I've heard it again, more than once,,, the makers are deciding what consumers want. Whether it is "keeping up with the Jones'" or just the marketing we all see, everything is focused on SUV's and pickup trucks.

I, for one, still prefer the good old sedan (comfortable, fuel efficient) and it surely looks like, to me anyway, that the domestic auto makers are forcing me to go import if I still want one. I have no real use for an SUV or pickup truck. For the very odd occasion I do need cargo room, I can always rent one for a day. A vehicle is nothing more that a tool to get you from point A to point B on any given day or for a specific purpose - I still have a van I use almost exclusively for our camping outings - it stays packed during the season for convenience sake.

It all comes down to the bottom line for any company. You cannot sell at a loss no matter how much "volume" you produce.

However, the domestics are, in my opinion, getting very close to shooting themselves in the foot. After all,, it's market share that they used to talk about, but the bottom line is always the deciding factor.

We can delude ourselves into thinking that this is market driven, but it is not. Our ability to reduce fuel consumption has put a real damper on certain individuals' profit margins. These good folks all got together and decided several years ago that we needed to get America addicted to their product again. So they created a market shaking glut that lowers fuel prices. Yes, they lost money doing it. We all heard about it for years now. These same individuals also support the auto industry who they convinced to start emphasizing SUV's and trucks. The bonus was these vehicles did not have to meet auto safety standards and still don't. The last piece of this scam is the reduction in fuel efficiency standards and mileage requirements.

After which there will be another oil embargo, war, flood, hurricane, manufactured crisis. Fuel will hit $4.00 with the average vehicle getting an average of 18 mpg on an 8 year loan so you are stuck feeding it. Big payday for those who can afford to wait. Average America loses again. Transfer of wealth accomplished. Middle class reduced. Number of people living paycheck to paycheck increased and easy to control.

With only three countries controlling the world's oil (America, Saudi Arabia, Russia - interesting how these three seem to be at the center of all the world's troubles right now, too), this kind of market manipulation is far easier than you realize. Just because you want to believe this isn't happening doesn't change it.

Look at Toyota Camry sales for 2018 through November. That number tells me otherwise of what this article does. Seems to me Detroit needs to re-examine what they are making with regards to reliability, cost, resell value. Look at where the plants are and whether they are unionized or not.

I am pretty sure that Detroit did their "re-examination" of what they are making. Most likely not putting too much weight on what the customers may want now though but looking to the future and "guessing" what they will want, at the least what their market research gurus are telling them of what will be wanted.

Probably not much thought into you other points as well, especially the resale portion as that really has nothing to do with their bottom line, except perchance replacement parts where, by the way, their markup is very substantial.

The American car was killed by imports, changing times and lifestyles and nonsense tariffs.

Ford lost a BILLION dollars to tariffs, Chevy hasn't said how much they've lost.

Bullying, wishing, imposing infantile tariffs and rolling back beneficial environmental rules won't bring back the good ole days. They are gone forever.

I've driven American iron all my life, Corvettes, pickups, and sedans from all of the big three.

Now I'm buying a foreign SUV because I no longer need a truck and want a reliable vehicle.