Mark Tapscott discusses whether Ford and GM's increase in quality could actually be hurting their sales, because people hold on car longer. But I think people keep cars longer because of the increased costs. What do you think? Head on over to Tapscottbehindthewheel, new link at side.
Mark also does the "Carnival of Cars" Blog round up. I've been fortunate to be featured on past posts. Another good resource for interesting blogs.
4 comments:
I’ve often wondered that myself. The cars and trucks that Ford builds now are so much better than what they built 10 years ago or longer. My 2001 F150 has 78,000 miles on it and my 2001 Mustang only has 37,000 miles on it and they both still look, run & drive like the day I bought them. I purchased my wife a used 2001 Expedition and it had 99,000 miles on it. We’ve had it for over 6 months now and it has been great. We will probably put another 100,000 on it before we get rid of it. When the vehicles are as expensive as they are and will run this long, you have to keep them for a long time to justify buying them new. I know I won’t be in the market for a new Ford for at least 2 years because Ford built my current vehicles too good. Maybe that’s why Ford is working on the residual values of the newer cars and pushing leases so much now, that way people would replace their cars more often…hmmm
Art
Art, you may be proving this article partially correct. I have my Ford Ranger now for 7 years, the second longest I've kept any vehicle and I plan on keeping it at least another 5. Why not, it's one of the most reliable vehicles I've ever owned.
But I'm hoping to buy a new Ford withing the next 2 years, if I can ever get the money situaiton under control. But that's my problem.
I tell you one thing, if that Reflex came out this year, it would be budget be damend, that's how much I like it.
I think all the car companies have responded to this by making the cars ever larger, with ever more gadgets, and redesigning them more often so people always want what's new and cool. But that sort of environment would definitely hurt a manufacturer who had a reputation for good, safe, reliable cars that all looked pretty much the same (like Volvo up until a few years ago) until they went for a new look and got into the arms race (more like Volvo now?).
Mike, you bring out a good point for a new discussion. Had you heard that with all of the new electonics being incorporated in cars that electrical systems will be bumped up from the current 12v (14 really) to 42v ?
Just think, what that will mean. Two tiers of electronic accessories from the aftermarket and increased complexity for repair shops. I've been reading for several months on many different web sites, that this will be a reality by the end of the decade.
The more complex the systems, the more problems manufacturers will have. So it's unique time in automotive history. The last time there was such a change was in the 50's when cars changed from 6v to 12 v.
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