ORIGINAL: 1 Bad Mirada
good point about the car...
i feel that companies like nissan, honda, and toyota have done a good job of making efficient cars and trucks that look decent.
toyota doesnt make anything that i would buy, but the camry has proven to be a favorite of middle class americans who dont really care about how fast or sporty their car is, so long as it runs forever with little care, and gets good mileage. while i care about how my vehicles look, and how fast they will go, the truth is that most of the people driving do not. hence toyotas success. having worked as a mechanic, the toyotas were typically the cars with high mileage, and were poory taken care of...but they ran forever. they are trying to get into the racing world, but they are doing poorly in nascar, and their trucks are ugly.
honda has done the same thing that toyota has, but honda has made some effort to make some sporty models, like the civic Si and S2000. many civic and accord owners might as have have bought a camry, as they do only enough to keep the car running forever, and like toyota, they are typically cheaper than the domestic counterparts. i would drive quite a few different honda vehicles, especially the civic...
nissan has seemed to shift their focus to luxury and performance, and that appeals to me. next to dodge, the only truck that i would consider buying (although i dont see me buying another truck any time soon) would be the titan. overseas, nissan is a force in the racing world, and only because of an inter-company pissing match between nissan motors and prince motor company, they do not have the same appeal of performance here with models like the skyline and silvia, although we are not gettig watered down versions.
other than thoe three, i wouldnt ever consider having an import...hyundai and kia are complete junk, and i wouldnt drive one if it was free.
but it comes down to the bottom line for most normal americans, who dont are about how nice or fast their car is, and they dont care where it was built, or where the money goes... and example...the 07 camry LE versus the 07 charger sxt.
both 3.5L engines..the charger makes 250hp/250tq, and the camry makes 268/248...with similar options, including a 6 speed auto trans in the camry, the charger is already a couple thousand dollars more, before youve even chosen a single option..and for most people in the US, money talks. i would rather have the charger, even at the slightly higher cost, but most people only see the basics, and exclude where it is made, and where the money goes.
Some things you said I will agree with, other parts I must disagree. The Japanese Big Three do make more fuel efficient cars currently and with gas just under $3 per gallon, people are more likely to want a Civic over a Cobalt when there is around a 5-8mpg difference in the fuel economy.
Toyota is trying to transform themselves into a performance brand since they see that there is also a trend for performance. The Mazda 3 is an illogical car that it is a compact car that gets lower fuel mileage than many mid-sized models while not having very much engine output; however, it is very popular anyways do to the good looks and wise marketing strategy. The performance image is what has made that model successful. Now Toyota is trying to make their dull Camry interesting by adding a more powerful V6 engine to attempt to rival the performance orientated Nissan Altima. The Tundra now sets the performance benchmark for trucks with having the fastest accelerating model (since the Ram SRT-10 is now discontinued). The problem that I think Toyota is now starting to have since their sales are now down is they have possibly bit off more than they can chew. They have had quality issues for years on certain models and now that is starting to haunt them, plus they have tried to expand in markets that are not doing very well right now.