Glenn Mercer

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  • Is Anything Worth Owning in the Auto Industry?
    A few comments:
    1. Re Prius's looks, I was unaware anyone was buying the car for its styling. Leaving aside opinions about looks, the car has the fastest inventory turns in the USA at present, staying on dealer lots just long enough to be washed, prepped, and delivered. About one day. Love the Prius or hate it, it is a sales homerun for Toyota.
    2. Conversely, while I think the Honda product line has a lock on success for the foreseeable future (after all, knocking off the F-150's sales crown is stunning!), Acura is arguably in some disarray. Only one of the Japanese upmarket brands has broken into the "Tier One" luxury segment, and that is Lexus (with a vengeance of course!). Acura continues to languish somewhat and arguably has been passed by Audi.
    3. A key asset every Japanese company has, that is often overlooked, is the reservoir of high-mpg models they have "back home" that can be brought to the USA quickly if fuel prices stay high. Thus Toyota did not need to develop Scion from scratch, but just adapt domestic models for USA sales. Nissan brings its Cube here next year. Etc. Chrysler has no such reservoir; Ford could tap Mazda for small cars but to date seems not willing to do so; and GM has Daewoo in Korea, which should be able to deliver the goods (though the Aveo has been a real dud, I will admit). Unfortunately for the Big Three, the flow does not reverse: there is really no market anywhere in the world desperate for large pickup trucks.
    Jun 27 10:11 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article

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