Despite a flurry of interesting new products coming from Detroit-based auto makers, Asian and European brands are going to continue to steal global market share from them for the next five years, a recent study finds. The reason is because the foreign vehicles are more exciting and appear to offer better value to consumers.
That's one of many gloomy predictions for Detroit emerging from a new report released by the automotive practice of KPMG LLP, an international accounting firm. KPMG researchers interviewed 103 OEM and supplier executives during October and November — 88 of them from North America — and came away with a post-Sept. 11 view featuring rising incentive costs, decreasing buyer loyalty and overcapacity issues. On a slightly more encouraging note, more than one-third of those interviewed thought 2003 would be more profitable than the boom year of 2000.
