DETROIT – The U.S. auto industry has been much in the news lately, but the focus has been on layoffs, plant closings and financial woes. Yet it is wrong to paint the domestic manufacturers with the same brush.
Let’s start with American Chrysler. Yes, it’s owned by German DaimlerChrysler, but it’s still Detroit.
The way that I see it, Chrysler is a lean, mean fighting machine that is profitable and fairing better than the Mercedes-Benz unit. Chrysler is even picking up a bit of market share. Even so, Toyota Motor is growing faster and could outsell Chrysler this year. Another challenge: Seventy percent of Chrysler’s sales come from trucks, and trucks sales are slowing. To keep rolling, Chrysler must keep its truck business reasonably strong and shine with Jeeps and new cars.
Ford should be a piece of cake to fix. Some of its products, such as the F-150 pickup and Mustang are a success. The company still is profitable worldwide but runs huge losses in the U.S. Ford has only three domestic car lines here and just two dealer groups, an advantage over nameplate-encumbered GM. The trouble is that no one at Ford seems to understand the automobile business. Ford management, if you care to call it that, has been in chaos. The company has had too much turnover of top executives. Ditto for its vehicle models.
Then there’s mighty GM. The company’s product program is moving far faster than Ford’s. GM’s new vehicles are better, much better than the models that they replace. Chevrolet is the No. 1 seller again. Pontiac will improve this year. Saturn will be back next year. GM’s new big sport utilities are just arriving, and next fall there will be new pickups. The Chevrolet Camaro concept car was the hit of the Detroit auto show and car nuts everywhere. Thanks to Robert Lutz, the product chief, GM interiors are getting to be what they should be. GM hasn’t solved all its problems, but it is making significant gains.
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