GM, Ford, Toyota Buyers Shun Trucks: "There is something more going on here..."

[osv_alero]

This happens when the housing market crashes. Once the housing market picks up again then contractors will help bring back the truck market.

Don't get me wrong, the gas prices have affected the market. However, when a contractor needs a vehicle to build a house the #1 choice is a truck.

[Jesda]

While car sales were increasing at the turn of the century, it wasn't really because the US market was growing. It was because multiple rounds of heavy incentives kept people trading in, and now that incomes have fallen relative to inflation, people are holding on to their vehicles for a while.

[88Fiero]

Originally Posted by Baz

That is the ugliest Truck i have ever seen. Ever.

As for Trucks sales slowing, is anyone really surprised?.

Amen on ugly!

[steinravnik]

Originally Posted by Jesda

While car sales were increasing at the turn of the century, it wasn't really because the US market was growing. It was because multiple rounds of heavy incentives kept people trading in, and now that incomes have fallen relative to inflation, people are holding on to their vehicles for a while.

Don't forget housing bubble wealth. I know more than one person that "liberated their housing equity" and bought new cars.

[Chaz_23]

Pointless article.

[Rocket 88]

Originally Posted by psece

People need to stop concentrating on trucks as an issue and see that the entire market is down. What does GM need to do if all segments are down and not about to come back anytime soon?

The reason people concentrate on trucks is because there are tons of them sitting on dealers lots.

GM ran short of fuel efficient vehicles such as Cobalt and Aveo (according to todays Detnews.com article). The news isn't that people are buying fewer vehicles but there is a profound change in what people are buying.

[Bigbee60]

Originally Posted by Kheiron

When I think of Honda, I think Fuel Efficient good handling reliable quality vehicles (even if they do look less appealing)...

I thought the same of Honda in the mid-90's. Today I think of them for:

1) Ugly grills (new Pilot, CRV, Element, even the new Accord is overwrought, any recent Acura).
2) Busy dashboards (two story Civic IP abomination, 800 button new Accord dash)
3) Good (not great) fuel economy. The new Accord four cylinders only got 22-23 mpg in the recent C&D and MT comparison tests. The Fit is tiny, but only gets mid-30's in magazine test loops. The Civic is probably the best - it gets 28-30 around town and 35 highway in most magazine tests.

I think Honda could do so much more if they went back to the fluid design styles of the 80's and 90's and stopped trying to make every car a work of art.

[steinravnik]

Originally Posted by Bigbee60

I thought the same of Honda in the mid-90's. Today I think of them for:

1) Ugly grills (new Pilot, CRV, Element, even the new Accord is overwrought, any recent Acura).
2) Busy dashboards (two story Civic IP abomination, 800 button new Accord dash)
3) Good (not great) fuel economy. The new Accord four cylinders only got 22-23 mpg in the recent C&D and MT comparison tests. The Fit is tiny, but only gets mid-30's in magazine test loops. The Civic is probably the best - it gets 28-30 around town and 35 highway in most magazine tests.

I think Honda could do so much more if they went back to the fluid design styles of the 80's and 90's and stopped trying to make every car a work of art.

I agree. I miss the Hondas of the early 90's, like the CRX and 92-95 Civic.

[MaxLegroom]

Originally Posted by Ming

LOL, well I can't remember the last time I saw any real horns on the front of a pickup, but I might just not notice anymore.

A lot of the trucks around here nowadays are very frou-frou with the fancy paint-to-match tonneau covers that rarely ever get used for more than opening them up slightly to throw some groceries into (like a trunk, ahem). Maybe to toss a few cases of Natty Light, Lone Star, or Busch into.

Then again, a lot of people have large yards when you get out far enough, to the country area where I live far NW of Houston, and unlike the Houston Suburbanite wanna-be tough guys with their Princess Pickups, people around here actually USE their trucks for what they were designed for.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for saying about many pickup truck drivers what I haven't had the nerve to say.

One of my childhood sweethearts has a better use for her pickup (last I saw, a Silverado 4X4 in a basic trim) than most men driving them around here. She raises horses elsewhere in Virginia.

[bigdav160]

Just the same old.............

Like many on this forum, they hate trucks and SUV's as a sign of American success (and in their mind excess).

They hate (and bash) the Big Three (or any other big business except government) as they represent some type of evil being.

Where I live in Texas, SUV's and trucks still rule the road. Ming likes to comment that they fill the used car lots. Yes! They have for 30+ years. That's what sells.

Have sales slumped recently. Sure.

Several years of big incentives have saturated the market, a slowing economy, and the price of fuel has temporarily caused some owners not to make that big purchase. But the market is cyclical and it will come back.