Nice guys finish last. Ford (F) is a fine example. After being the No.2 car company in the US fro decades, it will probably moving into the No. 4 spot behind Honda (HMC) sometime in the next few months.
In July, Ford sold just under 160,000 units in the US, well behind Toyota (TM) at 197,000 plus. Honda moved almost 139,000 cars and light trucks. Ford’s sales for the month were down 14%, Honda’s were off just under 1%.
Chrysler is also about to drop a spot, from No.5 to No.6. Its market share last month was 8.6%. Nissan’s share was 8.4%.
Ranking numbers aside, the data indicate that the market share of the Japanese manufacturers is rising so fast that, even if Detroit can make a large scale switch to small cars, the gains may be permanent.
This year may be the last year in the history of the US car industry when GM’s market share is over 20%, Ford’s is over 14% and Chrysler’s is over 9%. None of the companies may be able to cut enough costs to be profitable at those levels.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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