It really disgusts me when I think about the current state of the US automotive industry. This industry used to be a source of pride, now worldwide everyone knows that US cars are s**t.

1. Domestic companies are short-term, immediate profit thinkers. I'll sell them a big SUV now, it will break down later and I'll get more profits repairing it (think Hummer).

2. They don't care about alternative fuels or fuel economy in general. They offer hybrids, but not the ones that consumers want to buy. They are for-show only. Their hybrids are pitiful, and only gain a few MPG above their non-hybrid compadres (think Saturn Vue Hybrid, Tahoe Hybrid).

3. Their hybrids are only SUVs, when consumers are demanding small, fuel efficient hybrids (think Tahoe Hybrid).

4. They make the USA look like a bunch of idiots compared to foreign competition (think GW Bush mentality).

5. Reliability is awful (think all domestic vehicles).

6. They try to tell us we are "buying American", when Honda and Toyota produce more of their cars by percentage in the USA than even the "domestics". GM, Ford, and Chrysler produce more of their cars in Mexico than in the USA these days. In short, we are being lied to (think Honda Civic - 80% parts produced in the USA).

Until they remedy these issues I will not buy a "domestic" vehicle.

I think the domestics need to fire all their gray-haired execs and bring in some younger people that can think outside the box. These old guys have been sniffing gasoline so long they don't have any brain cells left.

A little known fact is that the Los Angeles area had a world class mass transit system until the mid-50's. GM purchased the entire system, then closed it down and sold millions of dollars in cars and buses as a result.

Why should I feel bad about not supporting grossly corrupt American institutions that have done nothing but hurt us? They continue to push to keep fuel standards low so they can shove their overpriced gas hogging trash down peoples throats.

 

When can you post a photo of a Toyota or Honda hybrid-PHEV or not--with a lithium-ion battery that exists in this country? I have yet to see anyone do this.


PHEVsaturnvuemaryannwright.jpg?t=1214795776
Saturn PHEV with Johnson Controls Lithium Ion battery

 

Links would be appreciated:

1 & 5: Consumer Reports disagrees.
2 & 3: Honda and Toyota were ready to meet the demand? So why does Corolla outsell Prius 5:1, Camry outsell TCH 5:1, Civic outsell HCH 5:1. Don't worry for 2009 Toyota is offering a Corolla with a bigger 2.4L engine that gets 20% LESS FE.
4: Domestics need to fire their crystal ball readers. Only 17 months ago and gas bottomed to $2.13/g nationally. Must be why last year GM sold 900K trucks and Prius needed incentives.
6: Easy, CAFE. CAFE is a great idea, too bad the CONSUMERS didn't buy in on it.

"Hindsight is an exact science"

 

What is your point? Do you think that they don't exist? Here is one in the Toronto city fleet that I saw in person several weeks ago at a downtown street event.

 

Hybrid SUVs are a great idea, IMHO. Consumers in the Plains States want larger vehicles and it means a lot more to get an SUV from 22mpg up to 27mpg than taking a small sedan from 30mpg to 40mpg.

 

Using the links words, that is a "converted" Prius. No mention of Toyota sanctioning this. Toyota is building a new battery plant with Panasonic and it will be NiMH and maybe, maybe go to Li-Ion in the future.


The Saturn VUE PHEV is the result of the contract GM awarded JC back in Jan 2007.
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/01...-battery-cont/

 

Pagemap,
The quality of all the Domestics is greatly improved from 15 years ago.Granted in general it is very slightly behind Honda, but it is good.

Like another poster mentioned; GM's biggest problem was not guessing that gasoline would double in price in 1 1/2 years. No one made that guess.

GM actually makes some pretty good, and very good vehicles. Their trucks are very good; true they are going to sel far fewer in the future, but they will still be volume sellers.The 6 speed Cobalt matches the Civic and Corolla in mpg. In general I would put it a notch or two behind the Civic, but that is why it sells for $4000 less. The new Malibu is very good; it matches the Accord and Camry in mpg with the 6 speed auto. The Aveo is cheap-enough said- nothing to brag about. The Hybrid VUE gets better hy mpg than any other SUV- THE BEST!! It isn't a great SUV, it is OK - not great ,not bad - but very FE for a relatively cheap vehicle. There are some other new Saturns that are at least "pretty good."-Pretty good is 6 out of 10.

Ford has excellent QC now. It also has the Focus,Hybrid Escape.

Dodge has big problems. It has the Diesel Ram that it can sell, otherwise it has big problems.

GM is aiming for the fences with the Volt- if it works - it will be a Grand Slam.

You are behind the times, but it is true that the Big 3 did guess wrong in their vehicle mix. Gm and Ford are on the right track- Dodge , maybe not( no $$ to bail itself out with)

Charlie
PS -pure anecdote, but my 202,400 mile 1998 Suburban got 21.3 mpg at 70 mph over a 3000 mile trip. It is very reliable, and gets decent mpg -especially passenger miles/gallon -about 63 PMPG with 3 passengers and 700 lbs of "stuff'

 

I used to own a 2001 Chrysler Concorde...one of the very best vehicles that I've owned in 30+ years. From the point of view of this forum, the vehicle delivered excellent fuel economy with very reasonable performance and outstanding leg room and trunk space. As a matter of fact, its V6 delivered better FE than the I4 of the much smaller Chevy Tracker.

But Chrysler decided to discontinue this wonderful platform, and replaced it with their gas-guzzler lineup. Why would they do that?

Therefore, I believe that not all domestic vehicles are bad per se, but rather they have had poor foresight which has led to poor decisions.
As Martin_GM has said, a new vehicle platform takes 4 or 5 years to develop, so we are seeing the consequences of the decisions made back in '03.

 

Thanks everyone. I guess I was a little animated when I wrote my original post. It's true that no one could have predicted a double price increase in gasoline, but then we all know gasoline will always be increasing in price. That's why I bought my original '07 HCHII (until someone totaled it for me).

You have to give credit to GM, as far as I know they are the only ones seriously pursuing a mass-produced plug-in hybrid (Volt). If they can pull that one off, I will probably be one of the first in line.