Why American?

Dealers Find 'Made in Detroit' Is Often a Hard Sell

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'Buy America' Is a Tough Sell
Despite gains in quality and design made by U.S. automakers over the past 15 years, dealers have a hard time convincing American consumers to buy a car made by one of Detroit's Big Three companies -- Ford, Chrysler and General Motors.

Farshad Elmi Anvari has the diamond-studded ring to prove that he can move Chryslers and Jeeps off the lot. He is so good that a colleague has scrawled on his cubicle window: "Farshad the Great!" The Iranian-born salesman is hoping to earn a third diamond this year. All he has to do is sell 100 Chryslers and Jeeps. He has had to push hard this month to make his goal, with four deals still to close.

And he'll need help from wary consumers like Ann Mazzotta, who went to the Fitzgerald Auto Mall in Gaithersburg for a sedan to replace her worn-out Honda. She liked the look of a Chrysler PT Cruiser convertible, and she climbed inside. After a moment, she emerged, curling her lip and shaking her head: When it comes to cars, she doesn't buy American.

"Pretty much, I wouldn't consider it," Mazzotta said.

The mall, a fixture along North Frederick Avenue for more than 30 years, is spread over a 6 1/2 -acre hill with two showrooms -- one at the top, the other below. In the old days, Chrysler and Oldsmobile crowned the hill, but -- in a symbol of changing fortunes in the U.S. auto market -- Toyota now sits at the top peering down on a showroom that sells Chryslers and Hyundais.

Mazzotta came to the auto mall to check out the Hyundais. The PT Cruiser was just a momentary distraction. She hasn't owned an American car in 13 years; that's how long she had the Honda Civic she wanted to replace. She ultimately went back to Honda and left with a new Civic. "Maybe it was my comfort zone," she said.

Decades ago, American car buyers wouldn't give foreign models a second look. But the grip was broken by years of shoddy U.S. craftsmanship, a focus on gas-guzzlers, and a steady stream of attractive models from manufacturers in Europe and Asia. Now it's the designs from Detroit that don't get any attention.

"American car companies can't just make cars as good as the Japanese," said Karl Brauer, editor in chief of Edmunds.com, an car-shopping Web site. "They've got to surpass them. They have to make cars even more desirable."

Detroit automakers have learned their lessons and made significant strides in improving the quality of their vehicles. Over the past 15 years, the U.S. automakers have closed the gap in quality with Asian competitors, according to J.D. Power and Associates. But there is still the problem of consistency. "They've proven they can do it. But we haven't seen them demonstrate that on a consistent basis," said John Tews, a spokesman for J.D. Power.

And perceptions persist. Anvari said U.S. carmakers are blamed unfairly for their sins of the past.

"I'm fighting with 10 years ago -- I wasn't here," said Anvari, who left Iran four years ago.

He wonders how U.S. customers can be so closed-minded to their country's own car brands. "If I was American-born, I would buy the Chrysler," Anvari said. "By buying the car, I'm helping my people move forward."

In the early 1990s, the Lake Forest dealership sold nearly 100 Chryslers a month. In November, it sold 244 Toyotas, 56 Hyundais, and 53 Chryslers and Jeeps combined. The figures resemble trends nationwide, particularly along the East and West coasts. And automakers in Detroit fear that what's happening on the showroom floor in Montgomery County might be a glimpse of the future. Domestic automakers command a mere 23 percent of the market in the county, according to car-registration data from R.L. Polk and Co. In the Washington area, foreign cars make up 62 percent of the market so far this year, according to Polk, which used data provided by the Washington Area New Auto Dealers Association.