It’s a war.
The weapons aren’t guns but rather Lincolns and Cadillacs and Dodges and Hondas and Toyotas, which is somewhat ironic since it can take six to eight weeks to get a Lincoln or Cadillac or Dodge or Honda or Toyota, but only takes five days to obtain handheld artillery.
But it’s a war nonetheless. The U.S. automakers are fighting to regain the market share they lost when the Japanese stepped in and claimed more than a third of it.
It appears the U.S. automakers are winning, regaining market share while the Japanese are losing it-for three reasons:
– The value of the yen has forced the Japanese to raise their prices sharply several times in the last several months;
– The quality of U.S. vehicles has reached a par with the Japanese;
– U.S. automakers are introducing improved products in the markets in which they are strong and new vehicles in those segments in which the Japanese were the powerhouse.
The Japanese are hurting at both ends of the scale-low-cost economy cars and high-priced luxury cars. The $2,000 per vehicle advantage the Japanese once enjoyed in the economy-car segment has become a $2,000 disadvantage. The just-introduced $8,975 Dodge and Plymouth Neon, in tandem with the successful Saturn from General Motors Corp., are helping focus buyer attention on low-cost American-made cars.
At the same time, the Japanese have found themselves the bearers of sticker shock with the Lexus LS400 swelling to $50,000 plus in 1994 from $35,000 in 1990. Ditto Nissan’s Infiniti Q45. Strange how price becomes an equalizer, especially when the domestics are coming up with new luxury models priced below those of their Japanese rivals.
Under the guise of the Contempra concept car, Lincoln-Mercury is giving showgoers a peek at its 1995 Continental, complete with a 32-valve, 4.6-liter, V-8 that will compete with the Lexus LS400 and Infiniti Q45. Buick is spotlighting its upcoming redesigned Riviera coupe that will vie against the Lexus SC300 and SC400 coupes and Olds its all-new Aurora luxury sedan that rivals the Lexus ES300 and Infiniti J30.
Cadillac has its LSE sedan, an entry-level luxury sedan coming from Opel of Germany, that will join the fray against the $30,000 to $35,000 Japanese luxury cars in 1996 and Chevrolet is taking the top-and the wraps-off its ’94 Camaro convertible.
The show vehicles that are on sale or soon will be provide clear evidence of where the industry is headed and what you will be driving to get them there.
Wherever the Japanese are strong, the U.S. automakers are coming up with new and cheaper models to bring consumers back into showrooms. In the subcompact market, the Dodge/Plymouth Neon and Saturn take on Toyota Tercel and Corolla and Honda Civic. And this fall, Chevy will restyle and enlarge its Cavalier and Pontiac its Sunbird-and give it a new name, Sunfire.
In the compact segment, Chrysler brings out the Dodge Stratus and Chrysler Cirrus this fall and has a Plymouth version that will bow six months later to take on Honda Accord, Toyota Camry and Nissan Altima. Ford won’t be left behind with its Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique replacing Tempo and Topaz.
Toyota has a hot new Celica convertible coming in the fall, so Pontiac is countering with a drop-top Firebird and Camaro.
In the truck segment, Toyota threatened dominance of the domestics with its T100 pickup a year ago. T100 sales bombed but the domestics aren’t looking for the white flag. Dodge brought out the T300 Ram and Ford will redo is full-size F-series for 1996 and is giving showgoers a peek at the changes coming in a concept called Power Stroke that’s on display at the Chicago Auto Show.
The domestics also dominate in the sport-utility segment. Chevrolet is unveiling its restyled S-10 Blazer complete with driver-side air bag, and GMC its redesigned S-15 Jimmy sport-utility at the show while Oldsmobile is debuting its 1996 Bravada that comes out in the fall of 1995 after a planned one-year departure from the market in the 1994 model year.
Though the domestics own the mini-van segment, they aren’t standing still. Ford has its new front-wheel-drive Windstar, which goes on sale in March. It will be followed in less than a year by Chrysler’s next-generation Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager and GM’s next-generation Chevy Lumina, Pontiac Trans Sport and Olds Silhouette, which reportedly will have sliding doors on both sides for 1996.
Toyota usually has led the Japanese charge into a market dominated by the domestics. Toyota was first with a mini-van, the Previa, and big pickup truck, the T100. It is using the auto show to spotlight its next target, the full-size family sedan, by unveiling the Avalon, which will be built in the U.S. at Toyota’s Georgetown, Ky., plant, which builds the Camry. Avalon will be built off the Camry platform and compete with the family sedans from GM, Ford and Chrysler, though initially only with a V-6 engine.
In addition to that new Avalon, Toyota’s Lexus division gave a facelift to its SC300 and 400 coupes. Mazda has a new top-of-the-line Millenia luxury sedan; Honda has the Passport sport-utility vehicle to roam in the home of Explorer, Blazer and Jeep; and Isuzu is spotlighting its XU-1 concept off the Trooper platform that’s reportedly thisclose to production and features gull-wing doors, fold-up/down running boards and side impact air bags in the driver/passenger armrests.
In the sport coupe market, Mitsubishi is unveiling a new Eclipse and plans to add more appeal to its exotic 3000GT sports coupe by giving it a retractable hardtop in the fall, when the 1995 Spyder bows. Chrysler is responding by adding an Eagle Talon sport coupe made at the same Diamond-Star factory as the Eclipse and will add a hardtop GTS coupe version of its Viper open-top roadster in 1996.
To take some edge off the Avalon, Chevy is marketing the Impala SS, a high-performance sedan with two more cylinders than the Japanese offering.
Other evident trends:
– Air bags, anti-lock brakes and side-door impact beams are in demand and traction control is getting there, while belts that fasten around your torso automatically have become endangered.
– Low gas prices have made economy cars even more invisible. You won’t see many high-mileage minis at the auto show.
– Greater emphasis on unique styling, so much so that the domestics now are the leaders in design while many of the Japanese start to look alike.
– Attempts by carmakers to reduce dependence on incentives by offering discount option packages.
– Leasing being promoted more heavily by manufacturers and dealers. New-car prices have gone so high that without the often lower-cost lease, many consumers couldn’t afford a new car.
– Automakers continue to prepare for 1998 and California’s demand for zero-emission vehicles with such concepts as the Mercedes front-wheel-drive Vision (not to be confused with the Eagle bearing that name), a compact four-passenger commuter that can run on gas or battery power.
– The Big Three domestics now are run by Alex Trotman at Ford, Robert Eaton at Chrysler and Jack Smith at GM, who seem to genuinely get along and none of them tries to upstage the others. That’s a departure from when Henry Ford II ran the company bearing his name, or Lee Iacocca was running Chrysler and toying with the idea of running the country. More important, the new industry leaders have become friends with Washington after decades of adversarial relationships. It’s a united front, and obviously united against Japan.
And amid all this seriousness, there are a few lighter trends. The 1995 Dodge Stratus and Chrysler Cirrus is offering buyers the choice of ashtray/cupholder or two cupholders and the ’95 Chevy Lumina sedan and Monte Carlo coupe will come with a ping-pong ball in the gas tank that floats to the top when you fill up, forcing the tank nozzle closed to prevent splashing gas.
