ORIGINAL: awsure
I agree that U.S. automakers are turning the corner and getting better (heck...Challenger is a great example of that). Ongoing competitive pressure has forced them to produce a great product people want. The landscape has changed...there will never be a Big Three again. Probably be at least 8-10 major mid market producers along with a fair measure of niche vehicle producers selling low volume-high margin stuff. I think you'll find the smarter companies remove the focus off from market share to a degree and concentrate on delivering highly sought after products at better margins. Alot of positive signs of life from domestic automakers for sure...hopefully they can remain viable as a couple of them have major financial issues to overcome in the next couple years.
I agree that the Challenger is definitely a sign of improvement. I disagree that there will be 8-10 major mid market producers. I think it will be at most five. GM, Ford, DCX, Toyota, Honda. Nissan I think is either going to merge with GM, or they are going to go down the toilet. They are ruining the things that made them popular. They are putting all their eggs in one basket with those stupid CVTs. They don't offer any real advantages. They sound good on paper and that is it. The new Altima looks too much like the old model, and it looks a little weird with making it smaller. They don't have a model that will compete in fuel economy. The Maxima looks the same and also has a stupid CVT. The Titan and Pathfinder Armada has some serious reliability issues. Their I4 line is screwed up. Nissan I think is going to go the way of Mitsubishi (was once popular but now struggling to survive).
Mazda offers a good line-up, the thing though is Ford holds a huge stake in them. BMW I don't think is going to be that competitive because all they make are luxury cars and I doubts MG is really going to fulfill a full car line-up. VW has been having problems for years due to their terrible reliability in all of their companies and divisions. Who is really left after this?
I think the Big Three are turning themselves around, granted I think I could do a better job at it. Between the japanese and the U.S. manufactures, I would actually rather be in the U.S. manufactures shoes because I believe they are going to turn around and I believe Toyota's days of heading towards #1 are limited.