In the last five years, Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp have been losing ground on the American market to other competitive companies that make family car models, according to Bloomgerg.com.Loyal customers of the two companies have turned to other family sedans, as they think the Honda and Toyota are no longer budget cars. Their prices are not competitive anymore and their looks aren’t either.
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After decades of keeping the dominant positions on the automobile market, Honda and Toyota are losing grip among the buyers this year. Experts say it’s not because of the production shortages occurred because of tsunami in Japan that this happened, but because of the companies’ policy throughout the last half decade. “The inventory shortages will force shopping that wouldn't have happened for another generation”, says Eric Noble, president of CarLab, a consulting firm in Orange County, California.
The Texas information – technology manager said that “Honda has kind of fallen behind when it comes to how the car works” adding that all that it has in advantage now is a better resale value. The models are way behind in the matter of style, comfort and innovation. Honda’s shares on the stock market have been falling this year 0.7 percent.
Toyota faces problems with the recalls in 2010 and still hasn’t recovered the trust of the U.S. customers. Toyota’s shares on the stock market dropped two points, to 13.2 percent. As Corolla, Camry, Accord an Civic are not the best choices anymore, other cars have been hitting the top spots in consumer’s preferences. Hyundai Motor Co, Nissan Motor Co, Ford Motors Co, General Motors co, Volkswagen AG and many other companies have been selling their models better. Hyundai has decided to bet on the styling, as Japanese cars are going for the environmental friendly engines.
Despite the harsh competition, Toyota “is not going to stand still”, a representative for Toyota said. At the beginning of June Toyota announced that it’s planning to restore production to full capacity worldwide by the end of this year.