The Japanese Are Ready To Rumble Again In The US - Who Will Suffer The Most?

No one. We will all be made better by competition.

The next time there's an article about a Domestic company I'd like to a picture of a couple of Hillbillies please.

Good idea! Sometimes the domestics act like the Beverly Hillbillies

Strictly in North America, I think it will be at the expense of the same old group of mfrs. Within the US car makers, the ones getting hurt will be GM and Chrysler (although Chrysler will still show growth simply because they are comparing against prior 2-3 years when they were hurt the most). The Koreans will also feel the pain in the form of smaller growth rate. The Europeans will be the same, their lower level models will have to offer more financial incentives to keep pace. The noticeable headline type of change will be VW replacing GM as number 2 in world sales. No comment on the European market.

This will be an interesting year to see who really has the market share.

The past few years.... First we had a recession affecting all but a couple mfrs. Then a decimated Chrysler struggled to find its footing under new ownership. GM lost half its brands, and Ford lost a few. Then a witchhunt affected Toyota, a tsunami obliterated Toyota and Honda. Yearslong product gaps over at Volkswagen and uncompetitive products at Hyundai-Kia had them limping along.

But in 2012 we had none of that. So all those 30% year-over-year months should be a thing of the past. Now the reality sets in. An honest to goodness comparison of 2013 to 2012.

My predictions (grain of salt time)... Single digit growth for just about everybody, the Japanese getting in the high single digits, the Germans and domestics in the low.

Yep, I agree with AlleVier. The intense competition will bring out whatever is already there inside each Automaker that currently has the talent and money to get the job/goals done. It'll be a very intense next 4-5yrs I think. All the big boys with the chedder will light up the Auto-Industry with those 2014-2018 models. Let your imagination soar!

...I predict the current ranking will pretty much be the battle of Toyota, VW will pass GM and Ford will pass GM also. Then maybe Hyundai may pass Honda and Nissan. That's my overall prediction. Dont know what to really say about the Luxury Ranks, except for whoever has the Bank will ultimately find a way to the Ballers hearts and pockets.

The Koreans and GM.