Today's Market of Import Vs. Domestic

[Fox Body]

There are a lot of good points brought up by everyone in this thread.

Originally posted by Mr 5 0
....Today, new car buyers expect their new car to last well over 100,000 miles with no serious mechanical problems. Most Japanese cars deliver that on that expectation but some domestics don't. People only remember the ones that don't, then go buy a 'bulletproof' Japanese car because their relative, friend or neighbor has one that went 150,000 with no real hassles...and they got $1,000. for it at trade-in time. The resale value is important to many car buyers, as well as the reliability of the car - and American cars are not meeting expectations on either front too much of the time, so this slowly but steadily erodes the American automobile manufacturers sales.

Look at what a Ford Taurus is worth after 3 years and compare it to a Honda Accord. Big difference. People have caught on to this and they buy imports, as much for the resale value as for the reliability and the price, which is generally competitive with domestic vehicles. I know a guy who just bought a 2004 Honda Civic LX (auto) with no extras for $15,800. plus tax and title. I saw the bill of sale so it wasn't BS on his part. Hard to beat that kind of deal on a car with great gas mileage, excellent reliability and very high resale value...

...Look, when I want to buy a new (brand name) TV or other appliance, I check all the store's prices and if Wal-Mart is cheaper than the rest, I buy it at Wal-Mart. If Wal-Mart was run by a Japanese company, I might think twice and buy at the local appliance store but if the local appliance store charged 20% more for the same item, I'm buying at Wal-Mart. I only have so much money to spend on an appliance - or a car. Unless the appliance - or the car - is something very specific that I can only get at one place (like a Mustang), I'm buying where the price is lowest, in most cases. Everyone does this.

One more thing: most car buyers don't care much about performance: they just want to get from point A to point B with no car hassles, good gas mileage and some degree of comfort. Japanese manufacturers understand this and make cars that fit the bill perfectly, and Americans buy them by the hundreds of thousands (400,000 Honda Accords sold last year). That will continue as long as American manufacturers continue to cut quality corners to keep their pricing competitive with the imports and fail to excite potential buyers with new, innovative models and designs. Impersonating the Japanese cars won't cut it for Detroit anymore...if it ever did.

From the quote above pertty much fits what I've been going through lately. I'm hearing the words "resale value, dependability, reliability, 200,000 miles, KBB value", etc. A friend of mine who had an Oldsmobile SUV just traded it in for some import SUV. He and his wife says the domestic was always in the shop, but that the Olds was much more comfortable inside. My brother's Grand Am was always breaking. One thing after another, transmisssion, turn signal switch, light switch, interior pieces, belt tensioner, breaks, etc. (and I do mean etc). But hey, my dad's Ford Ranger XLT has been through a bunch and still runs strong.

As was mentioned b4, I know there is a lot of BS bandwagoneers floating around the import consumers, but at the same time, a good amount of negatives against domestics and for imports is supported by evidence and testimony.

And also, like already mentioned, look at the resale value of a Taurus compared to an Accord or a Cavalier compared to a 4-door Civic. I dunno, but this all seems to me greater than just some fad. I could be wrong, but it seems that domestic manufacturers are smug and set in their ways. What is their strategy? Do they see what is happening or are we the ones that are deceived? And as already mentioned, it does seem like some domestic manufacturers are really just trying to copy some of the imports in design instead of just coming up with their own ideas. However, I notice that most domestics have more of a higher quality interior pieces and luxuries (such as electric seats, digital guages, outside temperature, just stuff that makes the car -- or SUV--more comfortable or luxurious inside), but will be at the shop in the next 5 - 10 years quicker than the imports (from what I hear people complaining about).

I tell you the truth, I'm just sick and tired of hearing that imports such as Honda, Toyota, Nissan are getting better reviews and are more reliable and have higher resale values than domestics-- but I guess that's the freedom of capitalism???

....and I cringe everytime I hear another friend tell me "hey, I bought a new Honda Accord... "