It’s certainly been a year for the record books in the automotive industry: manufacturer stumbles… the demise of iconic car brands… and the shuttering of more than 1,500 car dealerships. A quick look back highlights a number of the more amazing changes in the automotive industry.
- Both Chrysler and GM went in – and out of – bankruptcy. Now, both companies are owned in large part by the U.S. government and the UAW. (Who saw that coming?)
- Brands like Saturn, Saab, and the ever-iconic Pontiac reached the end of the line. (Maybe now is the time to get a new Pontiac G8 and mothball it next to the Oldsmobile Cutlass 442?)
- And Hummer has been sold to Chinese interests – a certain irony for a brand that was once associated with the U.S. military.
If all of that weren’t enough, thousands of GM and Chrysler dealerships have closed – or are set to close – and the ripple effects continue, in local job loss and in creating a large group of “orphaned” consumers whose dealership is no longer around. Together, GM and Chrysler estimate there are 5.6 million consumers “orphaned” as a result.
So what will 2010 bring? There are as many opinions as there are discontinued models and vacant dealerships. But here are some of the questions the experts are pondering:
- How many cars will be sold in the U.S. in 2010 and when will car sales pick up again?
- Will GM and Chrysler pull out of their declines and re-pay government loans? Moreover, how will their union contract negotiations be affected by their partial ownership by the UAW?
- Will dealer closings actually help GM and Chrysler save money as their CEOs testified in front of Congress?
- How many more dealerships will be shuttered?
- What will the new Chrysler (Fiat) models look like? And, will these models connect with consumers?
- How will Toyota rebound – and when?
- Will Hyundai sustain its gains?
- Will Ford, which struggled but survived in 2009 without government aid, begin to thrive again?
As for answers, it’s too unclear even to speculate.
Yet, there is one thing that is still clear and provides a lot of confidence for the future of the automotive industry: The American lifestyle is driven by the automobile. And, whether Americans are driving large SUVs or electric hybrids, we will be driving. With that, new generations of car enthusiasts will emerge… and those enthusiasts will continue to buy cars and sell cars – not out of necessity, but out of passion. Passion for the American road and for the automobile.