Hegemonic SUVs, or the Death Watch of the Mid-Sized Sedan Continues
#121
Safety Car
Overproduction looms as the NAIAS cranks up ....
Detroit Auto Show May Be Celebrating an Era About to End
And with newer cars getting more reliable and the rising interest rates....should be interesting to see where each car segment shifts. Gas can't stay cheap forever just like interest rates but on the other hand the economy is slowly growing and more families are able to afford a bit more spending to newer/new cars each few years....
#122
people now are looking to used cars because they are significantly cheaper than new ones... If what the auto financial guys are saying is true, the subprime market has the potential to wipe out a large chunk of the industry as people default... Once the those cars flood the market it will take a huge hit on prices
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nist7 (01-29-2018)
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YeuEmMaiMai (01-30-2018)
#125
Safety Car
people now are looking to used cars because they are significantly cheaper than new ones... If what the auto financial guys are saying is true, the subprime market has the potential to wipe out a large chunk of the industry as people default... Once the those cars flood the market it will take a huge hit on prices
Damn straight, sounds good to me!!!
#126
The problem is that it could cause another recession just like the housing market crash as once again they will either print money like mad or reduce it in circulation.
#127
Senior Moderator
#128
Safety Car
^^^It seems it probably won't be as bad as the housing crash since the liability of an asset like a home is MUCH larger than the average liability of an automotive asset....aka say 150k-300k+ house vs a 15k-50k+ car.
It'll be interesting to see how it affects the new and used car market. Lots of re-possessed cars will flood the market, and people looking for cheaper cars to buy off of CL and lots...and price may depress for new and newer used cars.....could be good for buyers though...
#129
Chapter Leader (Southern Region)
People are dumb af. Predatory lending is booming and they're making more money than ever. There are too many protections on an auto loan. By the time a consumer defaults, the lender probably already got theirs, including the dealership. They seize their asset, which is a cherry on top.
Average car loan debt per household is almost 30k. As a new slumlord, I've seen many applicants with poor credit (sub 550), but are pulling in over 100k. Living paycheck to paycheck to pay off debt. Just means more points on the things they want vs need. Every day a new sucker is born. No self-control, poor discipline, and always looking for the quick and easy way. They're programmed to live like this more and more through media.
Average car loan debt per household is almost 30k. As a new slumlord, I've seen many applicants with poor credit (sub 550), but are pulling in over 100k. Living paycheck to paycheck to pay off debt. Just means more points on the things they want vs need. Every day a new sucker is born. No self-control, poor discipline, and always looking for the quick and easy way. They're programmed to live like this more and more through media.
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TacoBello (02-06-2018)
#130
Safety Car
People are dumb af. Predatory lending is booming and they're making more money than ever. There are too many protections on an auto loan. By the time a consumer defaults, the lender probably already got theirs, including the dealership. They seize their asset, which is a cherry on top.
Average car loan debt per household is almost 30k. As a new slumlord, I've seen many applicants with poor credit (sub 550), but are pulling in over 100k. Living paycheck to paycheck to pay off debt. Just means more points on the things they want vs need. Every day a new sucker is born. No self-control, poor discipline, and always looking for the quick and easy way. They're programmed to live like this more and more through media.
Average car loan debt per household is almost 30k. As a new slumlord, I've seen many applicants with poor credit (sub 550), but are pulling in over 100k. Living paycheck to paycheck to pay off debt. Just means more points on the things they want vs need. Every day a new sucker is born. No self-control, poor discipline, and always looking for the quick and easy way. They're programmed to live like this more and more through media.
I hate debt, and only be in debt when absolutely needed (ie, school or a house, maaaaybe a car.....)
#131
Chapter Leader (Southern Region)
I've been trying to realize how much debt most Americans are in and it's astounding. It really is the American way. A study said about 70% of Americans don't have even 1k in savings. Think about that. That dude who totalled his unicorn financed that 10 year old unicorn at like 21%. That's fucking bananas. I thought 7 or 9% was bad.
#132
^what is this "debt" you speak of..
cars paid for
house paid for
401K contributing like MAD
cars paid for
house paid for
401K contributing like MAD
#134
Chapter Leader (Southern Region)
#136
^ naw dawg.. I make very little money but I am not giving it away to people in the form of interest that I do not need to pay...there are certain things that need financing due to their large purchase price... if you are putting stuff on a CC and not paying it off every month, you are doing it wrong....
1. I paid my car off in 13 months.. (14 Legacy) paid cash for the 2003 Legacy when I bought it.
2. House is paid for...
3. No CC car debt. any bill paid for every month, get cash back from them and pay 0 in interest.
Being a slave to a lender sucks, been there done that...
1. I paid my car off in 13 months.. (14 Legacy) paid cash for the 2003 Legacy when I bought it.
2. House is paid for...
3. No CC car debt. any bill paid for every month, get cash back from them and pay 0 in interest.
Being a slave to a lender sucks, been there done that...
Last edited by YeuEmMaiMai; 02-06-2018 at 11:32 AM.
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nist7 (02-06-2018)
#138
Safety Car
^ naw dawg.. I make very little money but I am not giving it away to people in the form of interest that I do not need to pay...there are certain things that need financing due to their large purchase price... if you are putting stuff on a CC and not paying it off every month, you are doing it wrong....
1. I paid my car off in 13 months.. (14 Legacy) paid cash for the 2003 Legacy when I bought it.
2. House is paid for...
3. No CC car debt. any bill paid for every month, get cash back from them and pay 0 in interest.
Being a slave to a lender sucks, been there done that...
1. I paid my car off in 13 months.. (14 Legacy) paid cash for the 2003 Legacy when I bought it.
2. House is paid for...
3. No CC car debt. any bill paid for every month, get cash back from them and pay 0 in interest.
Being a slave to a lender sucks, been there done that...
Agreed on all accounts. Having un-neccesary debt is horrible. Especially CC debt which is easy for ppl to get into. Plus people buying too much car and getting weighed down on payments.
For me, I'd probably get a 15 year mortgage for when I buy my house and try to pay it off early if possible!! (And not to mention people buy big homes that may not be needed....as well)
#139
Team Owner
iTrader: (15)
I mean if I didn't live in California and could buy a house for 120k, and my house could be paid off too.
I've seen people who sale their homes out here make a 120k profit. (bought when market was low) and then go buy in another state.
I have a family friend who sold their house made a nice profit and then paid cash for a home that's being built in Colorado. 3600 SQ Ft.
In California depending on Northern/Southern Cali, you aren't touching a 3600 SQ FT house for less than 600k.
I've seen people who sale their homes out here make a 120k profit. (bought when market was low) and then go buy in another state.
I have a family friend who sold their house made a nice profit and then paid cash for a home that's being built in Colorado. 3600 SQ Ft.
In California depending on Northern/Southern Cali, you aren't touching a 3600 SQ FT house for less than 600k.
#140
Team Owner
Shiiiet... for 600k, you get 1000 sqft less, here.
#141
Chapter Leader (Southern Region)
That's like 30 or 40 USD rite?
#142
Safety Car
Try doing that shit in the NYC metro area. A 4 bdrm in a neighborhood with good schools and good commuter train is 1mm (while not crazy by Cali standards) but comes with a 30k yr property tax bill, which really slows down advanced loan payments.
Last edited by ThermonMermon; 02-06-2018 at 05:30 PM.
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F23A4 (02-07-2018)
#144
Senior Moderator
#145
Safety Car
Crazy. If you had a family in NYC (Manhattan) you could live paycheck to paycheck on 500k. After state and city tax that’s 25k/mo
3 bdrm condo - 5k/mo mortgage
prop tax - 2k/mo
condo fees - 2k/mo
tuition child 1 - 4K/mo
tuition child 2 -4K/mo
parking 1 car - 700/mo
whatever left over on general cost of living, funding 401k, you break even quickly
nuts.
3 bdrm condo - 5k/mo mortgage
prop tax - 2k/mo
condo fees - 2k/mo
tuition child 1 - 4K/mo
tuition child 2 -4K/mo
parking 1 car - 700/mo
whatever left over on general cost of living, funding 401k, you break even quickly
nuts.
Last edited by ThermonMermon; 02-07-2018 at 08:46 AM.
#147
Chapter Leader (Southern Region)
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Flipster23 (02-07-2018)
#148
Ex-OEM King
I've been trying to realize how much debt most Americans are in and it's astounding. It really is the American way. A study said about 70% of Americans don't have even 1k in savings. Think about that. That dude who totalled his unicorn financed that 10 year old unicorn at like 21%. That's fucking bananas. I thought 7 or 9% was bad.
^ naw dawg.. I make very little money but I am not giving it away to people in the form of interest that I do not need to pay...there are certain things that need financing due to their large purchase price... if you are putting stuff on a CC and not paying it off every month, you are doing it wrong....
1. I paid my car off in 13 months.. (14 Legacy) paid cash for the 2003 Legacy when I bought it.
2. House is paid for...
3. No CC car debt. any bill paid for every month, get cash back from them and pay 0 in interest.
Being a slave to a lender sucks, been there done that...
1. I paid my car off in 13 months.. (14 Legacy) paid cash for the 2003 Legacy when I bought it.
2. House is paid for...
3. No CC car debt. any bill paid for every month, get cash back from them and pay 0 in interest.
Being a slave to a lender sucks, been there done that...
Good for you in paying off the house, we have a long way to go still...but 2/3 cars are paid for and the 3rd one has a 0% loan which is why we did that to begin with. CC stuff gets paid in full every month and we rake in points from that to take trips for free.
I mean if I didn't live in California and could buy a house for 120k, and my house could be paid off too.
I've seen people who sale their homes out here make a 120k profit. (bought when market was low) and then go buy in another state.
I have a family friend who sold their house made a nice profit and then paid cash for a home that's being built in Colorado. 3600 SQ Ft.
In California depending on Northern/Southern Cali, you aren't touching a 3600 SQ FT house for less than 600k.
I've seen people who sale their homes out here make a 120k profit. (bought when market was low) and then go buy in another state.
I have a family friend who sold their house made a nice profit and then paid cash for a home that's being built in Colorado. 3600 SQ Ft.
In California depending on Northern/Southern Cali, you aren't touching a 3600 SQ FT house for less than 600k.
#150
Safety Car
Seeing in Westchester NY new construction is 500-800 PSF.
3600 is 1.8mm to 2.9mm w 3.0% tax or 54k-87k/yr
midpoints total a monthly nut of 17.5k w insurance. Assuming 20% down. And using 30% home ownership rule of thumb, you’d need to make 700k...to afford a new 3600 SF home to have good schools and a 40 min direct train to midtown Manhattan. Wow...On a quarter acre...
3600 is 1.8mm to 2.9mm w 3.0% tax or 54k-87k/yr
midpoints total a monthly nut of 17.5k w insurance. Assuming 20% down. And using 30% home ownership rule of thumb, you’d need to make 700k...to afford a new 3600 SF home to have good schools and a 40 min direct train to midtown Manhattan. Wow...On a quarter acre...
Last edited by ThermonMermon; 02-07-2018 at 10:47 AM.
#151
Ex-OEM King
Seeing in Westchester NY new construction is 500-800 PSF.
3600 is 1.8mm to 2.9mm w 3.0% tax or 54k-87k/yr
midpoints total a monthly nut of 17.5k w insurance. Assuming 20% down. And using 30% home ownership rule of thumb, you’d need to make 700k...to afford a new 3600 SF to have good schools and a 40 min direct train to midtown Manhattan.
3600 is 1.8mm to 2.9mm w 3.0% tax or 54k-87k/yr
midpoints total a monthly nut of 17.5k w insurance. Assuming 20% down. And using 30% home ownership rule of thumb, you’d need to make 700k...to afford a new 3600 SF to have good schools and a 40 min direct train to midtown Manhattan.
I'd rather live here, pay the ~$270k that I paid back in 2012 for my 2500sqft home in a desirable part of town with good schools, ~$3200/yr in taxes, and a 15-20min commute to downtown (though I don't work downtown, I work 1.5 miles from home).
#152
Moderator
I guess we have it good, housing market wise. 3600sq ft can be had around my neighborhood starting in the mid-400s on ~1/3 acre, but can easily get into the 6-700s as you add acreage.
#154
Safety Car
Crazy. If you had a family in NYC (Manhattan) you could live paycheck to paycheck on 500k. After state and city tax that’s 25k/mo
3 bdrm condo - 5k/mo mortgage
prop tax - 2k/mo
condo fees - 2k/mo
tuition child 1 - 4K/mo
tuition child 2 -4K/mo
parking 1 car - 700/mo
whatever left over on general cost of living, funding 401k, you break even quickly
nuts.
3 bdrm condo - 5k/mo mortgage
prop tax - 2k/mo
condo fees - 2k/mo
tuition child 1 - 4K/mo
tuition child 2 -4K/mo
parking 1 car - 700/mo
whatever left over on general cost of living, funding 401k, you break even quickly
nuts.
#155
Safety Car
I was rounding down. It’s 1500/mo for a one bedroom. A 3 bedroom is around 2500. If it’s a co-op structure, not a condo, it’s probably breaking 3000/mo. Plus property taxes of 2k/mo. And some co-ops require 30%-40% down Plus 6 months of carry costs in pure liquidity post down payment. So if your getting your first apartment say a 1 bedroom for 1mm, you need to have a ton of money in the bank. A 3 bedroom for 1.5mm is even harder. And these are like down the fairway walkups buildings. Nothing posh. Luxury buildings in TriBeCa that you see on tv are multiples higher price wise
Last edited by ThermonMermon; 02-07-2018 at 02:40 PM.
#156
Senior Moderator
On the train now (NJT) which costs me $393 month ... plus Parking @$60/month...plus ~$125/month on my metrocard.
....and this is just the “premium” for said salary in NYC.
....and this is just the “premium” for said salary in NYC.
#157
I've been wanting to move to SoCal. Everything seems cheaper from my perspective.
#158
Team Owner
iTrader: (15)
Originally Posted by Costco
Bay Area is a different story too. My mom bought her house (roughly 2000 sq ft) about 20 years ago. It has tripled in price since then, into the 7 figure range. She lives near a lot of tech companies.
I've been wanting to move to SoCal. Everything seems cheaper from my perspective.
I've been wanting to move to SoCal. Everything seems cheaper from my perspective.
#159
Moderator
iTrader: (1)
I know this topic has deviated from SUV's to Americans and debt...
here's a study from Creditcards.com showing Texas, specifically San Antonio and Houston having the most debt burden via credit cards...
https://www.creditcards.com/credit-c...dens-study.php
here's a study from Creditcards.com showing Texas, specifically San Antonio and Houston having the most debt burden via credit cards...
https://www.creditcards.com/credit-c...dens-study.php
#160
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/ar...-honda-hang-on
Sedans Aren’t Dead. American Sedans Are.
The supremacy of Japanese cars has been 40-plus years in the making.
November 29, 2018
The Ford Fusion is an excellent car. First manufactured in 2005, it’s a stylish midsize sedan in the same basic price range as the Honda Civic or the Toyota Camry. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety named it one of its top safety picks for 2017. It gets decent gas mileage. Edmunds.com, which rates autos, gave it high marks, praising the “comfortable interior, user-friendly tech and great driving dynamics” of the 2018 model.
In 2013 and 2014, years in which the price of oil hovered around $100 a barrel, Ford sold 295,000 and 307,000 Fusions. Although the price of oil dropped drastically in 2015, Ford still sold 300,000 Fusions. But last year, that number fell by almost 100,000 cars. If current trends continue, Ford will sell no more than 180,000 Fusions when 2018 ends.
With the recent news that both General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. will soon be exiting the sedan market in the U.S., to focus on high margin trucks and SUVs, I got to wondering just how badly things have deteriorated for the U.S. car makers. The answer is: very badly. 1
The Ford Fusion, it turns out, is the bright spot in the company’s array of sedans. More typical was the Ford Focus, which saw sales drop from 235,000 in 2013 to an estimated 115,000 in 2018.
At General Motors, the picture is just as ugly. The Chevrolet Cruze — that’s the car made in the Ohio factory the company is shutting down, to the great annoyance of President Donald Trump — saw sales drop from a peak of 273,000 in 2014 to a likely 145,000 in 2018. The Chevy Impala topped 300,000 in sales in 2007. The number was under 76,000 last year. And so on.
Much of the analysis about Ford and GM’s exit from the sedan market stressed that sedan sales have lost ground in recent years “as consumers have gravitated toward pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles,” as the New York Times put it.
And that is certainly true. Of the top 20 best-selling vehicles in the U.S. so far in 2018, 14 are either trucks or SUVs. According to the Wall Street Journal, sedans made up 50 percent of the U.S. market as recently as five years ago; today that number is down to a third.
But it’s not like nobody’s buying sedans. The Toyota Camry and Corolla sold a combined 700,000 cars in 2017. Ditto the Honda Civic and Accord. And the Nissan Altima and Sentra came in at around 475,000 last year. If you look at the historical sales figures of the top Japanese sedans, you’ll see a small decline in recent years, but nothing like the big drop-off in sales that have hammered the American companies.
So in addition to the overall decline in sedan sales, there is a second, largely overlooked, dynamic taking place: Americans have only stopped buying American sedans, not Japanese sedans. This is so even though cars like the Ford Fusion are as good as any Japanese sedan. But why?
Not long ago I wrote a column pointing out that the seeds of Sears’s destruction were sown not in 2003, when the hedge fund manager Eddie Lampert took control of the company, but decades earlier, when its management failed to understand the nature of upstart competitors like Walmart Inc. The same, I’m convinced, is true of the U.S. auto companies.
Think back to the early 1970s, when OPEC imposed its oil embargo, causing Americans to care for the first time about gas mileage. The U.S. car companies were caught flatfooted, but Honda and Toyota were perfectly positioned. The Honda Civic, for instance, got 39 miles a gallon, according to “Engines of Change,” 2 Paul Ingrassia’s history of the auto industry. Like Sears, the U.S. car companies had never taken this new competition seriously, and they were about to pay the price.
Once Americans began driving Hondas and Toyotas, they discovered that these cars had a lot more going for them than just gas mileage — they broke down infrequently, could last for hundreds of thousands of miles, and were even fun to drive. In 1978, the legendary auto writer Brock Yates, who had long championed the American muscle car, admitted in Car and Driver magazine that he owned a Honda Accord. “A wide body of customers exists for a car that embodies proper integration of form and function, a car that works,” he wrote. To Ingrassia, “this was the automotive equivalent of Nixon going to China.”
Meanwhile, the American automakers raced to come out with their own small, fuel-efficient sedans. But their products were often shoddy, poorly designed and technologically deficient. It was during this time that it became commonplace to scorn U.S. cars as inferior to Japanese autos. And they were. In 1981, when Ford adopted the slogan “Quality is Job 1,” it was an acknowledgment that its cars left much to be desired.
Today, American sedans are vastly improved. The Edmunds review of the 2018 Cruze described it as having “an appealing mix of technology and safety features” as well as “a ride quality that is both sporty and comfortable.” Its review of the Chevy Impala took note of its “smooth ride quality,” “spacious interior” and “plenty of power.”
It doesn’t matter. Most car reviewers still rate Japanese cars like the Accord and the Camry a bit higher than American sedans. The Big Three have never been able to convince the reviewers — or, more importantly, the car-buying public — that their sedans were as good as their Japanese competition. To put it another way, the American car companies have never been able to shed the reputation they gained in the 1970s for making lousy sedans.
What’s more, most sedans are bought in big cities where trucks make no sense. City dwellers by and large are globalization’s winners. They — we — are far more likely to stick with the Japanese sedans we’ve been buying for years than switch to an American car. The tug of nationalism is nonexistent. (Of course it doesn’t hurt that most Japanese cars sold in the U.S. are made in the American South.)
The American car companies now say they are going to count on profits from trucks and SUVs while moving toward autonomous and all-electric vehicles. They had better hope that transition takes place quickly. I couldn’t help noticing that while the top three selling vehicles in the U.S. are, indeed, American-made trucks, No. 4 on the list is Nissan’s top SUV, the Rogue, the sales of which have gone from 18,000 in 2007 to 403,000 last year. No. 5 is a Toyota SUV, the Rav4 (407,000 in 2017). No. 6 is the Honda CR-V (378,000).
And the leading American SUV? It’s the Chevy Equinox. Last year, Chevrolet sold 290,000 of them — 100,000 fewer than the Toyota Camry.
The supremacy of Japanese cars has been 40-plus years in the making.
November 29, 2018
The Ford Fusion is an excellent car. First manufactured in 2005, it’s a stylish midsize sedan in the same basic price range as the Honda Civic or the Toyota Camry. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety named it one of its top safety picks for 2017. It gets decent gas mileage. Edmunds.com, which rates autos, gave it high marks, praising the “comfortable interior, user-friendly tech and great driving dynamics” of the 2018 model.
In 2013 and 2014, years in which the price of oil hovered around $100 a barrel, Ford sold 295,000 and 307,000 Fusions. Although the price of oil dropped drastically in 2015, Ford still sold 300,000 Fusions. But last year, that number fell by almost 100,000 cars. If current trends continue, Ford will sell no more than 180,000 Fusions when 2018 ends.
With the recent news that both General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. will soon be exiting the sedan market in the U.S., to focus on high margin trucks and SUVs, I got to wondering just how badly things have deteriorated for the U.S. car makers. The answer is: very badly. 1
The Ford Fusion, it turns out, is the bright spot in the company’s array of sedans. More typical was the Ford Focus, which saw sales drop from 235,000 in 2013 to an estimated 115,000 in 2018.
At General Motors, the picture is just as ugly. The Chevrolet Cruze — that’s the car made in the Ohio factory the company is shutting down, to the great annoyance of President Donald Trump — saw sales drop from a peak of 273,000 in 2014 to a likely 145,000 in 2018. The Chevy Impala topped 300,000 in sales in 2007. The number was under 76,000 last year. And so on.
Much of the analysis about Ford and GM’s exit from the sedan market stressed that sedan sales have lost ground in recent years “as consumers have gravitated toward pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles,” as the New York Times put it.
And that is certainly true. Of the top 20 best-selling vehicles in the U.S. so far in 2018, 14 are either trucks or SUVs. According to the Wall Street Journal, sedans made up 50 percent of the U.S. market as recently as five years ago; today that number is down to a third.
But it’s not like nobody’s buying sedans. The Toyota Camry and Corolla sold a combined 700,000 cars in 2017. Ditto the Honda Civic and Accord. And the Nissan Altima and Sentra came in at around 475,000 last year. If you look at the historical sales figures of the top Japanese sedans, you’ll see a small decline in recent years, but nothing like the big drop-off in sales that have hammered the American companies.
So in addition to the overall decline in sedan sales, there is a second, largely overlooked, dynamic taking place: Americans have only stopped buying American sedans, not Japanese sedans. This is so even though cars like the Ford Fusion are as good as any Japanese sedan. But why?
Not long ago I wrote a column pointing out that the seeds of Sears’s destruction were sown not in 2003, when the hedge fund manager Eddie Lampert took control of the company, but decades earlier, when its management failed to understand the nature of upstart competitors like Walmart Inc. The same, I’m convinced, is true of the U.S. auto companies.
Think back to the early 1970s, when OPEC imposed its oil embargo, causing Americans to care for the first time about gas mileage. The U.S. car companies were caught flatfooted, but Honda and Toyota were perfectly positioned. The Honda Civic, for instance, got 39 miles a gallon, according to “Engines of Change,” 2 Paul Ingrassia’s history of the auto industry. Like Sears, the U.S. car companies had never taken this new competition seriously, and they were about to pay the price.
Once Americans began driving Hondas and Toyotas, they discovered that these cars had a lot more going for them than just gas mileage — they broke down infrequently, could last for hundreds of thousands of miles, and were even fun to drive. In 1978, the legendary auto writer Brock Yates, who had long championed the American muscle car, admitted in Car and Driver magazine that he owned a Honda Accord. “A wide body of customers exists for a car that embodies proper integration of form and function, a car that works,” he wrote. To Ingrassia, “this was the automotive equivalent of Nixon going to China.”
Meanwhile, the American automakers raced to come out with their own small, fuel-efficient sedans. But their products were often shoddy, poorly designed and technologically deficient. It was during this time that it became commonplace to scorn U.S. cars as inferior to Japanese autos. And they were. In 1981, when Ford adopted the slogan “Quality is Job 1,” it was an acknowledgment that its cars left much to be desired.
Today, American sedans are vastly improved. The Edmunds review of the 2018 Cruze described it as having “an appealing mix of technology and safety features” as well as “a ride quality that is both sporty and comfortable.” Its review of the Chevy Impala took note of its “smooth ride quality,” “spacious interior” and “plenty of power.”
It doesn’t matter. Most car reviewers still rate Japanese cars like the Accord and the Camry a bit higher than American sedans. The Big Three have never been able to convince the reviewers — or, more importantly, the car-buying public — that their sedans were as good as their Japanese competition. To put it another way, the American car companies have never been able to shed the reputation they gained in the 1970s for making lousy sedans.
What’s more, most sedans are bought in big cities where trucks make no sense. City dwellers by and large are globalization’s winners. They — we — are far more likely to stick with the Japanese sedans we’ve been buying for years than switch to an American car. The tug of nationalism is nonexistent. (Of course it doesn’t hurt that most Japanese cars sold in the U.S. are made in the American South.)
The American car companies now say they are going to count on profits from trucks and SUVs while moving toward autonomous and all-electric vehicles. They had better hope that transition takes place quickly. I couldn’t help noticing that while the top three selling vehicles in the U.S. are, indeed, American-made trucks, No. 4 on the list is Nissan’s top SUV, the Rogue, the sales of which have gone from 18,000 in 2007 to 403,000 last year. No. 5 is a Toyota SUV, the Rav4 (407,000 in 2017). No. 6 is the Honda CR-V (378,000).
And the leading American SUV? It’s the Chevy Equinox. Last year, Chevrolet sold 290,000 of them — 100,000 fewer than the Toyota Camry.