It seems to be a trend to me. About every 30 years American manufacturers hit a snag, they stumble and then they get up and go after it again. It is pretty predictable, and it seems to move with the condition of the economy.

However, their recent troubles are a creation of the fuel market and the products they painted themselves into a corner with. I'm not anti-suv, however they hinged their hopes on suvs. The American public couldn't get enough of them... until gas prices started to go up and then the love afair was over. And the domesitc manufacturers were caught with their pants down; or rather they were caught with no compelling sedans or fuel efficienct vehicles. Many consumers started moving toward foreign manufacturers because they continued to keep their sedans fresh and relevant and fashion forward.

Ford has the right idea, return to manufacturing compelling sedans. Ford, now owning Volvo and all their safety technolgoy and their AWD system and with control of Mazda and using some of their platform designs as starting points, has some relaly nice sedan designs. The 500/Montego is my second choice behind Prius, and it is AWD to boot. The Freesyle has been a darkhorse success, built off the same platform as 500. Fusion/Milan is nice and sporty and priced right and most folks who stumble upon it think it is a really nice car.

Chrysler is doing well becaue they have some brains from MB working with them, not that they were doing badly before Damlier came along and bought them out.

GM is the one I wonder about. I hope they survive. I don't like their designs or products, but I still hope they survive. I don't think that going Chapter 11 is a good idea.

However from a operating costs standpoint, what is killing the viability of domestic auto manufacturers is the unions.

It has been said:
Hybrid drivers come in 3 flavors, greenie, techie and cheapie. Pick any 2.
2005 Prius, Melinium Silver over gray, package 5 (AI)