Chevy, Ford battle for #1 bragging rights...for the last time?

[1931Chevy]

http://www.latimes.com/classified/au...tory?track=rss

As Toyota sales speed up, 2006 may have been the last year of the U.S. auto brands' head-to-head battle to be No. 1.
By Rick Popely, Chicago Tribune
January 2, 2007

Ford and Chevrolet are again battling for bragging rights as the No. 1 brand in U.S. auto sales — probably for the last time — as they prepare this week to announce their final 2006 tallies.

Sales at Toyota, third among auto brands, continue to rise, while Ford's slow. By the end of this year the namesake brand of Toyota Motor Corp. will probably be accelerating to close the gap with, and possibly pass, General Motors Corp.'s Chevrolet as America's No. 1 nameplate

Such a scenario was hard to imagine 10 years ago, when the Ford division outsold Chevrolet by 720,000 vehicles and Toyota finished fourth, 2.18 million vehicles behind Ford. The Dodge brand of what was then Chrysler Corp. place third.

[rhvfd10]

Who's Calvin's next target... Cherry?

[Slack]

Originally Posted by rhvfd10

Who's Calvin's next target... Cherry?

Toyota.

[appman]

Another sad day for the domestics...

[Chronos97]

Ford will drop to #3 next year which is sad. The Intercepetor concept, Fairlane, and next gen Explorer will help but can't stop the onslaught or finances of Toyota. Chevrolet I hope can hold off such onslaught.
Lambada based suv will help
Colorado MCE major refresh
Cobalt MCE major refresh
New Bu
New Imapla
all of which should really help along w/ the GMT 900s/Silverado.
Sad end of a era though.

[paul3230]

Well hey, at least the article ended on a positive plug about GM's new warranty and how they are seeing more import trades.

[1931Chevy]

Well this will be one hell of a year for Ford they know it and we know it but I hope they will come back stronger to reclaim their #2 position in the US by 09 let Toyota have the victory for now

[Hotspur]

Toyota is not invincible. Its built a substantial foundation to be sure, especially in its high quality supplier base. GM and Ford have much work to do, not only in-house but also cleaning up the shoddy parts makers...yeah Johnson Controls, Lear and one hundred others that means YOU.

It can be done.

[Hitman1970]

GM has a long way to go in the dealership experience too. I jst visited my brother in the North East. The minute we hit the NY/NJ area from the west it was import city. You had to look to find a domestic sedan by the time we hit Boston.

I knew it was bad, but holy smokes! Another bad sign was how long it has been going on. Lots of old Toyotas and not a lot of old anything else around too. You do not see many 1987 Camrys around Clarksville.

My brother owns a two year old Vibe and has had some steering issues/ premature tire wear. He is pissed a the service he is getting at his dealership. The frustrating thing is he is now looking at a RAV4. He already basically owns a Toyota and is not pleased by it so the solution is to buy a Toyota with the nameplate on it.

It gets better. He tells me that he went to the local Toyota dealership and the salesman would not give him the time of day. Pretty stupid considering my brother is a well paid engineering consultant. The salesman basically said "Pick something off the lot and there is no negotiation." My brother got pissed and stormed off the lot. Yet he believes Toyota will give him better service than GM. At least GM pleased him enough at first to get the vehicle off the lot.

Anyway, customer service needs to improve along with product.

[1931Chevy]

Dude take your brother to try the Acadia or the 2 other sisters, tell him he us already driving a Toyota produced vehicle with GM plates

[FordMan]

Well, Ford will just have to "live to fight another day". I'm not really shocked, but thats probably because it comes as no surprise.

[VivienM]

Originally Posted by 1931Chevy

Dude take your brother to try the Acadia or the 2 other sisters, tell him he us already driving a Toyota produced vehicle with GM plates

Acadia? That's a whole lot bigger than a RAV4...

Maybe a Torrent or Equinox?

[freebird4x4]

One bad vehicle can turn a person away from a brand forever... Every manufacturer has bad cars that are produced with the good ones. It's funny how little it takes to form an opinion that is not necessarily correct to apply to everything.

[clive O]

WOW, the disparity in those sales numbers from only 10 years ago are shocking. I heard that Japanese imports outsold Domestics for the first time in CA.

Here is a great link to a useful site on import vs domestic sales, etc:

http://www.levelfieldinstitute.org/

[asim]

For the last time? I don't know about that, Chevrolet and Toyota have a good chance in 2008 to compete with each other (if GM brings the Malibu out soon). The way GM is saying how they will have all these new products, it's going to be one cool fight.