Good post E.M. and I mostly agree...
Quote:
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How did the Japanese steal market share? Americans moved to small cars.
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I want to point out that the Big 3 DID have small cars prior to the oil crisis in '73... but some of them weren't very good (ex: Vega- initially). Most customers aspired to own the big models. That the domestic manufacturer's marketing departments largely viewed the small models as an entry-level necessary evil, and not much more than a stepping stone to bigger and better things didn't help much.
Sometime in the '70's (and really picking up steam in the early '80's) after the oil crisis thing settled down somewhat, pickups started gaining in popularity as they weren't subject to the downsizing and converting to fwd that many long-popular car models were. Then SUV popularity picked up too. The American customer did not want to give up their big RWD V8s without a fight and in pickups and SUVs they found an out. This trend caused the consumer and the companies to feed upon each other- the companies noticed the demand and started fitting the formerly utilitarian and sparse pickup truck with all the amenities of a luxury sedan.
It's funny, there is a humongous old car boneyard near here and I noticed when going through it that many, many of the vehicles there (more than half?) have '74 license plates! Yes, a mass dumping of big cruisers in '74 but then as now (as in, last year) it didn't last long and the "gravitational pull" is towards the big stuff.
And that is why Lutz is right.
He is not turning his back on little cars and/or hybrids. He's saying, realistically, that they only represent a portion of the market, not the whole thing. To devote the entire company to them before the customers want them (and before Peak Oil forces it) would spell doom to the company, as other companies would step in to fill the void. Totally un-proactive, yes, I agree. What is needed to turn this stupidity around is an educated consumer base.