Automotive Industry short of Motivation

USA, the land of opportunities, also the land of many inventions. Notably, the most successfull of the century, amont others has been the automobile. United States holds the prestige of being one of the first countries to venture into manufacturing cars at a large scale and selling them across the world. But sadly, the situation today is that the same companies, which boasted their dominance in the auto industry, are struggling to maintain their margins against the foreign auto manufacturers operatin in the world today. What makes it worse is that the American auto makers are doing well in other parts of the world, while incurring huge losses back home in NA. The prime competitors for the American auto makers have been the Japanese manufacturers viz. Honda, Toyota, Nissan with the Korean firms like Hyundai and Kia joining the bandwagon. The European players have always had their share of the American auto market in the segments of Luxury and sports sedans. Benz and BMWs cannot be replaced by any other brands in the world. The American companies, till recently held the top spot in the SUV and Pickup truck segments, but now that Honda and Toyota have come out with rugged vehicles in these segments, life is tough for the US auto makers.
There are multiple reasons for this whole episode of struggle for US auto makers. It all started when oil price per barrel kept skyrocketing quarter after quarter. The Gas prices in US and all over NA were soaring really high. That is when people in the US started thinking about fuel economy. Before this era, the whole emphasis was on power, more the BHP, better it is for the Americans. This is the reason that you don't see a top-notch executive driving to his plush office in his huge pickup truck, anywhere else in the world other than US of A. Since the gas prices were bothering the pockets of Americans, they had no choice but to notice the importance of Fuel efficiency of a vehicle, which happens to be the primary factor driving the auto industry in Asia and other developing continents. American auto makers never considered fuel efficiency as a parameter to evaluate the quality of a vehicle, they probably hadn't anticipated that this factor would crop up as a deciding factor for their success in the US market so soon.
There is another cultural shift that has taken the Americas into its clutches, which is the consideration for the longevity of the vehicles. In the past decades, the pattern of usage among American auto owners has been such that a vehicle is not owned for more than 3-5 years on average. People quickly changed their cars, even before the vehicle started showing signs of being tuckered. The American cars were not meant to last longer than a few years. There was no importance given to the resale value of the cars. That again proved to be detrimental to the business of the auto manufacturers. Because people of USA have started recognizing the effects of rise in the fuel prices, need for the longevity of the vehicles to be able to sell the cars thus getting a percentage of the money back, apart from their regular need for more power.
There are other obvious factors, which the manufacturers are projecting in the media as the culprits for the losses they are incurring. They being the high wages of employees, the expensive health care costs, the pensions for the retired employees, all of which deemed under on heading to be known as legacy costs. The labor unions of all these manufacturing plants are so powerful that the companies are rendered helpless against the needs of these unions. The work culture in United States has always been such that every job expects to have a good salary, i.e. the difference in the salary of a white collar job and a small scale services job is not as huge as it is in other countries and continents.
The Foreign car makers have advantages in many of the above mentioned matters, compared to the American counterparts. For ex. the foreign auto makers don't suffer so much with the legacy costs, their vehicles last longer and are more fuel efficient, their work forces have been conditioned such that they are not as demanding as the labor unions of the US auto maker industries. Moreover, these foreigners have intelligently studied the auto market and its needs in the NA and accordingly setup their strategies to meet every demand of the American Driver.

The final point I would like to mention, which is not so popularly known amongst the speculators of this issue, is that in the recent times, the quality of Vehicles being manufactured in NA has signifcantly improved and the companies here are indeed coming out with innovative designs and long lasting an fuel efficient vehicles. But there is already a psyche about the home grown cars that has settled in the minds of the public, which is a bigger challenge that the American auto makers have to fight out, than really meetting the challenges put forth by the foreign car makers. It will take a decade's time for the people to realize that the American vehicles have indeed scaled up to the expectations and are delivering performance, economical value and longevity. Whether the American auto makers can stand strong against the ongoing storm and prove their mettle, only time will tell!