Snate

Fleet sales aren't really bad....and every manufacturer does them to varying degrees. Domestics get attacked for this more than they should...although they do bring it upon themselves for dumping of certain models into rental fleets. Even though some asian companies like Nissan and Hyundai are increasing their fleet sales, that never gets brought up in sales reports.

The G6 and it looks like the Aura need to go on a diet.

Sentra = heavy fleet sales

alot cheaper...like 8K cheaper. Not to mention Toyota has more dealers

The sales increase is all from the new Yaris and FJ. I imagine those sales will taper off after a few months after the novelty wears off.

Yep...we call those people "idiots"

Last I heard the 300 was selling about 25% to fleet...that was several months ago. Doesn't surprise me because nobody but fleets would be stupid enough to buy the base model.

They are all pretty ugly...but the only one worth buying is the 300C...the other ones are too porky to be good performers.

Doesn't surprise me. The chinese market has much more growth potential than here.

It's ugly and cheap....that about sums it up.

So does the Element...whats your point?

It's actually a useful vehicle (like the aztek) with the easy to clean interior and roominess. The problem is that its ugly inside and out and get piss poor real world MPG for the little 4 cyl it has.

oh reg...don't get all bent out of shape...we are just poking fun. I've seen it for Kia dealers too...more than once. Anyway the key is this line:

I'm sure it has much more to do with they want to keep the affected owners quiet...especially when you are company that depends so much on your image such as Toyota.

Not really. Everyone on this site ripped on the Aztec yet it was better/more useful in most way.

People in this country have a fascination for anything imported. Anything domestic is shunned alot of the times.

yea no there wasn't..only evidence was 15 years old.

Mitsu is really going down the toilet. I've seen one raider and I'm almost positive it was a rental of some sort.

Right...the Sonata will be somewhat faster but at the expense of 4-5 MPG...I'd say the number of gears is irrelevant. The escort connection is pretty obvious and the rear...well saying more cars than the accord have it doesn't exactly help the "derivative" styling argument Using an example of an autoshow car doesn't work out too well...imagine how many hands are on those cars. I sat in an accord at the Chicago auto show that was falling apart...but I've been in them before so I knew it was just lots of people playing with it. I've been in Sonatas and Malibus after they are released from the fleet...like I said the Sonatas are falling apart...the Malibus aren't much better but they are. Altimas are the worst...then again they 02-06 ones have horrible interior quality so thats no surprise.

Don't worry...yet another mindless F&F movie is on its way out to rejuvenate the scene.

The restyled Malibu is a MUCH better looking car than the Sonata...the pre 06 ones I could see...but not the new ones. The Sonata is far too derivative...escort front and accord rear. Interior is a wash. The Sonata looks more upscale...Malibu will probably look better 10K miles down the line. Powertrains are a wash too. Sonata has slightly more power and is more "techie"...Malibu will be more reliable and get significantly better mileage. Both cars are heavily fleeted so resale is unknown.

The problem is hidden by cheap interest rates and ever increasing property values. If the high costs are sustained, then the economy will see a big toll as the baby boomer generation starts retiring and generation Y starts entering the workforce in force.

GM still designs about 90 percent of its vehicles specifically for the U.S. market. The only mainstream vehicle that is questionable is the colorado/canyon due to the Isuzu thing. The aveo is also one that I can think of. They may design vehicles slightly different in order to appeal better in other markets but they are still designed for the U.S. market first.

but it's a Honda....

For the most part...no. The ones I have dealt with have been pretty good. I do all my own research before going to the dealership so I generally don't ask questions. If a salesperson says something that isn't correct I generally don't correct them because I think its a bit embarassing.