Stories that Flint could have used about 20 years ago
Are we living in some kind of bizarre parallel automotive universe? Here are the leads from two stories on today's The New York Times homepage:
General Motors said Tuesday that United States sales rose 11.5 percent in February, including a 32.2 percent gain for the four brands it is keeping: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC.
And...
Toyota has recalled six million cars in the United States over concerns about sudden acceleration. But an analysis of government documents shows that many Toyota Camrys built before 2007, which were not subject to recalls, have been linked to a comparable number of speed-control problems as recalled Camrys.
My prediction is that Toyota, Honda, Ford and GM will all have to make due with 13-18 percent market share — give or take a few percentage points — in the future. Maybe a Chinese automaker will reconfigure that a bit at some point. They'll all just have to be smaller, more streamlined companies. And shareholders will have to get used to smaller growth. (They won't, of course, and automakers are likely to fall right back into their short-term thinking to satisfy the immediate desires of shareholders.)
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