Could it be perhaps that it's because every country but us is coming out with more fuel efficient cars?

Should have stuck with that wonderful EV1, GM...

Cars build in the usa fall apart before their time, I need a towtruck!!!

I can't agree more with honestjohn--they do fall apart before their time.

Before they even fall apart (before their time:) aircon's down, powerlock can no longer lock all doors, kicking noises from wiper, burnt radiator circuit boards, power window's jammed.

At those times, we actually don't need tows yet--but eventually we will.

I don't wanna start dissing American cars but how come european and asian cars rarely go through those stuff one after another.

I come from Europe and NOBODY here is buying american cars. American cars are totally outdated, primitive technology raging all the way to 60s, bad finish, cheap materials, no electronics, poor brakes, bad suspension, high fuel consumption, high pollution (you Americans dont really care about pollution) and bad crash test results. Allthough your cars are bigger and cheaper, we prefer quality over size.

Our domestic manufacturers have always looked to gimmick's to make quick buck. Once the foreigner's started making truck based vehicles Ford and GM lost thier last refuge.
I have watched this trend for a long time now and it's just about too late for them to change. At the time they had the market almost all to themselves they sqandered the money on huge salaries for incompetant management that was leading them down the wrong path. They fought against anything and everything that had to do with better milage and safety. Now they reap the harvest of that battle.
We the consumers and those with manufacturing jobs pay the price. Most of the vehicles they make should never have been made.
It's hard to justify Imperialistic wars for oil when a big percentage of the vehicles people are driving getting such bad mileage.

lvica is A MORON TO SAY THE LEAST, You only wish you could Live in this COUNTRY and not that piss poor area you live in. Get A LIFE SCUM

JJ: Thanks for that erudite and thought-provoking post.
Actually with commetns like that you're probably the CEO of Ford.

American cars are just plain crap, save for a few, like Mustang. Ivica is right JJ, i'm guessing you've never seen cars like the european Focus.

The only manufacturers that have a leg to stand on regarding reliability (in *cars*) are Honda, Subaru and Toyota. BMW and Mercedes are some of the worst engineered POS's to hit the planet since Tony stopped fixing Alfa's on our shores. Then there is Alfa, Fiat, etc... so the Euro cars are actually *worse* than American cars (much worse). I have a BMW, and an Alfa - so that's not a "supposition". You either learn to be a mechanic, as I have with my Alfa, or you fund an extra spot at your favorite shop (and you do get a "favorite" shop).

Mazda is just now beginning to stop leaking oil with every revolution of the rotary engine and Nissan has had quality issues as well (and I've blown up representiatives of both). As far as trucks go, US made trucks are much better in terms of reliability/toughness... of course they are also huge and suck gas. Still, they were the best "cars" we ever owned because they took the abuse of farm life (like getting dunked in the pond, duststorms, heat, lots of abuse, etc). The only Japanese truck worth it's salt was their small truck (the Tacoma now).

The reason American auto makes are doing poorly is design based (the designs suck on the whole), and PR momentum - not so much actual reliability at this point... outside of Chrysler - who had the misfortune of being bought by the least reliable, least well engineered carmaker on the planet since 1990 (Mercedes).

American auto manufacturers really need to stop attempting to ape the Japanese (who try to ape Euro make styling), and start making distinctive cars again (with appropriately cool interiors).... and yes, I'd love for Ford to fix whatever brain hemmorage they've had and send the Cosworth style Focus over here.

The writing was on the wall in the 70s, and the management of the big three were too busy concentrating on each other to see it. Smaller, much more fuel efficient cars started coming in from Japan, and people started buying them rather than the heavy gas-guzzlers that Detroit kept pumping out. I don't have a problem with the old gas-guzzlers, but that shouldn't be the only option offered - but sadly, it was.
The imports are cheaper to buy, cheaper to run, and have better safety features and added extras. Most importantly, most of the features work, and keep working. The European car market consolidated, Japan started competing at the mid-range instead of the bottom-end, leaving Korean cars to follow in their dust, which they did. And the big three? Still expecting Americans to buy American-made out of patriotic fervor, even though the products just don't cut it.
Want to get the customers back? Make cars worth buying.

I remember thinking, "what the heck", the year Chrysler introduced the 300, Magnum and Pacifica. Not one fuel efficient vehicle in its fleet that year or any year since until it finally fielded the Calibre in 2006. They weren't even selling re-badged Korean cars like GM does. I felt the writing was on the wall for Chrysler that year. They just weren't changing for the good of all mankind. C'mon consumers and automakers. Have a brain. We can't sell and buy gas hogs forever. The oil will get used up and our environment will become unlivable sooner. Disposable income is no longer an excuse to build and buy inefficient vehicles.

I felt pleased by that news. I must explain otherwise someone will flame me. The reason is it shows that americans are becoming sensitive to safety and efficiency. So i presume, otherwise they would keep inflating the GM sales numbers. Even if there are harsh people defending the american flag, they just will have to evolve. America have good things, but cars isn't one of them. This is a time in history where there are several wars about oil and energy. Alot of people concerned about pollution, and american car industry is just keeping all of you blindly attach to your GM, etc... After evollution made Men, he evolved. Keep evolving please!

Could n't agree more with CSL.
I am lawyer from Greece working and living for the past 4 years in NY. I owned big ALFAS (164) and Lancias (Thema) in the past. Besides it's good dynamic characteristics those cars were very unreliable and at the end their quality was such that could n't compensate for the satisfaction of actually driving them. Let me remind you Americans that european cars are not only PORSCHE, FERRARI or ASTON MARTIN but also Fiat, Renault, Peugeot or CITROEN and belive me if you think that american cars are not reliable please buy a Citroen and you 'll discover that american manufacturers build better cars than most of the europeans. My first car in the US was a 2004 Explorer, I owned it for three years with no problem at all, currently I switched to a Mazda CX 7, the outcome I am never going back to european cars in my life. See the reviews and check their reliabilty scores, if you still in doubt buy a Citroen, a Fiat or a Peugeot then you'll figure out why they left from the US in the past and why it's so difficult for them to return.

i wish they would build a fuel efficient car that has style and a nice interior. please! why does compact or efficient have to look cheap and crappy. domestic autos are the only ones that dont get it.

build like apple would... looks good, feels good, easy to use and charge double for it.

Well, what I reallly think is that everybody of you are not taking into account the fact that there are a lot of cars made by many countries, be them european or american, and this is overwhelming the market, I mean, the cars, around 65 millions, made each year exceed the buying power because, who needs too much cars made in a world where one third of the people lives with less than a dolar daily? I think that's the real problem, and is a reduction to take it just as a brand problem. And besides that, the other problem I see is that cars, like most of our transpotation system, are very inefficient, very pollutant and have provoked the terrible enviromental disasters that we already have. So we have to look for a very different way of solving our transportation needs instead of keeping on building more and more pollutant cars, be them conventional or hybrid, each year!

have you guess seen the insurance wew the asian guy was driving the car from the dealer when it start making noise and he bang on it the it stop and then then the car just fell apart. want to know what car that was?....Its a Saturn.....an American car...just is what can really happend if you don't take care of your ameriacn cars, and plus all of GM new model cars are nothing but their europeon and austrialian cars with Pontiac or Saturn badge on it( Pontiac GTO> Holden Commodore, Saturn Astra>Opel Astra)

American cars are just not up to par with other vehicles on the market. People only buy them because they are American. But none of them are even made in North America. The town I live in is built off of GM. We had delphi, ACDElco, guide and car plants everywhere. Now we don't even have 1 single GM job in this town. A drive through the city,Anderson, IN, and you'll see giant desolate GM plants everywhere. Our city is one big ghetto now. And all around Anderson, There are toyota and honda plants popping up. We just bought a Honda and 80% of it's made in Indiana and Alabama. The American companies need to start playing there cards right and make something efficient and durible, THAT MEANS YOU FORD!