[speedzak]

It seems like it is time!

Ford has lost it's 3rd spot as the biggest car manufacturer in the world. It had to happen some time soon as Ford was loosing all it's charm slowly and it was shedding off it's strengths one by one. Now, there are some rejuvenation steps being taken by the company but it has lost it's spot!

The 3rd spot now goes to VW which has sold close to 3.31 vehicles in 6 months.

To quote from World car fans website;

The VW Group announced that they had sold 3.31 million vehicles in the first six months of 2008 representing an increase of 7.2 percent, it puts them healthily ahead of the their American counterparts who sold 3.22 million vehicles during the same period.

Now the only concern is whether it will go further down or climb back!

Another interesting piece is;

Volkswagen will likely have their sights set on their next target – General Motors. The American giants who until recently had held the number 1 spot announced earlier that they had sold 4.54 million vehicles up to the end of June this year, a drop of 3% compared to the previous year. Toyota's strong position at the top of the table continues with a 2.2% increase to bring total sales to 4.8 million.

More details and info can be found here:
Volkswagen Overtakes Ford as World's Third Largest Automaker

[Amien]

Ouch, this should be a wake-up call for the americans. Im not sure as to what they can do to avoid this state though...

[Path_Finder]

This was anyway waiting to happen – given that the American manufactures have been only able to gain limited ground in the developing/new economies which today contributes to most of the growth. The Japs and European manufacturers have a upper hand. Now with the recession in US this will happen even faster.

[kuttapan]

Originally Posted by Amien

Ouch, this should be a wake-up call for the americans. Im not sure as to what they can do to avoid this state though...

America is undergoing a transition. Nobody wants the gas guzzling SUV's trucks anymore and you can see 100's of them sitting on the dealer's lots, with 10,000$ off stickers, still no one will touch them, even with a bargepole. Ford F150 was a favorite with the Yanks, not anymore.

Americans could take a leaf out of the European's books, by embracing smaller cars and shedding their aversion to diesel. I hate to see the big SUV's running 4.7l - 6 litre petrol V8's which will give anywhere between 6-15 mpg in city - Such a waste !!

With the bread and butter models of the home grown manufacturers not in favor, and with the economisers always going for Toyota/Honda/Nissan, the American manufacturers have to completely revamp their portfolio - and fast. While they are at it, they could do well to do some lobbying and bring the prices of diesel down, thereby encouraging diesel vehicles.

The writing is on the wall.