Are U.S. Automakers Missing Out on a Great Market?

SUBARU…

MITSUBISHI…

MITSUBISHI…

SUBARU…

SUBARU…

Checking the final results of this past weekends Sno-Drift road rally in Atlanta, Michigan one is sure to notice the glaring absence of an American made vehicle in the top twenty some finishers of the national event. Road rallies like the Sno-Drift are distance races that use street legal automobiles, mainly four or all wheel drive models, on little used backcountry roads and trials.

The highest finishing American vehicle (24th) was a 2002 Ford. Ford also put forth an effort to field a competitive car with top rank driver Ken Block at the helm, but it broke down and had to withdraw from competition. Of the more than 50 participants in the two regional events and one national rally less than 15% were U.S. manufacturer models.

The lack of a wider selection of late model American entries in this and similar events or on dealer lots seems to indicate that U.S. car manufacturers still don’t see the small four-wheel drive market as one that is worth going after. Given that a large part of the global economy is in areas where snow and back road driving are normal conditions it would seem that developing a basic, economical, reliable four-wheel drive vehicle would be a wise thing to do. This lesson seems particularly lost on Chrysler who could use a good sales boost and whose “outside the box” mini van was such a great success when it was introduced.

Given the loss of auto industry jobs and idle infrastructure here in Michigan do you think it would be a good time for one of the big three, or someone new, to be developing such a vehicle? Not just a scaled down version of their larger models but something new that features function and performance over form.

If it were comparable to the similar offerings by Subaru, Toyota, or Volkswagen would you consider buying it based on the fact that its American made?