Ford CEO Alan Mulally and U.S. sales chief Cisco Codina told dealers and journalists Wednesday, Jan. 3, that the Fusion beat the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry in a consumer research event. Car and Driver magazine’s business unit conducted the event in mid-December, a source said.

Ford plans to tout the Fusion’s win over the Camry and Accord in the ad campaign. The automaker will provide details to journalists and dealers today.

Actually, the real prescription is not about tariffs, subsidies, or corporate patriotism. It’s the PRODUCT! Competition among brands is keener than I can remember. If the product ain’t there, financial support in the form of incentives, rebates, and bankruptcy will only mask the symptoms of a dying patient.

To the Big 2.5: Give me a positive visceral reaction to what you put on 4 wheels, and I’m a customer. I’m waiting…..

The tariff assessed by the US on imported trucks is 25%. The tariff assessed by the Japanese is zero.

We had several years of “voluntary” quotas that favored the Big 2.5. We had the clampdown on “grey market” imports that was engineered to kill off the importation of used German cars. We had the bailout of Chrysler. We had the Supreme Court rule that the power of eminent domain could be used to take land away from homeowners in Flint in order to make way for a GM plant.

So yes, the Big 2.5 are certainly no strangers to corporate affirmative action. We shouldn’t kid ourselves about the volume of handouts given to Detroit.

Also, what odo you mean by no normal industrial cycle in Japan? You mean losing market share for 30 years to imports is normal?

You honestly don’t think automakers in the US receive subsidies?

one person swearing off a brand, however irrationally, would not bring it down. If alot of people do, for whatever reason, it will fail.

People always have problems with various brands, perhaps the problem with the domestics is that they have had lots more time to screw up than the more recent import brands.

But it does seem that the domestics have lost their collective mojo.

Japan has no tariffs on car imports. What it does have is a cutthroat market in which even its own car companies don’t turn a profit. (Last I checked, only Toyota turned a profit on its Japanese-market sales, and I doubt that this situation has changed.)

We need to be honest: if the Big 3 can’t produce cars that we want, why would we believe them to be any more competent in serving a market such as Japan? Japan has small roads, high fuel prices, a lack of parking, and high taxes on engines over 600cc’s, which give the US automakers little chance to compete with their larger, bulkier, gas burning behemoths. Japan is also a right-hand drive market, and the American habit of shipping LHD cars to countries where this puts the steering gear on the wrong side of the car is not going to fly in Japan.

The only foreign players who do well in Japan are those such as BMW, that have strong premium brand appeal there, just as they do with us. You can’t blame the Japanese for rejecting products that simply don’t work for them and have no appeal to their tastes.

They have only had what – 30 YEARS to catch up to the Japanese. What did they do instead?

How many non-Japanese brand autos are sold in Japan? Answer, almost zero. Japan has the most closed home market of any western country, by far! It is obvious to anyone with a brain in their head that the trading relationship between Japan and the US is one of the most unfair, one-sided exchanges in the world. It’s very hard not to get you rear-end kicked when the game is rigged.

That’s the hell of it. It is covered in Business-101.

“Very true. Information that should be noted. Who knows? 20 years from now I may be driving a car or truck built by the Taliban. I can see their ad campaign now- we declare jihad against Toyota!”

We’ll see about that. There are a few other things that will have to change first. Y’know, on second thought, I think I’ll just leave that sleeping dog lie.

Very true. Information that should be noted. Who knows? 20 years from now I may be driving a car or truck built by the Taliban. I can see their ad campaign now- we declare jihad against Toyota!

Interestingly, one half of the family couldn’t bear the thought of buying Japanese as they were on the run from them during World War II. The other half was under occupation the whole time and actually has a favorable view of the Japanese. In the end, quality won out over decades of animosity.

Never during that education was I advised that studying the mistakes of American companies was somehow unpatriotic or treasonous. Generally, the big-picture lesson was that some companies do a better job than others, and that it is wise to emulate the good ones and avoid repeating the errors of the bad ones.

It is no more unpatriotic to criticize General Motors or Ford than it is to complain about a bad meal in a US restaurant or a rude clerk in a US hotel. As informed consumers, it’s our right to decide where to spend or not spend our money, and we have every reason to spend it wisely.

The greatest favor that the Big 3 automakers could give themselves would be to take these criticisms to heart, accept them with grace, and act on the lessons that they provide. The feedback is useful, and listening to what a would-be consumer is telling you, free of charge, sure beats paying a consultant $400 per hour to hear the same thing.

Back in the late fifties, a small Japanese company called Toyota that had had some success in its home market began selling cars in the US. They sold very few of these cars to Americans — fewer than 1,000 units — and realized that something was amiss. So they temporarily withdrew from the market, and by studying US marketing and sales techniques, and consumer tastes, were able to develop a new car that they believed would appeal to American buyers.

That was the sort of reinvention that Detroit requires today — stepping back, taking a hard look at what they’ve done wrong and fixing it, and then hoping that they can earn back the trust that they have lost. Success is not a right, it must be earned, and if 30+ years of earning bad reputations have finally caught up with them, then so be it, they must learn from their mistakes and correct them. Blaming the consumer is a strategy that is guaranteed to fail.

Now, I don’t intend to insult anyone at all. But, you have got to be kidding. Right?

Finger: The new Malibu better be twice as good as the last one, because the last one wasn’t a good buy at $17.5k.

I guess we will have to wait and see. And hopefully make an unbiased decision.

And why do you say the current Malibu is not good at $17,500?

Finger: The new Malibu better be twice as good as the last one, because the last one wasn’t a good buy at $17.5k.

My father was diagnosed with cancer shortly after buying a new Ford Windstar. This POS was falling apart while my mother was running my father from clinic to clinic for his treatments. Transmission and head gasket problems that Ford and the dealer at first refused to acknowledge and then when they did, they could not fix properly. My father died of his cancer and my mother’s suffering was exacerbated by the problems they had with (their) van. If a company could die and burn in hell, I would wish it upon Ford.

For everybody who says that it’s un-American to be angry with an American company, I say that’s silly. And I urge you to re-read the whole paragraph and especially the boldfaced text that I quoted above.

When a person believes that another person, or even an ENTIRE COMPANY, is responsible for a loved-one’s needless suffering and maybe even a pointless, early demise due to the extra stress, I can assure you that the resulting anger will be deep-seated and visceral. And maybe even eternal.

We do hold grudges. Sometimes deservedly so! I’m sure Rohman is not the only one with such experiences. This should be a “Business-101″ lesson.

My own experiences with GM were similar. A broken, leaky heater core on the way to a friend’s funeral. A malfunctioning computer on a very necessary “get out of town” trip after another death in the family, and the two months that it took to finally get it fixed.

Countless times I was late for work because I had to have one or another of my GM cars towed, and/or had to wait for it for more than the day that I was told the service department would need to keep it.

Dealership service departments that have to be CONSTANTLY checked up on, to make sure they were actually STARTING the work on my car by midday, that they actually performed the service, and to make sure that they put everything back together correctly.

And countless times I would still get the car back and something CRITICAL had been incorrectly done, improperly assembled, replaced with the wrong part, or not done, assembled, or replaced at all!

The list goes on and on and on. It just took me longer than some others to swear off my poisonous automotive relationship. I suspect that some in my family still haven’t forgiven me for not “buying American.” But I don’t care, because at least I am alive to tell my story.

Yes, I believe that The General would have eventually killed me, and maybe one of my family members, if given enough time and tries.

So while I don’t wish any company to “burn in Hell” as Rohman does, I can certainly understand his fire and anger. And yes, I am holding my own grudge against GM.

By the way, that’s a pretty picture of the downtown Detroit skyline.

Hmmm, but not pretty enough for me to want to go back there, either to live or to visit. You can’t fool me, I know better. Plus, it’s January in that city! Brrrr!

Yup, this is a valid example.

Ar-Pharazon knows full well why I deleted his post. TTAC always sends an explanatory email to the author when a comment is edited or deleted.

In this case, the comment was deleted because of the following statement: "Because most posters here are not seeking the truth, but only a place to vent their bias."

This comment is in direct violation of our stated policy. We do not allow any comments that flame TTAC, its authors or fellow commentators.

Ar-Pharazon has been served notice that any further remarks of this nature will result in an immediate and irreversible ban on his participation in this website. And that includes any comment on this post.

Again, still, I invite anyone who wishes to discuss any apsect of our editorial policy to email me at robertfarago@thetruthaboutcars.com.

UPDATE: As Ar-Pharazon has ignored my instructions on this matter, he has been permanently banned from posting on this site. 

I would not consider a Saturn L a car to “lust” after either. In fact, I would not expect a car that I lust after to anyway be associated with superior economy. Also, i would do a little research in checking VW reliability and warranty.