& # 8217 ; s Share Of The Market Essay, Research Paper

The U. S. car industry? s portion of the market has experienced fluctuations over the past 50 old ages. These fluctuations have been caused by many grounds, but some of the chief grounds include quality, monetary value, and foreign competition.

The Ford Motor Company, General Motors Company, and the Chrysler Corporation, a.k.a. & # 8220 ; The Big Three & # 8221 ; , are the three largest makers of cars in the universe. & # 8221 ; The Big Three & # 8221 ; keep about 75 % of the market and bring forth over 8 million cars per twelvemonth. The largest rivals of & # 8221 ; The Big Three & # 8221 ; are Nipponese car manufacturers that include Toyota, Nissan, and Honda. These three foreign makers hold 20 % of the market and bring forth about 2.7 million cars per twelvemonth.

General Motors Company, the universe? s largest car manufacturer, originally was composed of four major vehicle manufacturers- Buick, Cadillac, Oldsmobile, and Oakland which became Pontiac. Soon, General Motors is made up of Buick, Cadillac, Oldsmobile, Chevrolet, Pontiac, and Saturn. During the first 30 old ages of operation GM? s merely major competition was from U. S. makers. However, since the first foreign truck was imported from Japan in 1956, GM? s portion of the market began to worsen. Foreign autos were smaller, more fuel efficient, less expensive, and frequently more dependable than their American opposite numbers. General Motor? s market portion dipped from about 44 % in 1973 to below 30 % in 1985. In response to this sudden bead in its portion of the market GM founded the Saturn Company. Saturn produces compact autos really similar to Nipponese imports at competitory monetary values. This response halted GM? s worsening portion of the market. Today, General Motors maintains about 30 % of the market.

General Motors was the first big car company to get down research on alternate fuel beginnings and continues to take the manner. Some developments of this research include the first production natural gas engine, and the first auto powered wholly by electricity. Many thoughts are still in the procedure of being developed, such as low-cost solar powered vehicles and ultralight plastic organic structure parts.

The Ford Motor Company, founded in 1903 by Henry Ford, was the largest auto maker in the universe until 1929 when GM passed it. Ford is presently the 2nd largest manufacturer of cars in the universe bring forthing over 5 million autos per twelvemonth and keeping 25 % of the market. In the late seventiess and early 80s when its portion of the market was being taken over by foreign car companies, Ford? s response was different than that of GM? s. Ford decided to purchase little foreign companies and change over them to Ford production installations. This would enable Ford to increase its portion of the market in Europe and Asia. Besides, this would let Ford to avoid high duties placed on foreign autos in China and Japan.

Ford motor company presently employs over 300,000 workers global. In January of 1996, Ford merged its North American, South

American, Asia-Pacific, European, and African Automotive Operations into a individual organisation, Ford Automotive Operations. This amalgamation cut back on costs of developing new autos because now alternatively of five different organisations working on the same undertaking merely one organisation would work on it. This decreased the sum of clip and labour needed to better or plan new autos. In return the monetary value of Ford merchandises declined, ensuing in more gross revenues.

Another attack of Ford was to come in joint-ventures with foreign companies. Through these joint-ventures the foreign companies would bring forth and assemble Ford automobiles for sale in that state.

Ford is seeking to guarantee future gross revenues by researching vehicles that contain plastics that can be recycled into common stuffs. Besides, Ford is presently working with the U. S. Department of Energy to develop alternate fuels, such as electricity, methanol/ethanol, natural gas and solar energy.

The 3rd member of the & # 8221 ; Big Three & # 8221 ; , the Chrysler Corporation, was founded in 1921 when the Maxwell Motor Company failed and Walter P. Chrysler reorganized it. Chrysler was able to capture its portion of the market when it acquired Dodge Brothers, Inc. and when Ford stopped production in 1927 to exchange from bring forthing the Model T to bring forthing the Model A. During the 1950 and 60s Chrysler took over the operations of several little companies in France, Spain, and Britain. This enabled Chrysler to get down selling autos in Europe and compete with Ford and GM on foreign markets. In 1970, Mitsubishi Motors of Japan began bring forthing compact autos under the Chrysler name to be sold in the United States. This led to a rise in Chrysler? s portion of the market until the early 80s when Mitsubishi began utilizing its ain name. To counter this move Chrysler formed a joint-venture with Renault of France to bring forth compact autos. Then in 1987 Chrysler purchased the Italian company, Nuova Automobili F. Lamborghini, shaper of expensive athleticss autos. Chrysler besides purchased the American Motors Corporation, the shaper of Jeep merchandises. These purchases increased Chrysler? s portion of the market from 11 % to 16.3 % and go oning to lift. Chrysler produces about 3 million cars a twelvemonth under the Chrysler, Dodge, Plymouth, Jeep, and Eagle names.

Chrysler is besides in the procedure of bring forthing alternate fuel autos. These include vehicles powered by electricity, liquefied natural gas, and gasoline-methanol mixture.

The future portion of the market for the & # 8221 ; Big Three & # 8221 ; should stay steady or even addition. Today, the & # 8221 ; Big Three & # 8221 ; is able to bring forth top-of-the-line, fuel efficient, low-cost autos to vie with imports. The & # 8221 ; Big Three & # 8221 ; besides leads the manner in research on alternate fuels and designs that will do cars more efficient and less fouling. In decision, the United States car industry, which pioneered procedures and engineering in the early 1900s, has returned as the leader and will take the car industry into the twenty-first century.