In article >, > wrote:
>GMs problem is primarily a PR problem and the survey backs that
>up. What they were doing ten to five years ago is hurting them
>today. They need only convince todays buyers, of what we in the
>industry already know, that the vehicle they and Ford are
>building TODAY are among the finest available on the market

Er, I've been hearing them say that for nearly 25 years now. "Really,
the cars we build *now* are much better!" You can only do that so long
before people stop listening. (As for me, I'll start paying attention
when the Consumer Reports long-term reliability survey figures for Ford
and GM consistently stay up with the best Japanese manufacturers. Those
manufacturers were still well ahead of them on that measure, at last check.)

>New vehicle buyers in the US replace their vehicle with another
>new vehicle in three to four years. The majority of those that
>roam the NG are USED vehicle buyer, not NEW vehicle buyer, their
>opinion of the used vehicle they bought does not mean a hill of
>beans to todays new vehicle buyers, in any event.

What are those frequent new car buyers going to do with the cars they
replace? Unless they want to collect them on their lawn or keep expanding
their garages, they're going to want to sell them or trade them in. And
what will they be able to get for them? That depends on how much those
used vehicle buyers are willing to pay. Which means that new-car buyers
*should* care about how fast their cars depreciate (which is quite fast
for many GM and Ford models), if they care about keeping their overall
auto expenses down.

You might as well spend a little more up front for a better-built, more
reliable car that isn't going to lose its value as fast, whether you're
planning to resell it in a few years or keep it until the wheels fall off.

(Or, if you think that GM and Ford have had an undeservedly bad rep, then
the smart move to save money is buy one of their cars at the 3-4 year mark
for cheap. If they really are reliable, you should then be able to
keep them for many more years, and save big bucks. But as for us,
we've been happy with our now-16-year-old Toyota, and will probably get
something fairly similar when it's time to replace it.)

John Mark Ockerbloom
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