GM, Ford spar over No. 1 designation

[DeclinetoState]

No. 1 and falling.


By Kevin Krolicki
Sun Feb 12, 5:29 PM ET

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - In a feud that recalls the glory days when Detroit's top car makers dominated the U.S auto market, Ford Motor Co (NYSE:F (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/finance/nm/bs_nm/storytext/autos_gm_rank_dc/18041792/*http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=f&d=t) - news (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/biz/nm/bs_nm/storytext/autos_gm_rank_dc/18041792/*http://biz.yahoo.com/n/f/f.html)) and General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/finance/nm/bs_nm/storytext/autos_gm_rank_dc/18041792/*http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=gm&d=t) - news (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/biz/nm/bs_nm/storytext/autos_gm_rank_dc/18041792/*http://biz.yahoo.com/n/g/gm.html)) sparred on Sunday over bragging rights to the top-selling auto brand for 2005.

Although both Ford and GM have lost market share to Asian rivals last year and were forced into plant closures and wide-ranging cost cutting, the claim to the top-selling U.S. brand remains an important point of pride for both companies.

The last time Chevrolet eclipsed Ford as the top-selling U.S. brand was in 1986, when the pair commanded almost 60 percent of the U.S. market. As of last year, that combined share had sunk to about 45 percent.

GM, eager to seize on any good news, has been running an advertising campaign since last month that trumpets Chevrolet as America's top-selling brand and encourages buyers to conduct their own "head-to-head" vehicle comparisons with rivals.

But Ford executives told a group of its dealers gathered at an industry conference in Orlando, Florida on Sunday that final vehicle registration numbers for 2005 showed its own brand had narrowly edged past Chevrolet.


More about this idiocy at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060212/bs_nm/autos_gm_rank_dc

[2nd_Amendment]

*shrug*

All in how it's counted. Fact is Ford never had the number one selling truck. they owned the rental car business(which one was that...anyway) and counted all those Ford trucks AND refused to include GMC in the Chevy/GM totals. Once Ford lost that market for its trucks they became #2. When you add in GMC they really become #2.

Funniest thing is that GM and Ford still own the auto market. they will ALWAYS own the truck market. All they really need to do is trim upper management pay and all benefit plans. They'll figure it out eventually.

[DeclinetoState]

If they don't, they'll end up being owned by foreigners, a la DaimlerChrysler.

[RayChuang]

Toyota is threatening to overtake them (literally!) both Ford and GM at the rate things are going.

This is especially true once the next-generation Toyota Tundra pickup truck arrives the end of this year.

[TSawyer2112]

No. 1 and falling.
More about this idiocy at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060212/bs_nm/autos_gm_rank_dc

Number one at what, losing money?

[2nd_Amendment]

Toyota isn't even a contender in the full size truck market and never will be. Unlike most cars trucks have a level of loyalty which is almost bizarre. You can't convince a Chevy owner to buy a Ford but you're going to convince him to buy a Toyota? Yeah, right... Full size foreign trucks are a curiosity and rolling evidence the driver thereof didn't really need a truck.

[UnkHiram]

Dodge is No #1, at least in my heart

[2nd_Amendment]

And there's a case in point. :) For me, GMC, Chevy or Dodge. You couldn't give me a Ford or a Toyota... If they stop building GMC's or Dodge's I'll do likie I do to have full size Jeep trucks in my drive: Rebuild old ones.

[Rink]

Anything but a GMC, the last time my old man had a GMC dually pickup they would NOT back their parts when he needed a vital part replaced on his truck.

Ferget it, Chev, Ford or possibly Dodge but I'll go with my old man's preference any day Chev, Ford would be the next best one, dodge being the last (had a motorhome with an old dodge motor and it was a POS motor, so...)