Guess who’s rising like a rocket toward the No. 1 spot in U.S. auto sales? Toyota!
The Japanese carmaker has surpassed Ford for second place, and Honda replaced DaimlerChrysler in fourth. America’s Big Three is no more, with Detroit’s auto line-up claiming barely half of our own market.
Japan’s surge is the direct result of its focus on high-quality, fuel-efficient vehicles while Detroit’s stodgy bosses keep pushing gas guzzlers in an age of $3 gasoline. For example, Toyota and Honda are scoring big with their new subcompact cars, but GM and Ford each have only one small car for sale in America and Chrysler sells no subcompacts here. Meanwhile, sales of Ford’s SUVs plummeted by more than half in July.
But, by gollies, GM and Ford are fighting back! Not by rushing boldly into the fuel efficient market — instead, they’re both running promotional schemes to subsidize the gasoline prices of car buyers. In a July promotion, GM pledged to pay a third or more of the fuel costs for California and Florida customers who bought certain vehicles, including the big ol’ Suburban and 9-mpg Hummer. Ford went further. In a scheme it dubbed “Bold Moves,” anyone buying certain Fords (including its big honker SUVs) will get free gas for the rest of the year.
Meanwhile, as Americans are snapping up small cars, the geniuses in Detroit are rushing off in the opposite direction — both GM and Ford are resurrecting their old souped-up muscle cars! At the same time, Ford says that its lousy sales record might mean more job cuts and plant closings.
Workers and communities again are paying the price for the boneheaded management failures of the high-priced guys up in Detroit’s executive suites.
Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, columnist, and author.
