Nissan to Buy GM!!!!??

The key point is the direction of sales volume, but you as usual aren't facing current facts. If GM mgnt. think like you Mike, GM is toast.

Obviously those that drive Japanese, European and Korean vehicles believe they are the best value for the money, that is WHY they bought them. Just as obvious is the fact that these that buy domestics believe the vehicles THEY buy are the best value for the money, that is WHY they bought them, as well.

The fact is far more buyers choose the vehicles sold by GM and Ford than ANY import brand, period. If what more people chose to buy, determines which vehicles are the best buy, then domestic by far are the better buy.

I don't buy used vehicles. The reason I stopped buying vehicles from Lexus was, as a frequent buyer, the dealer was taking me for granted after purchasing half a dozen of them from him. My current domestic brand dealer treats me like a frequent buyer should be treated ;)

mike hunt

Really? Nilsson sales are down in the US ;)

mike hunt

If by "more people" you include fleet buyers, then you are correct.

I don't see many American vehicles on the road anymore that aren't obviously fleet vehicles, or else not cars.

nate

Mike Hunter wrote:

Also 1971 to the Chevy Vega and 1976 to the Dodge Aspen/Plymouth Volare!

You must not get out much, if that is what you believe. GM and Ford sell millions more vehicles in the US than any import. Every manufacturer sells to fleets, it is just that most corporate fleet buyers prefer domestics. You can bet the farm manufactures, including import brands that sell to the rental car companies, do not care WHO buys their vehicles, as long as they buy them. LOL

mike hunt

What good is that? The point is, producing a product which will not have to be recalled. Losing a day or two use of your car? Thats if GM WANTs to do a recall, unless they are fearful of a massive lawsuit or the government forcing them to do one.

One of the last GM products my family owned was a ( don't laugh ) Citation. Oh brother. When they issued a recall on something or other on that chassis, we drove to the stealership one morning..and saw...literally..a 100 cars around the friggin block..and this wasn't the next day after the recall..this was like a month afterward. Never again...CLICK.

Back in those days it seems that MT's Car of the Year awards had a whole lot more to do with $$$$$ relationships with manufacturers than it did with the quality of the vehicles chosen. Also, my recollection is that in the 70s a car had to be from a US nameplate in order to even be considered for the dubious honor of being named car of the year.

In modern times, Car & Driver's "10 Best" list is a much more respectable effort by a long, long shot.

John

That is indeed GM's #1 problem, than hundreds of thousands of customers, if not millions, have self selected themselves into the Never Again Club.

Decades of spotty quality and poor support of customers stuck with problems has left GM in a terrible bind, and those customers will not be quick to forgive or forget.

GM also continues the trend of building a few pretty good vehicles and several pretty bad ones. For example, the GM minivans have had much worse than the competition reliability records for over a decade now and GM has never been willing to spend the money to get the vehicles right. The last "redesign" of that family of vehicles was a pathetic joke which amounted to grotesque nose jobs. Ford has made such a hash of their minivan efforts that it looks like they are about to give up.

Granted minivans aren't the growth market today, but they are still a substantial market. Even Chrysler is only making half-hearted efforts to keep their vans competivie. Toyota, Honda and even Hyundai-Kia are eating up market share in that segment every day.

John

Dud, ALL manufactures have recalls ;)

mike hunt

Car/Truck of the year award simply means in MT opinion it is the best ALL NEW car/truck brought to the market that year. Vehicles introduces in prior years are not eligible

The fact that a car based vehicle, like the Ridgerunner, can be awarded 'TRUCK' of the year, proves is to a meaningless award. ;)

mike hunt

Perhaps you might drive by ANY domestic dealers used car lot and take note of all the import brands that have been traded for domestic models. GM and Ford outsell ANY import brand by big numbers ;)

mike hunt

And that's a good thing. Years ago, you would have never know of a potential problem and you'd be stuck with it. Never lost more than a couple of hours, never a day or two.

I'm just going by what I see on the roads every day; I actually thought of you the other day as I was driving home from work, I saw a Cobalt ahead of me and it was so odd that it made me look around, it was the only non-Japanese or Korean car around, and I was in heavy traffic.

nate

Mike Hunter wrote:

Agreed.

Most fleet operators have tried import brands but revert back to domestics because they are far "cheaper" to operate, maintain, and repair. Hard numbers defeat over hyped name recognition every time.

Can someone find me a Sedan that makes about 260 hp & 280 torque or better? That also gets 19 city & 28 highway or better? Oh and that is also WELL under $30k after tax & fully loaded?

No timing belts either. I dont like having wrecked valves on out of the blue failures before I get 60k miles out of a vehicle. I also dont like spending half the vehicles value or better on repairs when it is less than 5 years old.

Meaningless to the motorheads, but a real genuine reason to buy for the unknowing. Makes for great marketing