P71 wrote:YOU need to go look at what the Big 3 are making RIGHT NOW or you need to shut your trap and go crawl back in your cave. Your ignorance and blind hatred is mucking up our board.
Is someone a little sensitive because they have a POS Pontiac? Perhaps you could let the grown-ups finish their talk now, thanks.
I am not bashing any particular car or brand, just look at the sales figures and show me where the G8 or any other Pontiac is on this chart:
I thought so. I am not "bashing" the domestics; the American public (and every other market out there expect for Buicks in China) has been by not buying them. Imports rule the bulk of sales (outside of trucks) and only incentives, rebates and fleet sales have kept the Big 3 afloat. And some brand-loyalty to Chevy and Ford apparently. Find me one slice of data that shows the domestic car business doing a whole lot better than the imports over the past 10 or 20 years.
There are certainly bright spots in the Domestic offerings. The Malibu for instance hits the heart of the US car market and is doing pretty well. It is the first Chevy that has got people interested because of the product, not just brand loyalty or huge rebates. This car will get people away from their Camry or Accord. Amazing that GM did it, now they have to apply that same quality and attention to detail to the rest of their cars. They will get there, unless they stop trying and just concentrate on the Volt and other hybrids. Do you want a Volt? Neither do I. But I would like a Chevy product that has the quality of the Malibu, but competes with the Mazda 3 or Civic on quality, size, features, value, resale, etc etc etc.
You can argue how good and reliable US cars are until you are blue in the face, but the FACT is that they are asking the US government for billions of dollars because their sales have slid so far. The recent gas crunch and the economy has hit every automaker, but the domestics were in trouble before all of that. How did they let Toyota and Honda and Hyundai outsell them on their home turf? Why are domestic exports such a joke compared to imports? Why is Cadillac only recently making cars that compete on a world stage, and only having success if they stuff 600hp under the hood?
I hope that my children can someday go to Detroit and see it alive, vibrant and full of car manufacturing. I hope that the American Auto Worker becomes a viable career for generations again. I want people to aspire to a domestic car, rather than a Mercedes or BMW. I really do. I just think that there needs to be some big changes in the way they do things soon, or we will all be driving Chinese cars. God forbid. A few good cars are a start, but it will take time to change the publics perception and buying patterns.
