Truck wars/Detroit faces increased international competition

摘要

A drive through Detroit reveals that it's become a truck town. The U.S.'s affinity for trucks has been Detroit's saving grace. Light trucks have evolved from utilitarian transportation for farmers and contractors to the market's new status symbol. Figure 1 shows that the number of light trucks produced in the U.S. increased 54 percent from 1990 to 2002. It took the Big Three years to acknowledge the threat of Japanese passenger cars in the 1970s. The consequence of disregarding the shift to smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles, as well as the Japanese OEMs who are good at making them, was a redrawing of the country's automotive landscape. From a position of total dominance, the Big Three have seen their share of the U.S. passenger car market fall to 62.2 percent in 2003.