Younger buyers leaving Japanese for South Korean, American brands
03-22-13, 11:14 AM
#16
Lexus Fanatic
Originally Posted by Blueprint
;Its not a stereotype, I deal with them everyday and I am telling you how they think. They want style and Kia and Hyundai is offering it in spades. At car events around the country the new following of Kia/Hyundai owners is amazing, they are seen as hip and they are offering cars younger people desire. The Corolla/Civic are just old and staid to them.
03-22-13, 11:16 AM
#17
I'll agree to this. When a deer hit me, I had a Dodge Caliber and a Chevy Cobalt as rentals for three weeks. Some of the worst cars I've tested. But to Both Chrysler and GMs credit, the Cruze and Dart are much improved as are most of the line-up
03-22-13, 11:24 AM
#18
Lexus Fanatic
The rumor (although I can't substantiate it as fact) is that when Chrysler was first sold to Fiat (with the partial-government buyout), Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne himself examined and drove a Caliber. He got out and said to his managers...."No wonder that company was in trouble. We have GOT to do better than this. Let's go to work, guys". The rest, of course, is history.
Last edited by mmarshall; 03-22-13 at 11:28 AM.
03-22-13, 11:35 AM
#19
The rumor (although I can't substantiate it as fact) is that when Chrysler was first sold to Fiat (with the partial-government buyout), Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne himself examined and drove a Caliber. He got out and said to his managers...."No wonder that company was in trouble. We have GOT to do better than this. Let's go to work, guys". The rest, of course, is history.
Shame Lexus Execs haven't sat in the ES350
03-22-13, 02:06 PM
#23
Lexus Fanatic
I think the Japanese are building cars that people feel they should buy because its supposed to be a safer bet, BUT the Koreans are building cars that we want to buy and providing an industry leading warranty duration to ease people fears about reliability.
03-22-13, 02:13 PM
#24
Lexus Fanatic
if you think they are bad you should try driving a Jeep Wrangler. It was easily the biggest piece of trash vehicle I have ever experienced. It had the same tech as an old Datsun I used to drive in highschool. I also had a Chrysler 300 as a rental car when my brother and I went up to Northern Cali to look at the Red wood trees. The car had 2200 miles on it and it broke down in the middle of the forest. It took three hours of r a tow truck. I cant stand crappy American cars. Just my preference
03-22-13, 03:02 PM
#25
A great improvement in Technology, Safety and better agility/handling. That said a major disappointment in fit and finish, poor materials and bad sound insolation. The center console plastic is one of the worst I've seen, unbefitting a "luxury car", door lock and window switches feel cheap. ES version of Remote Touch feels cheap compared to RX/GS. Doors don't close properly anymore nor do they have that nice patented Lexus "Thud". Even the turn signals have a bad clunk noise when pushed up or down. Very very sad.
I have. A salesperson has a 98 Wrangler which is a piece. And my manager just sold off his XTerra for a 2013 Wrangler 4 door. The difference is night and day. The new 3.6L V6 performs admirably, and the materials used are not half bad. The car is loaded with tech too. We just took it off-roading this past Tuesday, and once again proves Jeep knows a thing or two about off-roading.
Was your 300 a new redesigned one? Regardless if you like American cars or not, or anyone for that matter, no one can deny that massive improvement has been made across all makes. It's getting to a point where the equilibrium between automakers is quickly coming to balance. Not all BMWs suck, and not all Honda's are trouble free. In the end cars are cars and no car not even a Lexus is perfect despite top IQS scores.
if you think they are bad you should try driving a Jeep Wrangler. It was easily the biggest piece of trash vehicle I have ever experienced. It had the same tech as an old Datsun I used to drive in highschool. I also had a Chrysler 300 as a rental car when my brother and I went up to Northern Cali to look at the Red wood trees. The car had 2200 miles on it and it broke down in the middle of the forest. It took three hours of r a tow truck. I cant stand crappy American cars. Just my preference
Was your 300 a new redesigned one? Regardless if you like American cars or not, or anyone for that matter, no one can deny that massive improvement has been made across all makes. It's getting to a point where the equilibrium between automakers is quickly coming to balance. Not all BMWs suck, and not all Honda's are trouble free. In the end cars are cars and no car not even a Lexus is perfect despite top IQS scores.
03-22-13, 03:32 PM
#26
Lexus Fanatic
The Wrangler I drove was a 2009 or 2010. It was brand new when I drove it. It was a rental I had in Hawaii. After that I rented the Camaro SS. Still a lower quality car but SO much fun to drive and I loved the sound of that motor
03-22-13, 03:59 PM
#27
Low quality in materials fit and finish for sure. The omission of navi for the first couple model years also puzzled me. But certainly the SS and GT are some of the best bargain performance vehicles on the market today. Another reason why there is no replacement for displacement
Last edited by Hoovey689; 03-22-13 at 04:03 PM.
03-22-13, 06:43 PM
#28
Out of Warranty
It's an old maxim of sales - don't try to sell the prospect what he needs, sell him what he wants.
03-22-13, 07:38 PM
#29
Lexus Fanatic
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Edmunds better tell that to owners of the Scion TC, Camry SE, Lexus IS, Scion FRS as they have the lowest average buyer ages in each of their segments. Looks like those owners didn't get the memo 
.
More seriously, what a SILLY sensationalist article, just a desperate attempt to once again hype up Korean products
. I wonder how much Edmunds got paid to write this sensationalist dribble.
Most here are ignoring the FACTS from the article. Based on the registration data Edmunds looked at of thousands of 25-34 year old vehicle owners in 2012:
- 42.9% bought a Japanese brand vehicle
- 36.8% bought an American brand vehicle
- roughly 10% bought a Korean brand vehicle
So yes while the share for Japanese brands among that age group may have declined, the Japanese brands STILL CLEARLY LEAD the 25-34 age group in the US. According to Edmunds' own FACTUAL data.
Sensationalist headlines be damned!
As for a personal and subjective side note, I'm in my 20s, and all of my friends are also in their 20s, and they all mostly swear by Japanese brands. One or two of them go for American, but nobody among my close circle of friends has any interest in Korean brands. Anecdotal, but a CLEAR example that all this media and internet hype of Korean brands is just that ... mostly hype. So my friends, along with myself have NO interest in Korean brands, as in we don't want Korean cars at all.
The numbers don't lie. Koreans still hold only a SMALL share of the younger age group, and Koreans hold a SMALL market share in the US overall, a share that is shrinking and has been shrinking since much of last year.
.More seriously, what a SILLY sensationalist article, just a desperate attempt to once again hype up Korean products
. I wonder how much Edmunds got paid to write this sensationalist dribble.Most here are ignoring the FACTS from the article. Based on the registration data Edmunds looked at of thousands of 25-34 year old vehicle owners in 2012:
- 42.9% bought a Japanese brand vehicle
- 36.8% bought an American brand vehicle
- roughly 10% bought a Korean brand vehicle
So yes while the share for Japanese brands among that age group may have declined, the Japanese brands STILL CLEARLY LEAD the 25-34 age group in the US. According to Edmunds' own FACTUAL data.
Sensationalist headlines be damned!
As for a personal and subjective side note, I'm in my 20s, and all of my friends are also in their 20s, and they all mostly swear by Japanese brands. One or two of them go for American, but nobody among my close circle of friends has any interest in Korean brands. Anecdotal, but a CLEAR example that all this media and internet hype of Korean brands is just that ... mostly hype. So my friends, along with myself have NO interest in Korean brands, as in we don't want Korean cars at all.
The numbers don't lie. Koreans still hold only a SMALL share of the younger age group, and Koreans hold a SMALL market share in the US overall, a share that is shrinking and has been shrinking since much of last year.
03-22-13, 08:25 PM
#30
As a young person I will say that most non-luxury Japanese cars are extremely boring. I like the new Camry and the Toyota trucks but that's it. Honda, Nissan, and Toyota make a lot of boring cars that I see people in their 30's with families driving. It's the reason I prefer to own older cars like my 350z and SC300 over a boring new Civic or Sentra.
The Korean cars have stepped up over the years. The Genesis coupe and Optima are pretty cool looking cars that I see a lot of young people driving. I'm not overly impressed by the American cars but they too have stepped it up. The Cruze is a pretty good looking car. The Cobalt was huge when I was in high school a few years ago and I still see a lot of young people driving them.
The Korean cars have stepped up over the years. The Genesis coupe and Optima are pretty cool looking cars that I see a lot of young people driving. I'm not overly impressed by the American cars but they too have stepped it up. The Cruze is a pretty good looking car. The Cobalt was huge when I was in high school a few years ago and I still see a lot of young people driving them.