~Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media
What went wrong?? A question that needs to be answered & understood. We all know about the downfall in the US auto market… what actually led to such a downfall??
Well, there was a time when US car markers were hovering over the Automobile Industry. Auto companies like the Ford, GM, Chrysler were the top car manufacturers creating a wave in the market. But one of the drawbacks which can be pointed out as a major reason of these ruling companies for loosing there market share is… the American cars were not considered as fuel efficient.
Ooppz!!
Is this where the setback is??
...not really!!
Its true that the customers generally look for cars that are Fuel efficient i.e. cars that give them more mileage…but this was not the only reason…so go ahead!!
In the last decade or so, the Automobile Industry has seen a boom because of which there was a hype in their sales. But after September 11th, 01 and subsequent Iraq and Afghanistan war, fuel prices went up dramatically. As a result, the demand for fuel efficient cars increased.
This was the point of time when the Japanese and the Korean manufacturers entered the market…
Ok…a complete transformation of the scenario!!
These players entered into the market and gave the customers what they wanted…Although they may not necessarily produce cars that were as robust as the American cars, but they came up with new innovative ideas & inventions that fulfilled the customers need. Hence in the last few years, we have seen manufacturers like Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Suzuki making a great place for them.
The main reason for the success of these new grids of cars were:
* They had futuristic designs.
* They had advanced technologies.
* Most importantly – Fuel efficient.
SMART GUYZ!! isn't it??
Now we all know that Toyota has surpassed GM not only worldwide but also in America…
"It takes 8,460 bolts to assemble an automobile, and one nut to scatter it all over the road".
by...unknown
I think there are more reasons for the downturn in the auto market in the US and other countries one of the major being the recession hit economies and the financial crunch
ReplyDeleteYeah its true.....very true. The western manufacturers like the American and the German manufacturers underestimated the potential of the asian giants(Japan). The western manufacturers were giving more emphasis on luxury and power, whereas the Japanese manufacturers did the right thing by giving more emphasis on style, design, technology and most importantly fuel efficiency...
ReplyDeleteWell I saw a comment on recession being a major reason.......I do agree but not totally.
This has been happening from a much longer time......recession comparatively is of recent origin.
Japanese manufacturers have been giving them stiff competition from the last decade or so.
Of course recession can be termed as the ultimate blow.......
There was a time when GM was the undoubted leader of the chart......but Toyota now is the undisputed king and the other asian manufacturers like Mitsubishi, Honda, Hyundai, Suzuki, Nissan etc are also catching up.