| I guess my take on it is this.
For years, Ford and GM have sold millions of cars. Because of the demand, they built them under the premise of "the public will buy them regardless of quality and design because we're #1." Demand was good and profits were wonderful. Because lots of people had their cars, resale was low. Toyota/Honda were small operations. They offered a small selection of cars. Because of that, they were able to address the quality concerns. Because of limited quantity, their resale was high.
Today the rolls have turned. Toyota/Honda are now producing more cars than Ford/GM. Because of increased demand, their quality has started lacking. Given time and an over abundance of used cars in three to four years, I predict their resale will lag too. Meanwhile, Ford/GM have scaled back production, started focusing on quality and details, but that means fewer vehicles available for resale. Soon, they will hold their resale values because they are no longer supplying cheap lease vehicles for wholesale.
To me, the lesson is that it may be nice to be #1, no automakers can truly handle the stress of it. At first glance, it seemed to be something only American automakers dealt with. It's a breath of fresh air to hear that the foreigns are now experiencing the same problems the domestics have struggled with for years.  |