At last, the truth comes out and of all places the liberal LA Times. GM and Ford would have us believe that sedan sales have declined market wide. And of course, the Democrats carried that torch adding that it was Trump’s fault for his bad decisions on tariffs.
Even BWM has outsold Chevy. The BMW 3 and 4 series average around 6,000 sold per month while the Impala sits around 3,500. The Mercedes-Benz C-Class averaged about 4,000 per month.
The SUV crossover market is not looking so good for GM and Ford. The top three best selling are the Toyota Rav4, Nissan Rogue, and Honda CR-V.
American sedans were the nicest looking cars in the world for the longest time. The word “iconic” comes to mind. When they got greedy and started worrying about building as cheap as possible, it showed.
I think sedans are in decline overall because they just aren’t as useful as an SUV or a pick-up truck, which gives the consumer more room, a larger gas tank, storage, and in many cases - towing capacity.
Here in Texas an American car means only one thing - a truck. Pretty telling. Nothing to do with Trump, it’s just the Japanese are making better sedans.
When I moved to the UK I brought a Nissan Altima with me… People liked the exterior looks and were quite impressed until they looked inside… the response even with leather seats was… "Hum… this Nissan must have been made in North America because no body puts this much plastic into a car…but Yanks…
GM can’t stand success. Take the Impala, it’s been around since 1958 then died in 1986 then resurrected in 1994. Now it will die again.
The best selling years for the Impala were the years when Chevy offered the V8 and the body style was sporty looking. When Chevy discontinued the V8 options sales fell. The years the Impala looked like a grandpa car sales fell.
Chevy kept redesigning the Impala until they drove off their customer base.
If Chevy had kept a sporty design with optional high output V6 or V8 all wheel drive sales would had gone through the roof.
When you look at a Camry, the interior is less than appealing yet people buy them. I would suggest the marketing of Toyota, Nissan far exceeds American automakers.
There are zero commercials on the tube touting American sedans.
Toyota developed the Camry based on what the consumer wanted in a car. Toyota spent considerable time surveying consumers then designed the Camry around what the consumers wanted. It was a great success.
GM on the other hand design a car based on what the engineers think the consumers want then GM spends a lot of money advertising to convince the consumers this is the car they want. Not so successful.
What is it with various companies “updating” what has worked for a long time? What’s up with that?
It’s a nice design, it’s putting food on the table, and yes, I drove my long since ex boyfriend’s Olds with a V8 & that was a put the petal to the metal fun car to drive.
Anytime, anywhere, some genius (sarcasm) decides to “update” a quality product, it crashes & is rendered SUBAR.
Make a superior product and the market will respond. Capitalism in action, unless the government steps in and mucks things with tariffs or regulations or such.
When you open the hood on a modern vehicle, all you see is a demonic rat nest of hoses, sensors, & wires. The magic is long gone. I still drive my 1939 Chrysler Royal. When you open the hood, you can actually see the ground below; and there is nearly enough room to walk around the engine. And my old Chrysler has infinitely more class than the cookie cutter crap that’s dumped on the market. I was driving I 81 a few months ago. Night, rain, and fog. I felt a bump & thought I hit a pot hole. Next day I found out I ran over a Prius.
Not just cars. I bought a new fridge awhile ago, and since then have had to replace its motherboard twice (at 300 bucks a pop). The 1980s fridge I have in my garage is easily repaired (with the help of a few youtube videos) and keeps right on running.
The best all around car I have ever owned was a 1969 VW Bettle. I bought the car used and it was in excellent condition, looked like it did when it rolled out of the showroom. I gave $800 for the car and drove it for 4 years. I put on a set of tires, battery, brakes and kept up with the routine maintenance. I sold the car for $1,300. I still kick myself for selling it.
I have not owned an American car for years. It’s not that I have not looked at them, I have. I just haven’t found one that I like for the money. I started buying Jags back in 1990 and to this day I still drive Jags. Maybe I’m lucky but I have never had any issues with them. I do most of the work on my cars unless it requires something I’m not equipped to do then I take it to a local mechanic.
The cars are tight, body lines are straight and they drive like a dream. I have a new XE AWD V6 and I paid less for it than what Cadillac wanted for a comparable car. The Cadillac felt bulky the body lines never matched and the steering was flaky.
