American-badged vehicles produced by the Detroit Big Three composed just 42 percent of the new car sales market during the past three months, down from 47 percent a year ago. That decline in sales is due in part to the credit crunch and suffering economy because the Detroit-based automakers have had a harder time selling to higher-income shoppers who aren’t as affected by the global decline.
J.D. Power’s Power Information Network released a study showing that Dodge, Chevrolet, Ford, Pontiac and GMC were all below the “non-luxury” median household income average for automakers. Saturn, Hummer, Chrysler and Mercury were all below the median household income for all nameplates. The only domestic brands to be above average were luxury brands – Lincoln and Cadillac – as well as Buick and Jeep.
By comparison, Detroit’s biggest mainstream rivals from Japan were almost uniformly above the average median household income. Only Scion, Hyundai, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Kia and Suzuki were below average – and of those, only Hyundai and Nissan pose serious threats to Detroit. Toyota, Honda, Mazda and Subaru were all well above average in the study.
“I think the credit situation is impacting the domestics more than the Asians,” Tom Libby, senior director of industry analysis at the Power Information Network, a subsidiary of J.D. Power and Associates, told the Detroit Free Press.
Detroit’s three high-volume brands, Chevrolet, Dodge and Ford, all have income levels $5,000 or more below the average for the industry, Power Information Network says. Not surprisingly, credit ratings are, on average, lower for lower incomes than they are for higher incomes.
Each of Detroit’s Big Three posted a market share decline for the three month period of July through September. GM was down 1 percent to 21.4 percent of the market, Ford and Chrysler down 2 percent each to 11.6 percent and 8.9 percent, respectively. Honda saw the highest gains – an increase of 2 percent to 13.5 percent over last year’s numbers. Nissan was up about 1.4 percent, too. Toyota actually lost one tenth of a percentage point but is up 0.4 percent for the year.
10/27, 2:16 PM
posted by:
A4
maybe if lincoln didnt entirely suck they could get some of that “higher-income” market share, i know caddy has the right idea
10/27, 2:18 PM
posted by:
A4
and i think its less the credit ratings that are killing the domestic versus the foreign, its the fact that consumer confidence in the “Big 3″ is so low and just the stigma of that alone is driving sales down. A year ago this consumer confidence wasnt nearly as bad as it is now.
10/27, 2:24 PM
posted by:
Borat
“Detroit’s three high-volume brands, Chevrolet, Dodge and Ford, all have income levels $5,000 or more below the average for the industry, Power Information Network says.” – how do you digest this information?
1) domestic car buyers are dumb & dumber?
2) domestic car buyers simply lazier bunch then foreign car buying public?
3) all of the above?
4) can anyone explain?
10/27, 4:18 PM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
Let’s see… $5,000 is roughly $13.70/day. That about works out to a case of Bud and a pack of Camels. I don’t need no fancy statisicals from dat dere Jay-Dee Power to figure out who’s buying whut.
10/27, 5:00 PM
posted by:
mayer_ray_nagin
Since more millionaires drive F150s than any other truck, I wonder what Ford would be without the F150.
10/27, 9:53 PM
posted by:
Get Real
Years of fantastic quality and beautiful cars are paying off.
Gosh, I wish this was 1968 again and not 2008.