GM, Ford Get More Aggressive

[gravity]

Associated Press
By TOM KRISHER 06.08.07, 3:48 PM ET

When Ford Motor Co. did research to compare the Fusion mid-sized car with its Japanese competitors, it uncovered something scary.

Although many who drove the Fusion and other cars in hood-to-hood tests liked the Fusion's styling, performance and handling better, they still wouldn't buy one because they had such good experiences with their Honda (nyse: HMC - news - people ) Accords and Toyota (nyse: TM - news - people ) Camrys.

General Motors Corp. (nyse: GM - news - people ) found similar results in its research, showing both automakers that they have a long way to go in cracking the Japanese dominance of the all-important mid-sized car market. Both Ford and GM have responded with far more aggressive advertising and marketing campaigns in an almost desperate attempt to pull import buyers back into their showrooms.

"We've really got to fight hard," Mark LaNeve, GM's vice president of North American sales, service and marketing, said in a recent interview. "If you see a more aggressive tone, we just want to shake people's consciousness a little bit."

Ford launched television, print and Internet ads comparing the Fusion directly with Accord and Camry, and GM's Saturn brand started urging people to rethink their values as well as how they view Saturn and American cars. On Monday, Saturn will post Accords and Camrys at all 435 U.S. dealerships for customers to compare with its new Aura mid-sized sedan.

More: http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/06/08/ap3803900.html

[musiclawyer]

1. It's too late

Go to Edmunds and read some pretty good threads on mid-sized sedans. Consensus seems to be that the Camry, Accord, Sonata and 6 are better than anything GM or Ford offers in the category. Not that what the Americans offer is bad, just not as good. And except for Mazda all the Asians have high customer loyalty rates. Many of their customers won't even sniff the Ford and Chevy offerings when trading in.

[pagerbear]

3. Even though my Fusion-owning friend adores his car

...I still bought a Camry for myself recently.

[yourout]

2. US car makers need to stop making cars that spit out bad sensors like ...

they were eating sunflower seeds. Every US vehicle I have owned(6) never went a year without needing either an o2 Sensor, MAP Sensor, Crankshaft Sensor, Throttle position Sensor, or one of a thousand other sensors. I bought a 10 year old Camry with 150,000 miles and in close to three years has not had a single problem.

The service engine light could double as a christmas ornament in the US cars it comes on so often.

[blues90]

6. You are right on

I worked for ford for many years and most concerns were sensors crapping out , they are cheap parts , let alone the focus with the ign lock not turning all of a sudden . Fords also will trip on the engine light if the fuel cap is not tight and this can generate rip off repairs .

[deadmessengers]

10. A lot of cars do that.

That's an emission-control thing, and it's mandated by Federal law. I had that problem in my Honda, actually - one of the very few problems I've ever had with it. Basically, your gas tank has to have a decent seal on it, to prevent gas vapors from escaping.

[LSK]

4. A clue for GM and Ford: MAKE HYBRIDS

[deadmessengers]

8. They do

Both Ford and GM make hybrid cars.

[LSK]

13. yeah, the Tahoe gets 17 mpg now

:rofl:

[musiclawyer]

12. Hyundai is expediting their Hybrid for 2009

Toyota probably could commernce its next generation hybrid now, if it wanted too. Honda's next generation is right around the corner. These are cars I'm talking about not SUV's such as Ford Escape. Detroit is way way behind.

In 5 years Chrysler probably will either not exist or its cars will be made in Asia, and only minivans made here.

GM and Ford have finally got around to thinking about offering thier "world" cars here. But no attractive hybrids. Even with the world cars being sold here, it still will be too late to ne anythinf other than bit players in the car segment.

Versa

Fit

Rio

Acccent

Corolla

Elantrs

Sentra

Mazda3

Lancer

Scions

even Suzuki 4/4


That's just the small ones.
The list goes on. These are ALL very very good cars.

The Fccus used to be up there, bit Ford even seems to have lost its focus there!

Makes you think that perhaps Ford should just stick to trucks and sell all its cars under the Mazda brand.

Same with GM. Stop selling small cars and focus on doing what it does best

[deadmessengers]

5. This is not something that marketing can fix.

To paraphrase what was said in the article, it took the Big 3 a couple of decades to dig the hole they're in. It's going to take them just as long to climb their way out. Until they start delivering ridiculously reliable cars like the Japanese automakers have for the last 20 years, all the advertising in the world isn't going to help them when the guy next door just had to lay out a couple of grand for a new transmission in his Chevy.

And the trick that Saturn's doing "Come here, and we'll let you test drive an Accord or Camry while you're here!"? What idiot thought that up? Initial build quality is NOT the reason people buy Japanese cars. Any car looks great in the showroom and on a test drive, even a cheap plastic-bodied Saturn. If you want to compare quality between 2 cars, look at ones with about 120,000 miles on them. That's the REAL test.

[monktonman]

7. Its also about the jobs

I used to give american car company's the edge based solely on the fact that I knew I was supporting American families by buying American goods.
Kinda funny that while GM was laying off thousands and moving to Mexico, Toyota and honda were building plants in the USA.
Gm and Ford no longer deserve the edge I used to give so now I base my car buying habits around quality. US cars just suck.

[deadmessengers]

9. My "Japanese" car was made in Indiana.

Yeah, I bet there's all kinds of sake and sushi around Terre Haute. :)

[StarryNite]

11. Yeah but it's still a Japanese company

and guess where the profits are headed.

[Vincardog]

15. They can have the profits as long as we can have the jobs.

[monktonman]

16. The profits are headed towards US banks.

My point was that I dont really care where the boss spends his money. I'm more concerned with the fact that lots of higher quality japanese cars are made in the US.
Made by Americans who have the Japanese auto makers to thank for their jobs.
Yeah my car was made in Indiana as well and its a whole lot better than ANY American car I've ever owned-----By far.

[deadmessengers]

17. the profits are headed to a country...

...where CEOs make less than a quarter of what American CEOs do, proportionate to the pay of the average worker. That's the kind of company (and country) I want my money going to!

[gravity]

14. Foreign car companies aren't any better in that area

In this free trade environment, every major car company has plants all over the world.

Japanese auto workers are probably pissed that toyota is building plants in the US, taking away their jobs.

[BootinUp]

18. All it would take is for

the quality rankings to become competitive again with the foreign makes. This could be turned around in 5 to 10 years if they are serious.

[gravity]

19. Ford beats Toyota in quality rankings

DETROIT - People might have to stop making all those jokes about the quality of Ford’s cars — the ones that say Ford stands for “Found on Road Dead” or “Fixed or Repaired Daily.”

Now, it could be “Fixing Our Reputation Daily.”

Ford Motor Co. supplanted Toyota as leader of the pack in J.D. Power and Associates’ annual initial quality rankings released Wednesday, grabbing more individual awards than any other automaker for the first time since 1998, when it tied for the top spot.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19073071/

The problem now is just convincing the public this

[BootinUp]

20. Its a start.

I believe they can do it.

[gravity]

21. I think GM and Ford are getting their act together

but it's an uphill battle against toyota especially with consumer expectations

[blondeatlast]

22. Repeat: JD Power is a sham. If the car thy are paid to boost doesn't win

they create a new category.

http://www.autoblog.com/2006/02/03/truedelta-questions-quality-of-jd-power-methodology/

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/?p=1592

[deadmessengers]

23. The key word there is "Initial"

See my post upthread for why that's completely meaningless.