Motor Trends: Why The Most Profitable Cars Made in the U.S.A. are Japanese and German

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Nissan's strategy, championed by turnaround CEO Carlos Ghosn, exemplifies the latest transplant wave: a direct assault on Detroit's most profitable models. The Titan was designed by a California-based team of mostly Americans, who Nissan thought could best understand the U.S. truck crowd's preferences. About 85% of the Titan's components come from U.S. suppliers. And it will be built in the pickup-loving South, which Nissan hopes will add credibility. Says Ghosn (pronounced Goan): "The market is sensitive to the fact that this product is assembled in the U.S."

The rewards could be as king-size as the vehicles' cabs. Ford earns an estimated $2,000 profit on each of its F-Series pickups, providing one of its fattest margins for a high-volume vehicle. The North American market for pickups is about 3 million a year. And while Ford will launch a redesigned F-150 this summer, Ghosn is confident that Nissan's investment in the Titan (whose platform will be used by other vehicles) will pay off. "Each time competitors enter a segment, profits have a tendency to go down," he acknowledges. "But the truck segment will remain one of the most profitable."

All told, North American vehicle sales are expected to grow to 18.4 million a year by 2008, an increase of 1.6 million vehicles since 2002. The transplants alone are adding enough capacity for an additional 1 million vehicles. Hyundai is building a plant in Montgomery, Ala.--the first Korean auto-assembly factory in the U.S.--to make Sonata sedans and Santa Fe SUVs. Mercedes-Benz (owned by DaimlerChrysler, based in Stuttgart, Germany) is doubling capacity at its SUV facility in Tuscaloosa, Ala. And BMW recently expanded its plant in Spartanburg, S.C., where lines run overtime to produce Z4 roadsters and X5 SUVs. Detroit's automakers are by no means sitting still, as we'll see, but the additional transplant capacity can only make their challenge harder. "The Big Three are less in denial than they used to be, but I can't see anything causing import market-share gains to take a downturn," says Bear Stearns analyst Domenic Martilotti. "A fifty-fifty share split is certainly within reason." Here's what Detroit is up against.

MORE PRODUCTIVE FACTORIES

Chrysler, Ford and GM take an average of eight more hours to make a vehicle at their North American plants than do Honda, Nissan and Toyota. Nissan is fastest at 18 hours a vehicle, and Chrysler (the U.S.-based unit of DaimlerChrysler) is slowest at 31 hours, according to the Harbour Report, an annual productivity guide. These times translate into an extra expense of $300 to $500 a vehicle for the Big Three as compared with the transplants, which in a tough market can kill already slim profit potential.