Toyota beats Ford for the #2 spot in the world? When are Americans going to wake up. I have seen alot of cars flying the American flag after 911, to bad half those cars where foreign made! I say real Americans buy American cars and trucks! To bad the Japanese all ready domonate the American car Market. The American truck market is next! Buy American before its to late!

 

People are better informed and have more choices then ever when it comes to cars & TRUCKS. It's bad enough that import cars outsell AMERICAN but with Nissan & Toyota setting their sights on the F150 the TRUCK market is at risk also.
One problem is imports are run by engineers that know vehicles while the AMERICAN brands are run by SUITS in board rooms that are severely out of touch with REALITY.

 

They know what the consumer wants. Soccer moms spend money. Yuppies spend money. The two are often trading in and buying new. Many of us on the other hand are keeping our stuff becuase we make our trucks a hobby. Its our values that are different. The market refelcts those who spend the most time and money in that market.
Shame on us for letting suits dictate the market to their fellow suits.
Plastic trucks are for Barbie and Ken.

 

Do you think some of the US automakers problems regarding cars is due to the shoddy "craftsmanship" of a union worker? ToyotaUSA and HondaUSA do not have union workers, do they??? I will always be a Ford buyer ('02 Sable and an '03 S'crew with a '04 S'crew on the way), but it does not surprise me that the Japs have taken as much of a wedge out of the US market as they have.

As soon as companies start paying people based on their performance and NOT thier union dues, quality WILL improve. I have seen it first hand. I have probably made a few people mad, and I apologize, but I am just speaking my mind.

Flame away.... or agree as you wish.

 

In this market, Big Benn, I have to fully agree. Some markets/places need the help of a union to fight for the worker, but in the car industry, I agree with you 100%.

My brother works for the leading "spring" mfgr, and the stories he tells me just make me shake my head, it's no wonder our cars cost so much....

Just my 2 cents,

-Brents

 

Big Ben, you could not be more right. Unions protect the weak, lame and unwilling. Just like our government tries to do. Survival of the fittest does not jive with the Union mentality. Look what Unions did to Caterpillar, with a 600 some day strike. Jap earthmoving equipment got a toehold in our market at that time, and they have never left.

 

Welcome to reality. This trend started years ago and soon this country will be so dependity on foreign whatever that we will have little or no manufacturing jobs. That's great for the consumer except the consumer won't have any income. Keep buying cheap and it will come back to haunt all of us. Support what you like but I refuse to support those that support non-American made products even if an Accord is built in Marysville Indiana, or a Toyota truck is assembled in this country, or worse yet, the Korean imports. Man this is really stupid.

 

I bought my first Toyota this last spring. I will say it won't be my last. Great vehicles!

I'm not subscribing to any of this 'buy American' BS. The van I bought is American made and American designed. If customers in my industry we as patriotic as you all, then I wouldn't have a job.
The people in this country need to realize our labor force is changing. It's your own fault if you can't adapt. You can also blame yourselves for this change. If you didn't care so much for getting the most for you dollar, you wouldn't have to worry about jobs being lost to foreigners. Why do you think Wal Mart is so successful? They sell products for prices that consumers want to pay.

 

Calm down guys, the sky is not falling. The story is about WORLD wide sales. Toyota also owns Daihatsu and Hino which are included in the sales figures. Ford owns Mazda but those numbers are not included. Even so, Toyota sold 6.78 million while Ford sold 6.72 million. Not exactly a tidal wave victory by Toyota. Besides, world wide there are going be far and away more people who would like a Focus but can only afford a Daihatsu.

 

Very good point! Companies that have a larger global presence and market awareness tend to have better sales figures.

 

It's not that big of a deal, as Aerocolorado pointed out.

By the same token, it doesn't surprise me that the Japanese are outselling Ford. I've honestly never seen a company with as many mechanical gremlins as what I've seen since I arrived at this site. I mean, c'mon - an unfixable head gasket leak? a disappearing odometer? Brake pads that coat those nice, shiny wheels with black dust, enough so you have to clean the wheels 2x a week? The list goes on.

I love my Ford, but I'm almost afraid to buy another one. I can't afford to spend that kind of money and then have to fix it every day. Who's going to help me out? Ford? My dealer?

I read about all the nonsense that goes on with some of these vehicles, and then I visit the Dodge Cummins forums and the Nissan Titan forums and nobody's complaining.

Ford needs to get their act together. I don't make enough money to replace the whole entire vehicle piece by piece.

I welcome any commentary.

XXL

 

Nonsense. Real Americans want the best product for the money and to hell with the inferior product and its manufacturer. Toyota builds quality vehicles that are shipped to remote spots on the planet where there is no dealer/service department for thousands of miles. They have a great track record just like Nissan outboards which perform similar duties. How common is it for an American vehicle to have never been back to the dealer for even small fixes? I had back to back Toyota trucks that never saw the inside of a service bay in 7 yrs. apiece.

 

Amen Bro! Not only do they need to improve reliability and durability, they need to design vehicles that the American consumer wants. Ford does a poor job of market analysis and product planning. They obviously don't do any benchmarking. Take the Freestar for example, that van offers nothing new that others in the market don't already have. Why would someone want to buy a Freestar when there are others that do the same job, in many cases better for the same money or even less?

 

" Are we headed down hill like a snowball headed for hell? With no chance for the flag or the liberty bell? I wish a Ford and a Chevy would last ten years like they should! Is the best of the free life behind us now and are the good times really over for good?"-Merle Haggard

 

I wonder if any of you are wearing Levi jeans? Levi just closed the door on their last American plants and moved to Mexico in 2003. Did you know that Wal-Mart is the largest imported goods distributor in America? They import 12 Billion dollars a year. You guys are worried about the truck market, while our politicians are chasing our corporations overseas over petty ***** like stock options. At this rate, in ten years none of us will be able to afford a truck regardless of who made it.

Here is a paper I wrote for school if anyone is interested:

Outsourcing America
The outsourcing of America is an issue that not only threatens my job, but in my opinion could potentially end America as we know it. Manufacturing jobs are being shipped overseas by companies looking for lower wages in emerging markets. While a flat growth rate in the U.S. leaves little incentive for technology companies to continue operations here just to ship their products overseas. Middle-class jobs are being threatened. When middle-class America is gone and only the rich and the poor remain, the economy will falter and the U.S. will no longer be the world’s superpower.
Without middle-class dollars in the economy, U.S. industries will fall. For example, imagine the impact on the auto manufacturers. We have already seen lay-offs from their plants during economic recessions. Manufacturers would be forced to close their doors without the middle-class market and the ripple effect would be far reaching. Not only would large industries collapse but small business owners would close their doors as well. The economy after all is like a finely-tuned intricate watch. It slows down when the gears of a sector get a little rusty, but remove the middle-class and you lose the battery.
While recent trade agreements seemed like a logical choice because of emerging markets in China and other countries, it has a potentially crippling effect on America. The corporations of America seem to have had a hidden agenda while lobbying the Government to sign trade agreements. Not only are these companies competing with one another for share in foreign emerging markets, but they are also taking the market to these countries for a lower cost of manufacturing.
The average wage in the U.S. for these manufacturing jobs is $15 per hour, but overseas the average wage is $0.15 to $0.30 per hour. It is not hard to see why these companies are drawn to other countries. The average American’s benefits package could pay for at least two laborers’ salary per year. These companies are not loyal to America either. Many companies lose their stars and stripes in favor of business suits. They no longer say they are American companies, but instead opt for the new title of a Global company. Levi Strauss and Co. is considered to be an American Icon, but that did nothing to stop the company from leaving the U.S. The corporation closed its last American plant this year.
Since September 11th, 2001 the U.S. has concentrated a great deal of its efforts toward fighting terrorism but the seriousness of the job situation, while not being ignored, has not been given the attention that it needs. Politicians seem to feel that it is more important to attack company stock option plans instead of giving incentives for companies to stay in the U.S. and continue to produce jobs. I find myself wondering, how many companies will follow the example of Levi Strauss & Co. before the Government will take action? I wonder what America will look like in 15 years if this trend continues.America faces threats today unlike any other in its history. While terrorist threats are clearly not unfounded, it is important that we deal with all of our threats. While we are fighting our foreign wars and watching our borders for the enemy, we fail to see our internal walls crumbling behind us.