Ford takes a dive, DC will be #2 soon

http://www.businessweek.com/autos/co...428_541921.htm

APRIL 28, 2006
Autos
By Charles Dubow
Best Pickups 2006
Gas prices may slow sales but consumers have never had better trucks to
buy


What's clear is that, at least as far as the auto makers go, there's no
dilemma here. As long as they can make money selling big trucks, they
will continue to build them. In fact, for the first quarter of 2006,
Ford and GM sold far more big trucks than they did small trucks. The
Ford F-150 series, still the best-selling truck in the U.S., notched a
healthy 5.5% increase, the third consecutive month of gains according
to the company (see BW Online, 4/19/06, "America's Favorite Pickup").

What's interesting to note is that the number of big pickups sold in
the first quarter (538,262) dwarfed the number of small trucks
(140,527), but that in the latter category, the Japanese were dominant,
selling nearly twice as many small trucks as Ford and GM combined. In
fact, while Toyota and Nissan have both developed a large truck
entrant, Honda has not. Nor have they come out with a range of models
and variations, such as the $52,710 Dodge Ram SRT 10 or the $37,300
Ford F-150 King Ranch, seeming to understand that their best chance of
success lies in remaining small and waiting for the big trucks to go
extinct.

Pickup Sales: First Quarter 2006Company Q1 2006 Sales
Ford Motor 225,777
General Motors 215,242
DaimlerChrysler 109,394
Toyota Motor 73,632
Nissan 41,101
Honda Motor 13,643

Source: Automotive News

duty-honor-country AKA Charlie Nudo of Drums PA. wrote:
> http://www.busNews



Motor Trend's truck of the year is a HONDA!

Charlie equates quality with quantity. He picks a McDonalds hamburger
over a nice grilled steak because McDonalds sold 6 billion burgers so
they must be the best!

How's that beat up Saturn Wagon running?

On 25 Sep 2006 07:54:34 -0700, "CAINE" >
wrote:

>
>duty-honor-country AKA Charlie Nudo of Drums PA. wrote:
>> http://www.busNews
>
>
>
>Motor Trend's truck of the year is a HONDA!
>
>Charlie equates quality with quantity. He picks a McDonalds hamburger
>over a nice grilled steak because McDonalds sold 6 billion burgers so
>they must be the best!
>
>How's that beat up Saturn Wagon running? <snip>

ROFL! He's mutating!

"NewMan" > wrote in message
...

> US Auto makers have this strange notion that a car should last 5
> years, then you should buy a new one!

That is because the US manufacturers all came from the Old Northwest
(great lakes) and in that area of the country the snow is very bad and so
everyone salts the roads, and the cars all rust out quickly. It's a
different
mentality. That doesen't happen on the West Coast nor does it happen in
Japan, either. The folks that run car manufacturers in the US all have
blinders
on.

>
> The Japanese Auto Makers will continue to focus on quality, and if GM
> does not do the same - while reigning in the EXCESSIVE cost of their
> cars - then Japan will eventually dominate the market - one customer
> at a time. It did not happen 10 years ago, or 5 years ago, or
> yesterday, or today, not will it happen tomorrow, or even next year.
> but in 5 years??? Slow and steady wins the race. GM just happens to be
> a "legacy" issue for the Japanese. That is all.
>

That really isn't actually what is going on or what the real problem is.
People always claim quality is why the Japanese are ahead but this
is nothing more than repetition of a clever advertising campaign.

The simple, real, fundamental problem is that it costs more for GM
to build a car than it costs Toyota to build a car. If Toyota and GM were
to swap designs tomorrow, and build each other's cars, Toyota would
still kick the crap out of GM.

And, why is this? Well, GM claims it's all that health care costs
for it's pensioners. But the real truth is that the UAW over the
years has fought every attempt to roboticize auto manufacturing,
thus leaving the US manufacturers with old technology in manufacturing,
what requires a lot of human assembly line people.

Here's a great article that discusses this:

http://www.industryweek.com/ReadArti...rticleID=11781

What is going on today with places like the Chrysler Belvidere Ill
assembly plant, where the entire body shop is robotic, is what Toyota
and the Japanese automakers have been doing for years. GM isn't
doing this, because to do this means fewer autoworkers, and the
UAW won't stand for this.

People simply don't understand how fundamental the change in
modern manufacturing has become with the introduction of computers.
Consistent quality in manufacturing is a side benefit to removing
the human beings from the manufacturing loop, but the real benefit is
reduced cost to manufacture.

Ted

>
>
> Motor Trend's truck of the year is a HONDA!


Honda doesn't build a truck. I'm not sure what the Ridgeline is... but
its NOT a truck.

On Mon, 25 Sep 2006 12:54:42 -0500, Steve > wrote:

>> Motor Trend's truck of the year is a HONDA!
>
>
>Honda doesn't build a truck. I'm not sure what the Ridgeline is... but
>its NOT a truck. <snip>

It's also selling worse than the Nissan Frontier and that's NOT good.
Automotive News speculates that Honda will drop their "truck" line in
mid '07 due to low sales.

Steve wrote:
> >
> >
> > Motor Trend's truck of the year is a HONDA!
>
>
> Honda doesn't build a truck. I'm not sure what the Ridgeline is... but
> its NOT a truck.

I get it, everyone else is wrong and you're right.

With this logic, this has to be Charlie Nudo using yet another email
address.

CAINE wrote:

> Steve wrote:
>
>>>
>>>Motor Trend's truck of the year is a HONDA!
>>
>>
>>Honda doesn't build a truck. I'm not sure what the Ridgeline is... but
>>its NOT a truck.
>
>
> I get it, everyone else is wrong and you're right.
>
> With this logic, this has to be Charlie Nudo using yet another email
> address.
>

No, its just that you and you're alter-egos that keep posting all this
crap have just wandered into a Chrysler group.

Honda sucks. Almost as much as all you sock puppets.

Steve wrote:
> CAINE wrote:
>
> > Steve wrote:
> >
> >>>
> >>>Motor Trend's truck of the year is a HONDA!
> >>
> >>
> >>Honda doesn't build a truck. I'm not sure what the Ridgeline is... but
> >>its NOT a truck.
> >
> >
> > I get it, everyone else is wrong and you're right.
> >
> > With this logic, this has to be Charlie Nudo using yet another email
> > address.
> >
>
> No, its just that you and you're alter-egos that keep posting all this
> crap have just wandered into a Chrysler group.

Oh, so that's what makes it not a truck. I thought for a minute you had
some valid reason and knew something that other people didn't.

> Honda sucks. Almost as much as all you sock puppets.

Sure they do, that's why they have such high resale value, especially
compared to ANYTHING from the big 2.

So, you're Charlie or just a fan of overweight fools?

On 25 Sep 2006 12:13:31 -0700, "CAINE" >
wrote:

>
>Steve wrote:
>> CAINE wrote:
>>
>> > Steve wrote:
>> >
>> >>>
>> >>>Motor Trend's truck of the year is a HONDA!
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>Honda doesn't build a truck. I'm not sure what the Ridgeline is... but
>> >>its NOT a truck.
>> >
>> >
>> > I get it, everyone else is wrong and you're right.
>> >
>> > With this logic, this has to be Charlie Nudo using yet another email
>> > address.
>> >
>>
>> No, its just that you and you're alter-egos that keep posting all this
>> crap have just wandered into a Chrysler group.
>
>Oh, so that's what makes it not a truck. I thought for a minute you had
>some valid reason and knew something that other people didn't.
>
>> Honda sucks. Almost as much as all you sock puppets.
>
>Sure they do, that's why they have such high resale value, especially
>compared to ANYTHING from the big 2.
>
>So, you're Charlie or just a fan of overweight fools?

I AM CHARLIE NUDO! No wait he is or maybe he is ? Maybe Bill Putzy
is ! I cant tell anymore- I AM NUDO THE SCHIZOPHRENIC !!!