2009 Japanese Sales Totals

Is that similar to a closed mind?

 

Japanese people tend to be even more nationalistic than Americans - do you really think they'd buy GM products, even if they were available?

 

are you going to by a import?
beside chevy?

 

25%?! From 4? That's an incredible jump. What portion of those do you guess would be American, and what portion would be German?

 

It consistantly amazes me that you think bashing the competition is more fruitful than praising your own products. It just goes to show that you STILL don't have a product to be proud of to sell to those of us seeking to limit our OPEC funding.


As if the Japanese have a need for gas guzzling trucks! How many Tundra's does Toyota sell in Japan? Could it be that there is no market for guzzlers over there?

 

That's what you have traditionally sold. Gas is very expensive in Japan, which is why tiny cars and rice rockets are the norm over there. GM products do not match their market very well. Nor has GM been willing to foresee the US market moving towards efficiency, though all the signs were there. (could have something to do with all the board members with ties to oil companies)

You are right that Americans should lean towards American cars. But we're still waiting for one that accomplishes the goal of ending the money flow to OPEC. Till then, the Prius is the least of the worst option. I'd rather send my money to Japan than Saudi Arabia. I'd really like to keep it here in the US, but it's not possible yet.

Where's my damn Volt already?

 

You mean the EV2? You're not going to fall for that trick again, are you Charlie Brown?

Oh, but wait, hydrogen is just around the corner. :der:

 

sorry
its BUY.

japan buys a lot of own japanese cars.
but in the us there are a lot of americans that just buy US brand.

and GM is not builing cars that fit the japan market but japan is making cars just for the Us market.

you see.

 

I'm curious where you get that from. Are you Japanese? Is there any evidence of this other that just you saying it's so? I'm not asking for like peer-reviewed studies here, just soemthing better than some blog posting?

How about this (yeah, yeah Wikipedia...)?

Mid-size car - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I'm not trying to criticize you personally here, so don't take it that way. I just think it's interesting that people pull out the jingoism...blah,blah,blah before the practical considerations.

 

FYI to all,

The above number includes trucks, buses and K-cars.
Very few these vehicles (other than passenger cars) are imported to Japan.

2009 Japanese passenger car sales data
total: 2,473,492
top 5
Toyota: 1,238,137
Honda: 461,736
Nissan: 407,142
Mazda: 137,063
Subaru: 75,492

total imports: 166,820: 13.5%

Japanese people like to buy attractive and value for money cars, and the top 5 imports are...
VW: 37,928
BMW: 29,090
Mercedes-Benz: 28,740
Audi: 16,171
BMW Mini: 11,002

Top 5 American brands are...
Ford: 3,049
Dodge: 1,267
Cadillac: 1,017
Jeep: 1,010
Chrysler: 890

Ken@Japan

 

I don`t think people realize just how incredibly expensive it is to own most imported cars in Japan.

Not purchase price, not "because they`re imported" - but just regular ownership tax. As far as I know, this type of tax doesn`t exist in the US.

It is calculated based on the size of the car, size of the engine, weight of the car, etc (I forget all the things that effect the amount)... And also there are engine and body checks to make sure the car stays within the regulations.

Most imported US cars are not designed for this, and they fall in very very high tax brackets. The taxes and the physical size limitations (of roads and parking) have nothing to do with shutting out foreign cars. Regardless of the quality of the car, most people are simply not going to buy cars that will continue to cost them very high ownership taxes each year.

If there were cars designed by US companies that followed all the Japanese regulations and that were designed to also fit into the normal tax brackets, etc, there would be more of a chance. But in general they do not so the only people buying US cars are people who want a US car at any price and do not care about things like annual car tax, not fitting in a lot of parking spaces, etc.

US companies tend to whine and say they should be exempt from the regular criteria, and that judging their cars by the law is unfair, etc... But that is silly in my opinion.

 

You think cars are bad... wait till ya check out motor bikes...



I'm just saying...