
policyvote Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 I would think "understanding the marketplace" entails a little more foresight than the sort of reactionary short-sightedness you are describing. I meant the truck-buying marketplace. The people who actually want to buy trucks--and contrary to what most major-city-newspaper-journalists would have you believe, people buy more trucks than cars--want to buy American-made trucks in part because Americans know how to build and sell trucks. Peace policy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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