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Quote:

Originally Posted by purelux

The worst enemy of domestic brands is the perception that american cars are crap. I've talked to many people who are dead set serious against domestic companies. Despite that many of the lower end econo cars espically are now in many cases a colaboration of multiple companies. Or even many models even high end say for example daimler-chrysler. Or like gm with their honda engine or the mazda 2.3 in the focus. Many buyers are definatly not "car people" and do little if any research. I pointed out to one of my co-workers that the top three in jd power for 05 were porsche, lexus, lincoln. With some expensive imports like mini at the wrong end of the list. People call cars like lincolns old people cars but how many would rent a honda civic, or corolla limo? Its all about advertising and perception many buy on the statement a vehicle says for them. Like mini-vans now common used to be (hippie) VW mainly) pickups for construction, or country folks (now used as "family vehicles") And those "" huge cars used to be called muscle cars. Many buy not what they want but what they think is popular. While some do buy on need or research many are set before and aren't even disuaded after an unimpressive test drive. People are convinced that they need an import and you would have to pull a wallmart on the imports to unseat them from peoples minds. By this I mean to sell at a loss with a better or equal product to force out the competition, or to get your product out there. Like toyota losing 2K on each prius to get them out there. Car and driver did an awesome article addressing many issues. That the prius is the only big hybrid seller due to its look unlike the rest of the line (green image), not just a hybrid conversion, like honda does. They also address that the fuel econonmy of these hybrids are not meeting econ expectations if driven the same as before. That the battery capacity will decline as it ages and what to do when these battery packs are shot. Also the $4K->7K replacement cost of these mfg rated at only 100,000 miles. Now this isn't at 100% this is just a functional battery. But they continue to sell even though the prius they figured even with incentives would need to be driven at least 67,500 miles per year for 5 years vs a corolla or have gas prices over $10 a gallon to equal out the overall cost of ownership and upkeep. But its imported so its ok, they are stalling out at 35 & 65 mph but its imported so its under the rug. When the focus had a similar problem in its first US model year due to heat effecting a electrical componet I've still heard it being mentioned.