Now that General Motors and Ford have completely abandoned the minivan market for good, the American originator of the species faces only Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Kia and soon Volkswagen as manufacturers that also offer competitive choices. Perhaps you'd think that Chrysler would be benefiting as the only domestic automaker currently playing in the segment, but it seems that sales are down this year by 13 percent for the Chrysler Town and Country while the Dodge Grand Caravan is down an alarming 35 percent. High gas prices are the obvious reason why the minivan market is seeing such a harsh downward trend, and likely the culprit behind Chrysler's impending move to idle its St. Louis South minivan plant as early as December, which would leave some 1,500 employees jobless.
Utility vehicles have been the biggest gas-price casualties, and slow sales are said to be forcing the Jefferson Avenue assembly plant in Detroit where the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Commander are assembled and the Toledo, Ohio North assembly plant which builds the Jeep Liberty and Dodge Nitro into extended shut-downs, as well.
If you've been holding your breath in anticipation of General Motors redesigning its trucks and SUVs, you're probably going to pass out so start breathing again. According to reports, it's gonna be a while. GM has announced that it's postponed any planned redesigns of its pickups and SUVs to a future date sometime beyond their previously planned 2012 redesigns. What'll it do with the extra time and money? Pouring over its entire product lineup to provide the most fuel efficient vehicles possible to a demanding public. The General announced the move in response to this drastic consumer shift away from trucks and SUVs.
GM isn't the only automaker to make product decisions based on the current vehicle market, as Toyota, Honda, Ford and others have all announced that they are shifting their lineups to include more fuel efficient vehicles. If you haven't noticed, $4-a-gallon gasoline seems to have changed the auto industry in a big way overnight.
