If you have been left wondering "Why are all automotive designs beginning to have an Asian influence," we may have the answer to your question; auto sales.
Now if you were hiding under a rock since 2008, you wouldn't recall the whole gas price crisis and oil hitting unprecedented levels. Well, that had a cascading effect on our economy and even our automakers. Yes, a couple went bankrupt.
This ripple has essentially taken that respectable 16-17 million vehicles sold per year and drastically changed it. Since the oil hike and poor economy, auto sales have been lagging quite bad. It's all a part of the "new economy" and "new normal," meaning manufacturers are going to have to get used to auto sales that appear to be hovering under the 12 million vehicle mark.
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For a view as to where the world is heading, take a close look at automotive sales data coming out of the two largest markets, the U.S. and China. It is instructive -- and a bit frightening.
In the U.S., politicians and executives are patting each other on the back for having survived the recession of 2008-2009. At the same time they are hunkering down for what they call the "new normal" -- auto sales running at about two thirds of the 16 million units a year they got used to calling normal earlier in the decade...
[Source: CNN Money]
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