Fighting depression

[toesuf94]

So I am tooling to work in my Tahoe and suddenly realized a startling fact - out of the 10 cars that were around me on a three lane highway - me and a Pontiac GP were the lone GM cars!!! 2 out of 10! Toyotas were everywhere - including a new white Turdra Doublecab! This is the heartland, and for this many Toyota's on the road in this area it just makes me sad. It doesn't help that the big GM dealers in this area are owned by the same company and they are all A-holes to deal with...but I hate to see this many Japanese cars here in what was a GM stronghold.

Anyone else out there having the same problem?

[Delta Force79]

Anyone else out there having the same problem?

Yeah since the '80's

[Drew Dowdell]

Chevy is the best selling brand in Pittsburgh 7 years in a row.

[makfu]

So I am tooling to work in my Tahoe and suddenly realized a startling fact - out of the 10 cars that were around me on a three lane highway - me and a Pontiac GP were the lone GM cars!!! 2 out of 10! Toyotas were everywhere - including a new white Turdra Doublecab! This is the heartland, and for this many Toyota's on the road in this area it just makes me sad. It doesn't help that the big GM dealers in this area are owned by the same company and they are all A-holes to deal with...but I hate to see this many Japanese cars here in what was a GM stronghold.

Anyone else out there having the same problem?

So there is good news and bad news. On the coasts, especially in NY Metro, there has been a noticeable uptick in GM product visibility, especially new products. Whereas about 2 years, all we saw was rental grade hardware, we now see considerably more retail vehicles. I have been especially surprised by penetration of the lambda vehicles (notably the Enclave), the new CTS and in the last week, a number of Malibu’s. Right now, I would say GM (in a purely unscientific guess) is operating at about 15% of the retail market in my area, which (again, unscientifically) seems to a big improvement.

The bad news is that in the traditional markets, GM (and the other two Detroit manufacturers) are still losing share at a pretty frightening rate. In your market, GM probably only has about 20% of the retail market, way down from 5 or 6 years ago.

For GM, a best case scenario is US retail market share stabilizes in former strongholds and they start regaining ground on the coasts whiles continuing their strong international performance. The most important thing is not a return to 60% market share but a return to having the best vehicles on the market. It is that latter point that GM appears to have finally figured out.

-Mak

08 CTS FE3 with 6 on the floor.

[Cory Wolfe]

GM still owns redneckland, PA... if that counts for anything.

[A Horse With No Name]

The sad thing is that we are losing the "young" more than anybody. Guy down the street has a pristine 70 SS396 Chevelle that is a 40,000 mile creampuff that would make you cry. He owns multiple Monte Carlo SS cars from the 80's, and Impala SS and a few Mustang GT's for balance. However...

Son in the family is 17-18 and won't have anything to do with American cars, only messes with Honda's. When the sons friends come over they have E-Clipses, Civics, Toyota MR2's, etc, but none of his friends want to play with American cars at all.

I would like to see Son's POS Accord go against Daddy's SS396 on the dragstrip though...junior might have a "conversion" experience.

Chris

[Robert Hall]

That's reality...about the only domestics I notice en mass in my morning commute are SUVs (lots of Jeeps, Tahoes, Explorers, Escapes, etc) and a few crew cab pickups. Otherwise, the typical commuter fare around here are import crossovers, SUVs, sedans (Accords, Camrys, Corollas, Civics, Priuses, Audis, BMWs, etc).

[toesuf94]

Yeah, I have seen that before...the Honda 1.8 is the small block of the kids these days. I don't understand the whole fart pipe coffee can exhaust or the crappy cars- but to each his own!

The saddest thing I saw was back about 13 years ago (maybe more) when Hot Rod went to a Chevron crusher lot and bought from the original owner before the oil company could a 1967 Camaro 6 Cylinder that the guy was going to crush because his kid did not want the car - that he wanted a Honda!!! The guy was going to destroy a 67 that was in decent shape because his kid did not want it. Thankfully, it was saved and is now known as the Hot Rod Crusher Camaro. http://www.sleeperbu.com/crusher.html Bought it for $700!!!

[Camino LS6]

Where I live things are a bit strange. Rather than the split being along brand lines, it is more about price/trim level. If it's high end in its class, we have plenty around. If it is entry level, it is a rare sight. I'd say the brand mix is fairly even with a few models here in mass quantitiy. The best example is likely GM full size SUVs from base Tahoe to loaded Escalade, there seems to be at least one in every driveway. The lambdas seem to be taking over as well. The other car you will see all day everyday is BMW (of every type). Common as dirt.

[BigPontiac]

Where I live things are a bit strange. Rather than the split being along brand lines, it is more about price/trim level. If it's high end in its class, we have plenty around. If it is entry level, it is a rare sight. I'd say the brand mix is fairly even with a few models here in mass quantitiy. The best example is likely GM full size SUVs from base Tahoe to loaded Escalade, there seems to be at least one in every driveway. The lambdas seem to be taking over as well. The other car you will see all day everyday is BMW (of every type). Common as dirt.

That common-ness allows me to drive as fast as I want -- stealth. Particularly when I have to go to NJ.

[toesuf94]

The drive home made it all better! It was snowing all afternoon, so the roads were quite slick tonight. Yes, we still had an overage of Toyotas - but one of them was STUFFED into the side of a Corolla that had just spun on the snow...which was followed by a plethora of other Japanese cars all finding out what the term 'fender bender' means. Good news was that nobody looked to be hurt as it was all pretty low-ish speed. Yeah, there were a couple of American cars in there, but it does the heart good to see a Tacoma PUNTING a Corolla into the guardrail! I smiled as I watched them ping-ponging off each other in the snow.

Sadly, there was the same GP from this morning in the median, stuck in the snow.

Bonehead move of the night was the guy in the 2002 Camaro that decided to cross the no-mans land between the highway and the offramp THROUGH the 4+ inches of snow. He decided to go BACK on the highway accross a bit of road that no Camaro should be on. He proceeded to do four complete left to right to left to right to left to right - POLE! POLE! POLE! Left right left tank slappers (missed the light pole by about 8-inches) and got it straight again - never once did he let off the gas!!! Rooster tailed all the way through it! Absolutely the bonehead move of the night!

[daves87rs]

While out today, I've noticed quite a mix of everything....quite interesting-that's for sure...

[XP715]

Saw a Jeep Cherokee destroy an Acura Integra in front of my university yesterday; best part was it was COMPLETELY the Integra's fault (dumb bitch on a cellphone turning the wrong way into a one-way across the road without looking)! The Jeep was out a cornering lamp and a headlight surround; that's it! That made my day!

I remember last winter in the university parking lot I saw some funny Toyota on Toyota action too: it was a bitterly cold day and this fat chick in a Scion xB opens her door as fast as she could and hits the cheap plastic side mirror of the Corolla parked next to her so hard that she dents her door and watches as the mirror of the Corolla snaps off and goes skyward and landed on the hood of the Camry parked diagonally across from it, once again, with a nice dent as it came down. It was one of the funniest things I'd ever seen! What I wouldn't give to have that moment on videotape, along with her dumbfounded reaction as she looked around to see if anybody had seen it. I did, and I laughed so hard that tears ran down my face!

That day I was thankful for the abundance of Japanese cars because they were all available to get their asses kicked by the carelessness that most of their owners display each and every day.

[toesuf94]

Saw a Jeep Cherokee destroy an Acura Integra in front of my university yesterday; best part was it was COMPLETELY the Integra's fault (dumb bitch on a cellphone turning the wrong way into a one-way across the road without looking)! The Jeep was out a cornering lamp and a headlight surround; that's it! That made my day!

I remember last winter in the university parking lot I saw some funny Toyota on Toyota action too: it was a bitterly cold day and this fat chick in a Scion xB opens her door as fast as she could and hits the cheap plastic side mirror of the Corolla parked next to her so hard that she dents her door and watches as the mirror of the Corolla snaps off and goes skyward and landed on the hood of the Camry parked diagonally across from it, once again, with a nice dent as it came down. It was one of the funniest things I'd ever seen! What I wouldn't give to have that moment on videotape, along with her dumbfounded reaction as she looked around to see if anybody had seen it. I did, and I laughed so hard that tears ran down my face!

That day I was thankful for the abundance of Japanese cars because they were all available to get their asses kicked by the carelessness that most of their owners display each and every day.

I am beside myself picturing that mirror spinning in it's trajectory toward the Camry hood...classic moment!!!! I bet it was in super slow-mo when it happened! Hillarious!

[K.C.]

Saw a Jeep Cherokee destroy an Acura Integra in front of my university yesterday; best part was it was COMPLETELY the Integra's fault (dumb bitch on a cellphone turning the wrong way into a one-way across the road without looking)! The Jeep was out a cornering lamp and a headlight surround; that's it! That made my day!

I remember last winter in the university parking lot I saw some funny Toyota on Toyota action too: it was a bitterly cold day and this fat chick in a Scion xB opens her door as fast as she could and hits the cheap plastic side mirror of the Corolla parked next to her so hard that she dents her door and watches as the mirror of the Corolla snaps off and goes skyward and landed on the hood of the Camry parked diagonally across from it, once again, with a nice dent as it came down. It was one of the funniest things I'd ever seen! What I wouldn't give to have that moment on videotape, along with her dumbfounded reaction as she looked around to see if anybody had seen it. I did, and I laughed so hard that tears ran down my face!

That day I was thankful for the abundance of Japanese cars because they were all available to get their asses kicked by the carelessness that most of their owners display each and every day.

Great telling of that experience. I could picture it all happening in sequence.

[daves87rs]

Saw a Jeep Cherokee destroy an Acura Integra in front of my university yesterday; best part was it was COMPLETELY the Integra's fault (dumb bitch on a cellphone turning the wrong way into a one-way across the road without looking)! The Jeep was out a cornering lamp and a headlight surround; that's it! That made my day!

I remember last winter in the university parking lot I saw some funny Toyota on Toyota action too: it was a bitterly cold day and this fat chick in a Scion xB opens her door as fast as she could and hits the cheap plastic side mirror of the Corolla parked next to her so hard that she dents her door and watches as the mirror of the Corolla snaps off and goes skyward and landed on the hood of the Camry parked diagonally across from it, once again, with a nice dent as it came down. It was one of the funniest things I'd ever seen! What I wouldn't give to have that moment on videotape, along with her dumbfounded reaction as she looked around to see if anybody had seen it. I did, and I laughed so hard that tears ran down my face!

That day I was thankful for the abundance of Japanese cars because they were all available to get their asses kicked by the carelessness that most of their owners display each and every day.

That would have been great...

[Sixty8panther]

Here in Massachusetts I know all too well the sight of a sea of crappy imports.

Hondas & Toyotas litter the highways here like bird$h! under powerlines.

[caddycruiser]

GM still owns redneckland, PA... if that counts for anything.

Hah...just found this thread, and originally being from Punxsutawney, that is SO true.

Actually, as I've referred to at least our town for years..."Blazer/Jimmy capital of the world". It's definitely a "Are you a GM or Ford person" kind of place...with very, very few anything else thrown in. Couple VW's that a select few have, a Toyota and Honda here or there...but little else.

[jcgable]

I believe Chevy is still the bestselling brand in Tucson. They are about neck and neck with Toyota here though. It's a bit more depressing up north in Phx....