http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/opinion/16niedermeyer.html?_r=1&hp
One of the rationales for government investment in GM and Chrysler was to enable them to lead the world in sales of fuel efficient cars. This is not happening so far. Detroit's dependence on SUV's and pick up trucks has not changed and there are other bad signs as well.
GM's car sales are down 6% while sales of SUV's and light trucks are up 16%. 73% of Chrysler's sales are light trucks.
Low margin fleet sales account for 32% of big three sales. Government fleet sales account for 25% of hybrid sales.
Inventories of cars sitting on dealer lots is very high and the use of incentives to move cars off lots is higher than that for foreign brands. This erodes brand value and means that Detroit is hurting future demand by using incentives to draw in future purchases.
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