i really think so. we got some pretty exciting cars to come out real soon. GM currenty has the malibu and the cts which are doing pretty well, all new saturn line up, and the new camaro will be out soon. ford as an exciting looking new taurus on the way, new fusion in the works, feista hitting american shores, redesigned mustang, and a all new rwd sedan in a few years. then we got chrysler with the challenger out soon but not really much else. so besides chrysler do you think the japanese car companies should start getting worried?

oh yeah how dare i leave out the G8

don't know if they should get worried quite yet, but the american public should start getting excited.

Yea I'm with tex, especially since I've found that in most cases that it takes almost 20 years from the point that a brand turns around for good or worse for the general public to get what they are about. Saturn has made the most drastic change, but even so a lot of people go "eww, saturn? They make shitty cars" not knowing that basically their whole line up has be revised like crazy and now includes Opels, lol, to me anything that was saturn is now gone and now we got a GM SUV/Opel car fusion.

I know I'm excited for what the American brands are bringing out.

Oh I think American car companies are near a full turnaround... I think the buying public still has quite a ways to go before accepting that though.

http://www.autoextremist.com/

Peter DeLorenzo, the Autoextremist.com, has a Rant on this today. Radical thoughts that we've all mentioned before, here and there.

I think GM and Ford have made vast improvements, but:

The American companies, to truly succeed, need to start putting their stock in efficient vehicles, now. Start working out how you are going to bring diesel and other efficient technologies here. As fuel prices rise, and the value of the dollar sinks, plus CAFE regs take effect, fuel efficiency is going to be the most important thing.

MPG sells. Practically every time I've ever checked our '05 CR-V AWD, it's averaged 28 MPG. Best tank, 30 MPG, worst tank 26. 28 is the general rule. Prior to this, we owned an '03 Explorer 4X4. It averaged 17 MPG; it's best tank was 17.7 and it's worst was 15.

The CR-V seats everyone much more comfortably, and it's remarkably more refined as far as ride, noise, etcetera, go. Plus, with just the latter part of the 60/40 rear seat folded down, I can fit two 15" speakers, my power amp, bass amp, microphones, mic stands, speaker stands, instrument stands, cables, CD boxes, guitar, mandolin, fiddle, and still seat three or four comfortably. All while getting 28 MPG. If I folded the whole backseat down, I could fit much more yet and still have room for two.

The only thing better for me as a person who needs the "utility" aspect of a "sport utility" is the diesel CR-V sold in Europe. It gets around 50 MPG. Just to point this out; the Ford Explorer was the best selling SUV for 15 years. The CR-V took over that title last year, and the Ford slipped quite far down on the list.

To continue, our Yaris hatchback, which averages about 38 MPG (it has the automatic transmission), can fit everything I listed above excluding the 15" speakers and still seat two very comfortably. Again, only thing better would be a diesel version, which I'm confident would achieve at least the upper 50's for MPG.

As carheads, we're all excited about the G8, Mustang, Challenger and Camaro. Enthusiasts cry out for a big new, RWD Ford. But lets be honest. That's just about the worst thing they could do right now.

Name one car that GM or Ford sells that gets over 35 MPG.

You can't. The Focus gets 35 MPG on the nose, and the Aveo doesn't even get that much. Bring over the Ka, Fiesta, Euro Focus, S-Max, the Corsa, Vectra, Agila, Zafira...

THEN we'll talk performance cars. We have to be realistic here.

who says we have to be realistic. besides the point of the eco bost was power and mpg right?

who says we have to be realistic.

CAFE.

i think that is when we will get a boom in plug in hybrids

The American car companies have come a very long way from where they were before. GM is making very competitive, if not class leading, cars now when before a lot of what they offered was at best a rental special. FoMoCo is turning it around and still has a ways to go yet. Chrysler, on the other hand, isn't looking too good. Still have cheap cars with some questionable reliability. Shame really.

GM and Ford now need to keep building on that. GM needs to keep pumping out cars that capture people's attention and are very competitive. Build cars that don't just win the "initial quality awards" like Ford likes to tout. Build the cars that win the five year reliability awards. Cars that will make the loyal Toyota buyer walk into a Chevrolet dealer and buy one confidently. Its going to take a long time as GM, Ford and Chrysler (if they can survive) brought this on themselves but if they stick to it and don't go back to their old ways of bean counting, they really could get back to throwing the punches. They won't be the powerhouses that other companies cowered in fear of but they would be back in action.

I think GM and Ford have made vast improvements, but:

The American companies, to truly succeed, need to start putting their stock in efficient vehicles, now. Start working out how you are going to bring diesel and other efficient technologies here. As fuel prices rise, and the value of the dollar sinks, plus CAFE regs take effect, fuel efficiency is going to be the most important thing.

MPG sells. Practically every time I've ever checked our '05 CR-V AWD, it's averaged 28 MPG. Best tank, 30 MPG, worst tank 26. 28 is the general rule. Prior to this, we owned an '03 Explorer 4X4. It averaged 17 MPG; it's best tank was 17.7 and it's worst was 15.

The CR-V seats everyone much more comfortably, and it's remarkably more refined as far as ride, noise, etcetera, go. Plus, with just the latter part of the 60/40 rear seat folded down, I can fit two 15" speakers, my power amp, bass amp, microphones, mic stands, speaker stands, instrument stands, cables, CD boxes, guitar, mandolin, fiddle, and still seat three or four comfortably. All while getting 28 MPG. If I folded the whole backseat down, I could fit much more yet and still have room for two.

The only thing better for me as a person who needs the "utility" aspect of a "sport utility" is the diesel CR-V sold in Europe. It gets around 50 MPG. Just to point this out; the Ford Explorer was the best selling SUV for 15 years. The CR-V took over that title last year, and the Ford slipped quite far down on the list.

To continue, our Yaris hatchback, which averages about 38 MPG (it has the automatic transmission), can fit everything I listed above excluding the 15" speakers and still seat two very comfortably. Again, only thing better would be a diesel version, which I'm confident would achieve at least the upper 50's for MPG.

As carheads, we're all excited about the G8, Mustang, Challenger and Camaro. Enthusiasts cry out for a big new, RWD Ford. But lets be honest. That's just about the worst thing they could do right now.

Name one car that GM or Ford sells that gets over 35 MPG.

You can't. The Focus gets 35 MPG on the nose, and the Aveo doesn't even get that much. Bring over the Ka, Fiesta, Euro Focus, S-Max, the Corsa, Vectra, Agila, Zafira...

THEN we'll talk performance cars. We have to be realistic here.

Couldnt agree more on the CRV statement, i recently helped my mom get a 07' CRV, and i borrowed it for a day took it up the coast to pick some parts up, and averaged 29mpg, it is truly a nice little nimble car :)

i think the next big step for the american autos is to get the media off the toyota high horse. to anyone though that wants to think that american cars are still unreliable i want to laugh in your face, i got 74K on my car now and all i've had to do is replace the brake pads.

I agree to a certain extent with the idea that the new product coming out is exciting and seemingly better. My concern is that the whole house needs repair. In order to get lean and effiect froma development perspective, I still think that GM needs to shed some divisions, Ford as well. The business model has changed and they need to get with the program instead of trying to adapt it. While I'm big on nostalga & tradition, who does it really serve to have Buick, Pontiac, Saab, GMC or Hummer? What reason is Mercury still here? While the Malibu/Aura is great, how much does it cost to have 4 to 5 different bodystyles on one platform to reach the same market? Can these monies saved my having, say two designs, be used to increase the quality by additional engineering? If GM could concentrate on Chevrolet & Cadillac and Ford on itself & Lincoln, how much better could they be and how much quicker could they turnaround designs to be truly competitive over the long haul?

i got a feeling that mercury is about gone. when there was seom talk about a new rwd sedan it only mentioned ford and lincoln. i think right now pontiac has a lot more potential then buick does. i think now you could replace the large buicks with a new caprice.