As a result, even today the status of automakers and their hundreds upon hundreds of tiered suppliers continues to change on a whim. But amidst all of the uncertainty, it appears as if one thing close to certain has emerged from the rubble: General Motors and Ford Motor Company are now in a position - albeit not of their doing of wishes - to gain a significant amount of market share as Japanese automaker struggle to recover.
"The adjustments reflect our belief that the supply of vehicles from Japanese (automakers') auto plants will be severely constrained over the next few months, leading to dealer inventory levels that cannot support the current sales pace," said Lanche. But Lanche doesn't expect the unserviced demand to simply go away, instead, it will be fulfilled in 2012 when capacity returns.
In the meantime, U.S. automakers appear to have emerged largely unscathed from the damage to suppliers in Japan, where as major players such as Toyota, Honda and Nissan are facing major obstacles in the coming months, and possibly years. Lanche predicts that both GM and Ford could see market share gains in the realm of 2-3 points, each, which will obviously come directly out of the market share held by Japanese automakers.
For example, some predictions place Toyota's vehicle output done as much as 550,000 vehicles in 2011, leaving other automakers in a position to cater to customers that otherwise would have purchased a Toyota vehicle.
While the exact redistribution of the automotive industry in 2011 and 2012 is obviously yet to be seen, it seems unavoidable at this point that at least some shoppers will shift from Japanese makes to American models.
References
1.'Quake impact to...' view
