Fox T-Bird/Cougar Forums  

Rocks don't always need to be exciting. I'd guess a large number of Camry/Accord/Altima owners don't really care about "driving excitement". They want a solid, reliable car with a good resale value. In that respect, the Camry and Accord are a toss-up. Look up the specs between the two, it's like they copied each other.

My mother just bought an '06 Camry. She originally went to get and Accord (because the Civic she had previously did well) but the dealer dropped the ball. She ended up getting the Camry.

I thought about sending her off to test-drive a Fusion, but I didn't want to hear her complain if it ever broke down. Toyota and Honda have quite a reputation for reliability, even if it isn't totally true at this time. Plus, if the Fusion takes after most other Fords, the re-sale value is going to be sub-par compared to the Camry/Accord.

Maybe a little perspective...

Toyotas, Hondas, Nissans, even BMW's are now made in America. The U.S. has opened the doors for its own domestic car competition to come on in, build a plant, build cars, hell, we'll even give them tax incentives to do it. Land of the free? Yes. However, I find it ironic that the U.S. would shoot itself in its own foot just to get businesses to relocate to this country. America is therefore its own competition.

On the other hand...there are a lot of good, hard-working people at those plants. And they have the right, no, the OBLIGATION to drive what they build, at least in brand name. The Chevy Cobalt is built 25 miles from where I live. We are bombarded with ads on TV from car dealers, mostly of GM origin. As a Ford guy, do I complain? No. Those people at the plant keep our sad local economy going. The only way they will continue to do so is to buy what they build. This is a matter of pride, sure, but the economic impact is far reaching, moreso than any other industry I can recall. It doesn't matter if the car is a GM, Ford, Mopar, Nissan, etc.--the net result is the same.

One thing the foreign brands have proven is that the 'old way' of thinking in Detroit will no longer be enough for the Big Three to compete in its own country. It was looooooong overdue, but the typical American consumer ignored that for too long. Now, with new domestic-foreign competition, the American car companies don't look so bright, do they? At the same time the consumers caught onto that, since the level of expectations has risen dramatically in recent years.

A good deal of sales have undoubtedly happened due to the perceived 'quality' issue. I will be the first to admit that American car parts are maybe not the best when viewed globally. But they are inexpensive and usually readily available. A comparable foreign car part, even if made/assembled in America, can arguably be of better quality....but Lord have mercy if you ever need to replace it--it's going to be an expensive bill. Some parts can only be obtained from their source origin countries too---mmmmm, foreign shipping. Lovely. This is the only area where the Big Three can hold its own ground anymore. They will not win the parts war on quality but they will NOT be outdone in price and sheer volume. OK, it's a stalemate that we win by default. Woohoo. But it is at least something to counter the quality Kool-Aid that the foreign automakers expect us to drink without question.

Are foreign (or domestic-foreign) cars made better? Is their quality really that much better? They want you to think that. Truth is, they helped the Big Three close that gap. Again, the bars are constantly being raised, and the level of expectation continues to climb. Well, the American cars are also climbing up the scale, but the media--the unmitigated purveyor of many untruths--never seems to dwell on that. What is sadly obvious is that the Big Three are not innovating so much anymore...they are relegated to playing catch-up in nearly every situation. But they can certainly compete on a quality level. A quick look at the JD Power survey (http://consumercenter.jdpower.com/) will show as much. Even base Fords are above the industry average now. So...that pretty much shoots any argument down from foreign carmakers.

It does boil down to the product. And frankly, there isn't a whole lot to get excited about when looking at what the Big Three are offering. We have some pretty awesome cars available--Corvette, Mustang, 300C, Viper--but they are niche cars, low-volume production, not mainstream as they may have been even 15-20 years ago. In other words, not everyone wants one of those cars. They seem to want something a little more practical. Sometimes the vehicle that gets the job done best, no matter how unattractive the body styling is, will get the sale. How else can the sales of the Camry, Accord, and even the Aztek be explained?! I think what handicaps Detroit cars is that they usually do one thing great, but other things not as well as the competition. The Accord and Camry aspire to do all things well, with nothing really ever standing out. That's their modus operandii. And apparently there are just truckloads of vanilla, plain-Jane lemmings clamoring for such vehicles. And since these cars are relatively reliable, and every year we're reminded of this, and people "hear good things about them" from others...guess who gets the sale. This completely bypasses any offering from Detroit, even if they actually have a worthy or emerging competitor (such as the Fusion, and perhaps even the new Impala SS). In order for the Big Three to ever regain sales like they did 15 years ago, they must break this aforementioned cycle of ownership, and the only way to effectively do that is to offer product that will outdo their competition. So far that's not happening, but they definitely have the means to do so. It is probably just a matter of time.

One thing remains constant: the dealership is the ONLY bridge between the consumer and the car manufacturer, period. How one is treated at the dealer will absolutely make or break the car company. In this respect, the American way of doing business cannot win in its present condition. The Big Three need to get their collective act cleaned up, their commitment to the buyer renewed, and the old way shoved out the door. This is the area where foreign automakers seem to have a great advantage, but it's not like we can't see that. Certainly the Big Three know this. They simply choose not to act upon it, perhaps smug in their current old-school capabilities, that maybe the old way is better, that maybe another heyday of Detroit iron will magically return. While they keep dreaming, American consumers are going with the companies that treat them the best. And they aren't the Big Three.

That being said...I completely agree with the title of this thread. :)

Know why TV's are assembled in puppiesan and Malaysia? 'Cuz RCA can't afford to pay Americans $60k/yr to screw circuitboards into housings when Malaysian workers will do it for $60/day.