super duties do good in crash tests...they almost run over the other cars. lol not good for the other people tho. I agree with u guys i think ford gm and dodge should team up for a tad and kick nissan and yota out of the truck market so then the big 3 can go back to beating eachother!

 

its funny that the ranger outsales the titan, but i can see why since mpg.

 

Yeah I think the Ranger is still the best selling 1/4 ton pickup, if you can still call them that(most look and perform like 1/2 tons did a few years back). I never was a huge Ranger fan, but it was the best selling small truck for years, and I will be sad to see it go. The FX4 Level II Ranger is one heck of an off road truck, and Ford doesn't seem to advertise that or anything, kind of a shame because I think of the FX4 Level II Ranger as the Wrangler Rubicon of pickup trucks. Ford should get all they can out of the truck before they kill it off. When they kill the Ranger I think they need to make another more updated small truck, because some people want a small truck, and thats a lot of sales Ford will loose to the other manufacturers who still offer a smaller truck. The Ranger and the Colorado are really the only true small trucks left on the market anymore. Wonder if the next Ford small truck will grow to be a mid size like the rest of the small trucks have? I kind of hope not, but then again a bigger cab would be nice, that was always one of my problems with the Ranger, not enough interior room, and no crew cab.

 

wheres the ranger going??? and when???? almost bought a 2006 sc/sb, 4.0L XLT. kick my self in the a$$ every time i see a nice looking ranger 4 not getting it...

 

yeah i think they are killing it by 2010? or somthing like that. I heard that they were going to bring it back and call it the F-100 or make another small truck with that name.

 

In order to understand Nissan, you have to look at Renault, which controls Nissan. The French have never understood the US market, and spend very little money on advertising. While Renault advertised Titan heavily in 2004, in 2005/2006/2007, there were very few Titan ads. New 2008 Titan in showrooms now, so Renault is advertising them. Next year, it will be a different story. Renault also offers far less incentives and dealer cash...less than 30% of what the other truck makers offer. Nissan only has enough plant capacity to build 100,000 Titans a year.


In SoCal, Titan outsells Ranger, Colorado, Canyon, GMC Sierra, and is close to the 1/2 ton Ram in sales.

Of all the various French cars imported to the US since 1900, examples: Peugeot, Citroen, Panhard, Simca, Renault, Delage, Delahaye...not one French car has been sold in the US since the early 1990's.

 

The foreign auto makers now PRODUCE HERE and hire AMERICAN workers.

 

Nissan is ownd by Renault?

 

Nissan was close to bankrupcy in 1999. Renault bought 33% of Nissan, and invested millions of dollars in the company. With fresh cash, Nissan was able to produce the Titan, Armada and some Infiniti models, the R&D had already been done.

By Japanese standards, that 33% ownership gives Renault controlling interest.

 

jap trucks may be assembled here but they are still jap companies and lots of $$$ goes back to japan which enables them to open MORE factories here and at this rate everyone in the industry will be working for japs. also check the suppliers--most of them are jap also and the us suppliers are very limited in supplying those mfrs.
people need to support US owned companies if not life will be very grim for future auto workers among others!
jim

 

auto workers have had it too good for many years.... maybe this will be a wake up call for them to start building a better product in the trenches and take pride in the car/truck they are building......I know im going to catch alot of flack for this but im just saying....

 

The parts for Japanese vehicles built in the US, mostly comes from the US. Look on the window sticker, by law the domestic parts content must be displayed. Tundra's parts content is 75%, Titan's is 65%. Compare those numbers with Chevy and Dodge's parts content. you'll be surprised.


While Ford, GM and Chrysler have built massive assembly plants in Mexico and China, and are planning on building more assembly plants in India, Honda and Toyota are building more assembly plants in the US, which will employee more American workers. How will assembly plants built outside the US benefit the American work force?

 

number dummy
you are correct about the window sticker content but even though the parts are sourced here the companies that source them to toyota honda etc are still japanese owned . i am in the industry and it is VERY dificult for a us owned parts source to be able to do business with the import car companies.
i agree that the us makers labor costs need to be brought in line so that the us outsourcing to other countries can diminish (especially health and pension costs) but do not know the answer to this as long as the unions resist reform.
as far as lazy workers go i feel that most workers in the auto industry do a very good job be it jap or us. go visit an assembly plant and you will see what i mean-those guys work hard. you will have a given amount of screw ups no matter what plant it is just due to the volumn of work that comes down the line
jim

 

Are you saying that some/all of the parts suppliers in the US and Canada that supply Honda, Toyota and Nissan with parts are owned by Japanese nationals?


The Big 3 (Chrysler is no longer German owned) want to rid themselves of the UAW and the high pension and benefits. Building off shore is one way of doing this. But, the Big 3 only have themselves to blame. After all, they agreed to, and signed the UAW contracts.


Several months ago, Ford CEO Alan Mulally went to Japan to speak with Toyota officials. One of the topics was parts resourcing. Ford wanted co-operation with Toyota, to assist Ford with getting their costs down. The answer was ? No one has disclosed what the outcome of the talks was, but I can guess. Toyota said no.

 

bill
that is correct. most of the parts suppliers for jappanese mfrs are japanese owned even though they have mfring plants here.
i fully agree with you in that the uaw contracts signed during the boom times are coming back to haunt the big 3 today. they should have given more thought to proffit sharing-we make more you make more-we make less you make less-and the big three would be much more competitive today.
jim