Large cars where did they go...Thank our "leaders" in DC for that one fuel economy standards made a redesign necessary, the market for them made it unprofitable. Foreign vs domestic,? The wife my daughters and I run 4 cars A Ford F-150 (with a V-7 engine) a Honda Accord (281,000 miles), A Dodge Grand Caravan and a Ford Fusion, only one was "made in the USA", wanna guess- it starts with an "H". The F-150 leaks and ran on 7 cylinders, the dealer says "that's normal, they're all that way nothing we can do about it, I changed the injectors and got it running on all 8 cylinders and eventually got all the seals replaced around the light above the rear window to stop the leak, (Canadian autoworkers suck too). The Dodge only has about 90,000 miles on it the A/C is out (again- rear evaporator lines rust out every 3 years) and so is the warranty, it's on it's third steering box and the fenders are rusting from the inside out, but in fairness it was made by Chrysler LLC, they're not around anymore. The dealer took care of any issue without drama or fuss, makes it hard to remember what else went wrong, seems if you don't have to argue with them for 2 weeks and write Dearborn you tend to forget about things. The Fusion eats brakes, 2-3 calipers a year and the associated pads and rotors if she doesn't get it fixed soon enough. I can't complain about our Honda any more, 25 years old and 281,000 miles if anything goes wrong you shrug your shoulders and say Hmm I guess that's how long that lasts and is it worth fixing?
I currently work for a RV manufacturer, all of our Gasoline powered class A motor homes are Ford, they're the only one left. We make class B's on Mercedes and Fiat (Dodge) frames, class C's on Fords, Mercedes and Fiat, I see codes for class C Chevy frames on our build sheets but have not seen one come down the line while I've been with them. Diesel class A's are Freightliner chassis. By the way the Ford chassis are more consistent than the Freightliners.
I personally think Ford sales are down because to many of their dealers have a "sales only model" and don't care a rat's backside about servicing the vehicle for you, are afraid of Ford, or are tired of getting messed over by Ford on warranty claims. The last two new Fords (emphasis on last) both had significant issues that Ford wasn't willing to address, finding it easier to lie about it or try to pass it off as a "production variance" (Ford speak for yes there's no paint on your rocker panels, yes you're seeing primer and no we won't fix it"). To provide the EPA fuel economy ratings on vehicles they are getting smaller, if your large or tall it sucks. But our government doesn't want us driving cars anymore so do they care? We can complain about American Autoworkers but the big Asian manufacturers all have plants here as do some of the Germans (BMW & VW) and they seem to be able to make quality cars. Part of it is the UAW, they have a significant voice in how the plant is run but are not responsible to the stockholders or customers, but they only get away with what management allows. It seems with the excess of auto production capability in this country and near off shore (Mexico and Canada and NAFTA) management should of been able to effect a change in the unions attitude (we're looking to close 30% of our plants.....you want to be closed or open?)
Another factor on car sales is 1- cars last longer, people are driving them longer (average ago of our vehicles is 13 years), not inclined to trade because we finally got the "production variances" fixed on what we have. 2- The economy and the declining middle class has taken a lot of new car buyers out of the market. Even if you have been able to keep your job and earn a decent wage the economy has you worried, the government keeps upping the bar on new car requirements for fuel mileage, safety and other features (coming soon mandatory back up cameras)the stock market and the government auto and bank bail out has killed your 401-K value, you doubt if any social security will be left when you get to retirement age and you have to wonder about health care costs. People are saving rather than spending if they can and food energy and taxes keep increasing at a faster rate than your wages, something has to give and new cars are some of what people are giving up to make ends meet.
