Who will be the US "Big 3" in 2016?

My prediction for the 2016 *retail* US sales rankings:

1) Toyota
2) Honda
3) Hyundai
4) GM-Ford (as a merged company)

 

Did you forget the "Cherry" will be here by 2008 LOL

mike hunt

 

Why is Hyundai on the list? Everything I have seen made by them is a piece
of shit compared to anything Japaneese or American.

 

Hyundai recently outscored Toyota and Honda in a recent consumer survey of
initial quality, among new 2006 vehicle owners.


mike

 

Oh, I haven't looked at anything new. I only buy what I can pay cash for.

 

They also manufacture large cranes. Toyota is into forklifts. Honda
makes lawnmowers. I read recently where Honda is going to begin
building aircraft for small business. All three are surely making
their mark.



--

 

I'm not ready to buy one but they have come a long way in the past few
years.

 

My company has had 2 new Hyundais in the past year and I find that hard to
believe. The initial quality to me was above the "Big" 3 but well behind
Toyota and Honda. The Santa Fe and the Elantra we have, have many many small
but annoying problems within the first 5000 miles.

 

Hundai is a heck of a success story. Near death after selling a bunch of
crappy cars, they turned things completely around in recent years.

Don't give up on Ford or GM they can make a comeback.

IMHO, their fist big step is making cars that appeal to younger people. All
the teens want Hondas and Toyotas and probably continue buying them as they
age. I've worked for the same emplyer for 17 years and know many people
well. If they're not driving a Ford or GM truck, then it is a Toyota, Honda
or Mazda. Many of the US passenger cars are older models. One minor trend is
a couple of new Ford Fusions out in the lot.

I find myself wanting a Toyota Yaris liftback. I find myself needing
something with better mileage for daily driving (I need to keep the truck
for hauling for my side business). Once I again, the American Automakers are
asleep at the wheel. They don't produce anything that compares to the
Yaris/Fit/Scion. Yes GM has the Aveo, but what's with the crappy fuel
mileage? I looked at the Focus, but the design looks tired and boring after
nearly 7 years.

Next there's the Ranger compact truck. A decent, reliable vehicle that
actually has some Japanese hardware in it, but Ford won't redesign years
after it should have been and the "middle" engine is the anemic 3.0L V6 that
gets SUV like gas milege and has less HP than many 4 bangers (like GMs new
model). The 4L V6 is better after they gave it some more power a few years
ago, but the full size truck mileage mumbers stink.

Next there's GM that dumps the compact truck and intruduces a redesigned
"midsized" pickup in the midst of higher gas prices. Fuel economy could be a
bit better and it still gets the solid black dot treatment with CRs
reliability score - just like the crappy S10 it replaced.

Pontiac. Lets build cars that all the models look the same! Let's make the
GTO a family appeal car. RIP new GTO. Sheesh.

Overall, their problem is they are too slow in responding to the marketplace
and seem to clueless in designing cars with appeal.
John

 

Make that:
1) Toyota-GM
2) Honda
3) Ford

 

I agree with you, but there is not a single gotta-have vehicle for the
under 21 year old trendsetter in the current GM or Ford lineups. Not a
single one. Two years ago the Hummer was on such a list, but high fuel
prices have put that one to bed.

Even the Corvette and Mustang are really cars for middle age guys who
want another trip down memory lane.

John

 

An interesting take. I can't see Toyota going all the way to the altar
with GM though. What would Toyota get out of it? Also, Toyota has a
long history of being an independent company in mind and action.
Nissan, on the other hand, started out as a company which was always in
bed with at least one foreign company and continues that pattern today.

I can see the long-shot Nissan-Renault-GM deal happening as a much
higher probability than an Toyota-GM tie up.

John

 

Old technology from the Daewoo fire-sale. GM slapped the Chevy name on
a failed Korean car and is selling 'em cheap.

Honda Fit - 33 City, 38 Highway
Toyota Yaris - 34 City, 40 Highway
Chevy Aveo - 27 City, 35 Highway

Fit MSRP $13,850
Yaris MSRP $11,825
Aveo MSRP $13,050

So much for the Chevy being bargain priced. Of course you can probably
get "deals" on the Chevy while the Honda and Toyota are sold out and not
being discounted, but that again speaks to the desireability of the
vehicles.


John

 

Their first big step is unloading all the union contracts. They are
watching Northwest do in their unions. GM will follow. Cut overhead
first.

--

 

If you want to level the playing field, then let's have national
health coverage like all the other industrialized countries. Get it
off the back of the corporations. Why should GM have to pay for it
while Honda doesn't?

 

John
I was wondering what you think GM and Ford should be putting in their
cars or doing to them to give them more of a youth's appeal. You
looking for more sportier with wings and ground effects? i'm not
trying to bash you, i am asking because i am an engineering student
whom is trying to pursue a career in the automotive industry and i
would like to hear yours and anyone elses opinions on what you think
the American car manufacturers need to do with their cars to make them
more suitable for the public so that they can stay in the top 3. all
opinion are greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

GM/Toyota have been manufacturing cars for a LONG time as NUMMI, mostly in
California.
They gave us some of the worst Toyotas ever, namely the Nova (~85-87) and
the Prizm.
They are currently manufacturing Tacomas. All the ground work is there,
just time for the
proposal and the acceptance.

As for what Toy would get out of it? Definitely the #1 spot in the world!
And, hopefully, GM would pick up Toyota's Quality habits, and NOT vice
versa!!!!
(That would be my bigger concern! "We can show YOU how to make more cars
more cheaply."
NOT a good idea!!!)

 

What's so bad about the Prizm? Or are you talking about some prizms made
before 93 that I don't know about. I love my 95' and it seems that most of
the reviews I've read on it are good as well. It's at 140K and still seems
to run stong. Granted I've had to replace the interior door handles, but
those are no biggie.

 

My 2005 Santa Fe has had zero problems whatsoever. Fit and finish and
overall quality just as good as the wife's 2006 Accord.

The only difference might be a *slightly* lower quality of interior
materials. However the price differential between similar models (even more
so when you factor in the warranty Hyundai comes with) makes this extremely
acceptable.

Jon

 

I am well aware of Nummi and have toured the plant twice. Toyota got
into that venture in order to learn how to build cars in the US. GM got
into it hoping to learn Toyota's production system. The goal was for
the output to be sold 50:50 by the two companies, but GM has never been
able to move it's 50%. Currently the Pontiac Vibe is built there along
with Toyota Corollas and Tacomas. The Vibe is selling badly mostly
because GM's marketing and distribution are a complete disaster. GM can
only seem to figure out how to actually sell a few of it's dozens of
models at any given time and the Vibe isn't one of those.

Toyota, on the other hand, manages to make solid sales on almost every
model in it's line up. Discipline and focus are part of what makes
Toyota run. GM wouldn't know discipline if it met her!

That said, Nummi is in no way the ground work for a buy out of GM.
Toyota management is too smart for such a move.



John