Time's running out on the American car.
That's the conclusion drawn by Detroit News business columnist Daniel Howes after the automakers released their year-end sales results, and after some news coming out of the Ford Glass House.
Howes joined Stateside today to share more of his predictions for the American car market.
Listen above for the full conversation, or catch highlights below.
On the decline in demand for traditional cars
“Car sales are declining across the industry, really, except in a few German lines… The Fusion is a popular car, but it's not the most popular car in the market. It clearly doesn't lead the segment. Ford is having to kind of look at what the market in the United States is, what it really wants. … The sum total of this thing is clearly cars, as we understand them, are a lesser, and lesser, and lesser piece of the American market, and I think you're seeing companies that are finally cutting the cord, if you will.”
On market trends
“The SUVs and trucks are a bigger percentage of the marketplace... and it's going up, and in the case of cars, it continues to decline. And I don't think anybody thinks the trend is going to abate.”
(Subscribe to the Stateside podcast on iTunes, Google Play, or with this RSS link)
