"Buy America" Still Important to Buyers According to J.D. Power

[Joey D]

The J. D. Power Escaped Shopper Study examines why customers look at one model of car, but ultimately buy another. The result: when it came to choosing a domestic or an import vehicle, shoppers chose one or the other for different reasons.

According to J.D. Power, almost 80% of new-vehicle buyers limit their considerations to only domestic or only imported cars. (A recent Wall Street Journal piece on Detroit's perception gap said 54% of buyers are "import intenders," who only consider foreign cars.) Buyers who chose American generally did so because they simply didn't want to buy an import, with price -- the lack of incentives, say -- being a secondary consideration. Import buyers cited issues with interiors, reliabibility, gas mileage, and resale value as reasons for not buying domestic.

[Source: J. D. Power]

Coming to the same conclusion that the Wall Street Journal did, a J. D. Powers research manager said "These findings point to continued difficulties for the Big Three in Detroit as they try to win back some of the market share they lost to the imports. It also suggests that too few U.S. consumers have caught on to the fact that cars and trucks offered by Detroit automakers are in many cases as good, if not better, than their rivals from Asia and Europe." The verdict was that Detroit can either spend more money to get customers, or "find vehicle specific opportunities, such as styling or promoting a positive dealer experience, that can have an immediate impact on consumer perceptions of the brand." Detroit, you have your mission, should you choose to accept it.

I think if you limit yourself to just American car or just import cars you are an idiotic consumer. I mean if you say you will never buy an American car but say go out and buy an Ohio made Honda Civic wouldn't that make you a hypocrite? Or saying "buy American, support America" and going out and buy a Chevy Impala built in Canada also make you a hypocrite?

 

[TopHat]

[QUOTE="Autoblog]The J. D. Power Escaped Shopper Study examines why customers look at one model of car, but ultimately buy another. The result: when it came to choosing a domestic or an import vehicle, shoppers chose one or the other for different reasons.

According to J.D. Power, almost 80% of new-vehicle buyers limit their considerations to only domestic or only imported cars. (A recent Wall Street Journal piece on Detroit's perception gap said 54% of buyers are "import intenders," who only consider foreign cars.) Buyers who chose American generally did so because they simply didn't want to buy an import, with price -- the lack of incentives, say -- being a secondary consideration. Import buyers cited issues with interiors, reliabibility, gas mileage, and resale value as reasons for not buying domestic.

[Source: J. D. Power]

Coming to the same conclusion that the Wall Street Journal did, a J. D. Powers research manager said "These findings point to continued difficulties for the Big Three in Detroit as they try to win back some of the market share they lost to the imports. It also suggests that too few U.S. consumers have caught on to the fact that cars and trucks offered by Detroit automakers are in many cases as good, if not better, than their rivals from Asia and Europe." The verdict was that Detroit can either spend more money to get customers, or "find vehicle specific opportunities, such as styling or promoting a positive dealer experience, that can have an immediate impact on consumer perceptions of the brand." Detroit, you have your mission, should you choose to accept it.[/QUOTE]

I've highlighted what I find stupid.


1. American interiors are not bad at all anymore! the new Taurus, Malibu both have really good interiors, and the Lincoln MKZ's is perfect (IMO)

2. Reliability? What? The only horribly unreliable american cars I know of are older Cavaliers, and the Luxury segment.

3. Gas mileage? The new GM Hybrid trucks get 21 MPG City? The Corvette can be coaxed to get 30 on the highway? Impala SS... 27 mpg highway too! The Taurus gets good mileage, and the Aura Greenline is good for a mild hybrid too.


(Hmm..... Note how I don't include Chrysler! The LX twins, they hold resale value pretty damn well, but they're horribly unreliable, and their interiors are... iffy.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

I've highlighted what I find stupid.

Well, the interiors aren't that bad. I'm really not that picky, but maybe that's because I don't have $20,000 to spend on a car. But the fuel mileage could be a little better especially in the econobox section. I'm not sure about that reliabibility bit.

 

[Azuremen]

In the econobox section, the domestics still fail at life for gas millage, and reliability.

But Joey makes a good point about GMs made in Canada and Honda's made in Ohio, etc.

 

[YSSMAN]

Unlike Ford and Chrysler there is still a pretty good amount of GM vehicles made in the United States, the only problem is that the parts often come from suppliers in Canada or Mexico (but not always). We build six different vehicles down the road in Lansing (CTS, STS, SRX, Outlook, Acadia, Enclave), the G6 is built in Lake Orion, and the full-size trucks are still built in Detroit. A pretty good number of the Epsilon cars are built down in Kansas, not to mention the NUMI cars in California, and obviously the 'Vette down in Bowling Green.

"Buy American" is something that will be around for a long, long time, no matter where you are. Although buying a Toyota or a Honda does indirectly pay workers in the US, when you buy a GM, Ford or Chrysler you're paying for workers here in America through an American company...

...And trust me, MICHIGAN NEEDS THE MONEY RIGHT NOW.

 

[Tornado]

the domestics still fail at life for gas millage

The Cobalt 2.4 gets 2 more combined MPG than the Rabbit. And the Rabbit is a VW, so it will break immediately after the warranty expires. The Cobalt 2.4 also only gets 1 combined mpg less than the Mazda 3 out of a larger and considerably more powerful engine in a far heavier car. The Cobalt 2.4 gets equal mileage to the Kia Spectra, again out of a larger and considerably more powerful engine in a far heavier car. The Cobalt 2.4 gets 4 more mpg than the Subaru Impreza, which is of similar size, power, displacement and weight. The Cobalt 2.4 gets 3 more combined mpg than the Scion tC, out of a more powerful engine in a considerably heavier car. The Cobalt 2.4 gets 2 more mpg than the Scion xB out of a more powerful engine in a notably heavier car. The Cobalt 2.4 gets 4 more mpg than the Volvo S40, which has identical size, weight and displacement. The Cobalt 2.4 is down by 1 combined mpg to the Nissan Sentra, which is a smaller engined, much lighter car.
The Ford Focus 2.0L adds 1 mpg to the Cobalt's combined mpg. The Caliber 1.8L ties the Cobalt's combined mpg rating.
In fact, the only cars that dramatically exceed the Cobalt that are foreign is the Civic 1.8 and the Toyota Corolla 1.8, one of which weighs 400 pounds less and the other of which weighs over 600 pounds less, and both of which are way down on power in comparison.

Try again.

 

[MistaX]

A good car is a good car no matter where it's made.

A bad car is a bad car no matter where it's made.

So who cares?

 

[JCE]

A good car is a good car no matter where it's made.

A bad car is a bad car no matter where it's made.

So who cares?

+rep (if the forum would let me) Ladies and Gentlement this was quoted for truth.

 

[YSSMAN]

In fact, the only cars that dramatically exceed the Cobalt that are foreign is the Civic 1.8 and the Toyota Corolla 1.8, one of which weighs 400 pounds less and the other of which weighs over 600 pounds less, and both of which are way down on power in comparison.

Try again.

Have those two been re-tested for the 2008 EPA tests yet?

 

[Tornado]

Have those two been re-tested for the 2008 EPA tests yet?

That was using the EPA estimated 2008 mileage, which typically turned out to be very accurate for most of the other cars. But lets put it this way: There is no way that the Corolla is going to be anywhere near threatened by any of the cars, and the Civic has a large enough buffer zone for error as well.

 

[Azuremen]

The Cobalt 2.4 gets 2 more combined MPG than the Rabbit. And the Rabbit is a VW, so it will break immediately after the warranty expires. The Cobalt 2.4 also only gets 1 combined mpg less than the Mazda 3 out of a larger and considerably more powerful engine in a far heavier car. The Cobalt 2.4 gets equal mileage to the Kia Spectra, again out of a larger and considerably more powerful engine in a far heavier car. The Cobalt 2.4 gets 4 more mpg than the Subaru Impreza, which is of similar size, power, displacement and weight. The Cobalt 2.4 gets 3 more combined mpg than the Scion tC, out of a more powerful engine in a considerably heavier car. The Cobalt 2.4 gets 2 more mpg than the Scion xB out of a more powerful engine in a notably heavier car. The Cobalt 2.4 gets 4 more mpg than the Volvo S40, which has identical size, weight and displacement. The Cobalt 2.4 is down by 1 combined mpg to the Nissan Sentra, which is a smaller engined, much lighter car.
The Ford Focus 2.0L adds 1 mpg to the Cobalt's combined mpg. The Caliber 1.8L ties the Cobalt's combined mpg rating.
In fact, the only cars that dramatically exceed the Cobalt that are foreign is the Civic 1.8 and the Toyota Corolla 1.8, one of which weighs 400 pounds less and the other of which weighs over 600 pounds less, and both of which are way down on power in comparison.

Try again.

Quality, truly. Except most people don't care about power to weight, etc. They just like those numbers.

If you compare apples to apples, the XRS to the SS, well, the XRS is just a little slower in a straight line and gets about 7mpg MORE on average, tested figures not EPA magic numbers.

On average, a domestic does worse in MPG than a Japanese import. And are you quoting EPA figures or actual tested mileage? And I need to check if the EPA has started using their new system yet, or if they are doing their old setup.

EDIT: All right, the 2008 system, good! Stupid distractions while I am posting kicking me in face...

 

[Tornado]

And are you quoting EPA figures or actual tested mileage? And I need to check if the EPA has started using their new system yet, or if they are doing their old setup.

I was quoting far-more-relevant and realistic EPA new numbers and EPA estimates for the new system.

 

[YSSMAN]

On average, a domestic does worse in MPG than a Japanese import. And are you quoting EPA figures or actual tested mileage? And I need to check if the EPA has started using their new system yet, or if they are doing their old setup.

Yes and no, but more often than not with the newer models, its a very small difference from car-to-car. My guess is that as GM and Ford offer up more and more of their newer technologies in more and more of their "average" vehicles, their overall economy will go up significantly, and may in fact surpass that of Toyota and Honda. I may bank money on the new Malibu getting a better rating than the Camry this time around, particularly the 6-speed equipped models.