This trend seems to be happening a lot and has been happening since the 90's at least. In my old town there used to be a Ford dealership that died out and the place got turned into houses. There were also several small time petrol stations with small second-hand car sales sections that have now gone and suffered the same fate too. There was also a Peugeot dealership in the next town big town that was quite a big business with a huge second hand car section that closed for business only a few years ago. It's all very sad really. With social media and the internet it's easier than ever to buy a second hand car privately so it's not all that surprising to see the second hand places going out of business.
I encountered a brand-new white Tesla Model S on the road today. In our rented Chevrolet impala, we followed it for ~92 miles from Dillon, CO, off I-70 onto CO-91 south through Leadville, then west on CO-82 over Independence Pass (the Continental Dive at 12,095 feet) into Aspen. It pulled up to the hotel a minute or so before us. Even though I had been right behind the car for all but the last 2 miles, and I was parked right behind it at curbside, I still could not read the understated trim on the trunk. I though I was following a new Jaguar, and asked the hotel bellman unloading our car what it was. I now see how the poor folk live. Nice American car. Man, can that car boogey. On the open sections of CO-91, with the sweeping turns, we were running at ~80; I just figured the low-slung fancy white rabbit would find the LEO'S before a plain sedan. The Tesla's acceleration in passing others on the road was incredible. I wouldn't mind driving a Model S, but I don't think I would be able to extract myself from the low seats. Giddyup.
I find the way people automatically correlate a brand origin to a car's origin to be ridiculous. Especially in this day and age. So called Japanese cars have employed a large amount of American labor. Not just at the factory level either.
The internet as certainly played a big part in affecting how people shop and buy all sorts of items, and cars are one of them. For a lot of people it would simply be a case of going to a few local dealers and seeing what was available at the right price Now you don't even have to leave your own home and you can buy a car directly from any part of the country.
Not just from the country but from anywhere in the world thanks to the internet now. It's kind of scary how close the world seems now, if you know I'm getting at. While purchasing cars over the internet with the intent to import them is easier than ever it does lead to lots of cams happening where the product is not what was advertised.
My last few cars have been a Toyota and I am very pleased with them. For price is right and they are very dependable. I can't see driving anything else. My last one was an older model and I never had a problem with it. They are great cars with a great reputation.
You pays your money and takes your choice. My last vehicle was a 2006 Ford Escape: in 115,000 miles and 9 years, one set of tires, one set of brakes, one air filter and one battery.The only car in recent memory that was a problem was a new, loaded, 1993 Ford Thunderbird Super Coupe. It developed a rattle at 8,000 miles; the dealer couldn't find the rattle source to fix. It wasn't for a lack of dealer effort. After 2 months in a no-cost rental, I lfinally lost my cool and on a late Friday afternoon I unloaded on an area rep, in person, at the regional office. Two days later Ford changed its long-standing policy of not helping the dealers, and flew an engineer in from the assembly plant. It took him five days to find a broken weld inside the firewall. Three months later, the problem appeared again. Ford lived up to its promise to buy back the car if the problem reappeared, did so, and later I found out the area rep lost his job over the mess of stonewalling the dealer's request for help. The service department continues to get help as needed today. Maybe it's me but a longstanding relationship with a good dealer is significantly more important than the make of car. YMMV.
Toyota's are known as one of the most reliable car brands around. I think we can all remember the Top Gear Toyota for reference... I had a '99 Celica some years back I that was a pretty nice car. It started to rust in places however and always had a slight veer to the left from where it had a front end shunt at some time in it's life. Other than that it was a pretty dependable car.
Toyota's and Honda;s from the 1990's were such amazing little machines! The fact you STILL see them on the road is a testament to their reliability.
Same can be said for the MK4 Ford Escorts that are still knocking around, although sadly they are becoming less of a common sight these days, and I'm pretty biased towards the Escort! Maybe I'm wearing rose tinted specs when I say this, but I swear 90's cars were built with better reliability & a lot more care was taken over their appearance. Stuff like Accords, CRX's, Corrolla's and Starlets are all beautiful looking machines yet stuff now just has a vibe to it like you've seen it before.
