Improved products have lead to a revitalization for U.S. automakers. An example is General Motor's Volt, which won The North American Car of the Year award at last week's Detroit auto show. Tom Stephens, Vice Chairman of GM, holds up the award after it was announced. (Paul Sancya / The Associated Press)
It wasn't long ago that American consumers were wondering whether Detroit's troubled auto companies would survive, much less prosper again.
Decades of decline and financial pressures had finally caught up with the beleaguered Big Three. Now, with Ford leading the way, Detroit is recapturing the interest of many consumers who ditched domestic brands in favor of Asian and European models.
"Ten years ago, the younger, more cutting-edge buyer was mostly interested in cars from Japan and Germany," says Art Spinella, president of the consulting firm CNW Research in Bandon, Ore. "That is changing and changing fast. Detroit all of a sudden seems fresher than the competition."
Ford is adding features like AppLink capability to its SYNC system. It applies voice control to smartphone apps including Pandora Internet radio. It's shown here on a 2011 Fiesta. (Ford)
This revitalization has little to do with the government bailouts. People are considering U.S. cars because of their improved quality and fuel economy, and high-tech features that are equal to or better than those offered by overseas manufacturers.
"Detroit is building its comeback the old-fashioned way -- with competitive products," Spinella says.
Sales of Ford, General Motors and Chrysler vehicles climbed 11 percent through August, compared with an 8 percent increase for the overall market. Both GM and Ford are profitable for the first time in years, in part because of improved sales and higher sticker prices that customers are increasingly willing to pay.
"Our consideration rates have grown remarkably for our industry," says James Farley, Ford's global marketing chief. "The reason is we can now show customers the cold, hard facts that our vehicles are world class."
Big Three makes gains
- Proof of improved quality emerged last summer in the influential "initial quality study" of new cars conducted by the research firm J.D. Power & Associates.
- For the first time since the study was inaugurated 24 years ago, the domestic auto brands posted better scores on quality than imports. Consumers reported 108 problems per 100 vehicles in domestic brands, versus 109 for imported models.
Recent surveys of consumers by CNW Research show a marked change in attitudes toward Detroit by younger buyers in particular. Three years ago, more than 40 percent of new-vehicle shoppers under the age of 30 said they would never consider a Detroit-made product. Now that figure is 32 percent and dropping steadily.
When Ryan Kelso, a 28-year-old information systems analyst, began looking for a car to replace his Toyota Corolla, he looked first at the Nissan Altima, Honda Accord and Subaru Legacy.
But Kelso, who lives in Napavine, Wash., kept coming back to the positive reviews he had read about the new Ford Fusion midsize sedan.
"I was prepared and ready to buy the Altima, but the Fusion just got really good marks from all the reviews," he says. "So I decided to test drive the Fusion, and I could tell immediately that this was a really nice car."
Kelso, who calls himself a techie, was impressed by the voice-activated phone in Ford's Sync multimedia system. "I thought, this is pretty cool," he says. He has a 2010 model Fusion on order.
Farley beamed at the description "pretty cool," but says that nuts-and-bolts quality and a positive driving experience were the bigger reasons shoppers were considering Ford products.
"The cool factor in design and high technology is critical," he says. "But it's the fundamental, underlying trust that people have in our vehicles that is the foundation for shopping our brand."
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