LeftLaneNews
Should GM and Ford use trendy regions as their crystal ball?

Should GM and Ford use trendy regions as their crystal ball?

Doron Levin of Bloomberg says GM and Ford have missed out on trends -- and participated in dying ones -- because they don't pay attention to trendy costal regions like Beverly Hills and Scarsdale. Levin explains how large SUVs gained popularity years ago, and by the time U.S. automakers made them their priority, they were already going out of style. "In the 1990s, GM and Ford invested heavily in new SUVs derived from pickup-truck chassis. Alas, these models no longer excite consumers as they once did. At the same time, under-investment by GM and Ford in new car models allowed Japanese and German carmakers to draw still more customers," writes Levin. "Buying a GM car today is like being the only one at a party who doesn't get the joke," said Ron Glantz, a fund manager from Tiburon, California, and a former auto analyst.