[darkpuppet]

interesting headline...

Quote:FORD INCREASES PRODUCTION OF FOCUS AT WAYNE ASSEMBLY TO KEEP UP WITH RISING SALES

Ford Motor Company said today that North American production of the Ford Focus will increase by nearly 30 percent in 2008 to keep pace with strong demand for the newly redesigned small car.

In the first three months of 2008, Ford sold 49,070 Focus units – an increase of 23 percent from the same time period last year. Importantly, retail sales were up 35 percent, while fleet sales declined slightly. The Focus now claims 7.6 percent of the U.S. small car market, 1.2 percentage points better than a year ago.

Markets always seem to swing back and forth... With a bit of smart management and care, the american car companies will come back into vogue.

Toyota needs to learn from GM's lesson... fast, strong growth is good, but only for a while. Eventually markets plateau, and they could get caught with more than they can reasonably manage.

I don't know if Mitsubishi will be around for a long time. Their cars have come a long way, but their build quality has never impressed me. I remember the 1st autoshow I went to a few years back -- the girl taking info for mitsubishi put her pen and paper on the hood of the eclipse -- the pen rolled off, and fell into the panel gap between the hood and fender.

This year was the 1st year I couldn't stick my thump in a panel gap on a mitsu, but the cars in person still don't impress as much as some cheaper alternatives.

I really think the current three big japanese manufacturers are turning into the NA Big three... and they're about to get surprised by competitors such as Hyundai and Kia....