U.S. car sales to hit 15 year lows

I think the fact that fewer people are buying light american cars is just another sign of just WHO is getting hit by the economic downfall. This may be a little stereotypical, but if you ask me, a blue collar worker who buys a new vehicle is much more inclined to buy an american car than a white collared worker would be. It isn't a knock against white collared workers, I just believe that blue collared workers appreciate "labour" jobs moreso than white collared workers, and will be more apt to support their nation and fellow blue collars. where as the white collar workers deal with a more "global" business, and may not value it as much.

When ford sells 200,000 fewer small vehicles at a time that they have (from the consumer's point of view) a completely new light vehicle line-up, and gas prices are as high as they are, it kind of points to the fact that blue collar workers are getting screwed hard, and just arent buying cars, where the white collared workers are returning their tundras and ridgelines and getting camrys and accords because they're more affordable in these hard times.

I never understood the whole mentality of a blue collar support buy American when it came to cars. They continued to support an industry that was not building what was needed. The quality of American cars were substandard to that of say a Japanese car of similar price, and they were willing to spend there hard earned money on a lower quality car. Did not make sense. One of my employees has a son who works in a union job. She told me if he drove a foreign car to work they would vandalize it.

It is a pretty low class of people that would do such a thing.

It is your money and do with it as you see fit, but in my mind when you buy American just to please your blue collar brothers in arms you are an idiot.

renton; ever heard of loyalty? you support american (and canadian too :D) workers who (despite what you've heard) DO work hard. Why support japanese workers? it isn't the workers fault that the products are crap. and the company won't make a better product next time around if everyone stops buying their products because they'll just fold. It's why I don't care too much about people who buy foreign cars. THEY are the people who are encouraging the american brands to do a better job, while people like myself are die hard ford fans, and support the company enough to keep them through.

It's like the "Support the troops" sentiment. you support the troops even though you want to kill the president with your bare hands for even starting the war. but you support the troops. they work hard, and they don't exactly have the best jobs in the world. they fight an unpopular war... etc.

There are people out there who will buy the cheapest, the "nicest".. the most "stylish"... a lot of these things are perceptive issues.. and if it happens to be foreign, well, the american companies and engineers arent doing a good enough job. thats fine.

the only thing that kills me are the people who will never consider an american car. they have no brand loyalty to toyota or honda,.. not even a geographical bias like japanese over european. they just wont consider american. it's insane. americans simply make the best trucks. no question. and apparently you're better off buying a CTS than a lexus GS or ES or something like that.. but some people are convinced that american brands will never make anything good. and that's simply not the case. every brand has their strong cars and their weak cars.

True every brand or companies have there strength or weakness. But the less educated the country the more often that consumers will follow the tradition or the word of mouth rumors. meaning Mercedes for luxury and Camry for reliability from A to B. As for the USA there are more educated people about the auto industry then lets say Australia because of their multicultural problem. These educated ones know how to buy cars and will not follow traditional patterns and make their decision on current car models or facts.

SO let the marketing begin

right.. exactly.. I don't have a problem with people who have a bias.. so long as they can admit it. I know I've got an extremely unfair bias for ford.. but hey.. i can drive other cars,.. look at them.. and say "yeah thats nice.. i wont buy it.. i know i wont.. but its nice"... thats why if you EVER hear me say that I would buy a car that isnt ford.. you know full well its a very rare accomplishment for that car. Would I ever buy a ferrari? hell no.. cause I'd prefer the ford GT. good luck actually getting one.. but still. I'd love a strict 2 seater compact sports car with an 4 banger and RWD.. but I don't like the Mx-5 enough to buy a ford cousin. I don't even think I'd buy it if it said ford on it. it would have to look a little more... fordish.

sorry for constantly turning things to ford.. just saying.. I've got a friend who loves toyota and mazda. everything else to him is crap, including ford, which is funny cause mazda and ford share so much engineering. he loves the 6, but hates the fusion.. calls it a POS.. he's kinda annoying like that. the worst thing about him is that he thinks he really knows whats going on in the auto industry.,. and knows that toyota and mazda are the pinacle of quality in "budget" brands.

I am only loyal to myself. I don't care who builds my car, only that it is built well. Unfortunately, the UAW and the American car industry have priced themselves right out of the market. The legacy costs incorporated into a Ford or a GM car have made the cars too expensive to build. Therefore cheaper materials and designs have to be used to get the car to be priced competitively.

I am not saying the American workers work hard or not, we all work hard in this world . I just feel that my dollar is better spent on the best product I can afford, and right now that is either a Honda, or A Subaru, or a BMW.

I like to be around excelllent engineering, right now I am thinking that that is not going to come from some American car. Sorry loyalty that is undeserved is blind loyalty.

Chris,

While everyone is entitled to their own opinion I think some of your ideas are as outdated as many of the domestic cars that are produced and sold here.

Your logic is be loyal and buy a sub standard car just to support a domestic firm? That is crazy!! I work hard for my money and I buy the best product at the most competitive price, car or any other product for that matter.

Another point is, what is domestic and import anymore? That line has become so blurred. Many domestic car manufacturers now make cars in Mexico and China (Chevy Equinox sold in US uses engines made in China) and many Import firms like Toyota, Honda and BMW produce vehicles here in the US employing thousands and thousands of US workers. How do you deal with this as a "buy american only"?

The bottom line,. if the domestics produced decent cars that are reliable, long term quality and safe as many of the imports I'd buy one.

exactly, i agree with craigs, im not going to buy an american car that has sub-par quality just to support the american brands, i want the most for my money and if that comes from europe or japan, so be it.

I never thought I would say this, but I agree with Chris! (wow that took alot)

To add further fuel to the fire and to back up the blue collar worker, I am sure thay scratch there heads and wonder why a white collar guy would buy a Lexus ES when he can save some coin and buy a Camry. My personal favorite though is people who buy Audi's why? buy a VW and save thousands or in the case of the Porsche and Audi SUV you'd save tens of thousands, two for one in some cases.

Maybe the idiot is the white collar guy but then again its his/her money to waste.....

why buy and audi instead of a vw, HELLO wheels on walls, you buy one over the other because of quality and options.