Tuesday, April 24, 2007

GM topped by Toyota

When we in North America talked about the "Big Three," we of course meant General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. But over the last four decades, Japanese-based automakers have threatened that order. Today, we learn that during Q1, Toyota surpassed The General in sales for the first time.

What have they done right? What foreign automakers in general have done right? Simple: They make better cars. Period. In fact, the cars they make at "offshore plants" -- i.e. in Canada and the US -- are actually even better from a quality standpoint than the ones from "home." (My new "foreign" car was made in Southfield, Michigan and with mostly domestic content, which tells you something about the line between "our" and "their" cars.) More important they've got it right on fuel efficiency. The old guard is still overcapacity when it comes to SUVs.

I support a strong domestic industry, but I wish they were selling us cars that we want rather than telling us what we want. I also welcome anyone who wants to make cars here. There's certainly a demand for them, if sales numbers are any indication.

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