It’s like the August 2001 PDB

I can just hear the cries of, “no one could have predicted this!” American car companies are just bloody stupid. I will give some credit to GM, though its effort with the Chevrolet Volt is probably too little too late for it. It spent most of the past decade making Hummers.

The seismic shift by consumers to small cars from large vehicles has blindsided virtually every automaker. Only Honda Motor, where sales rose 1 percent in June, appears to have been prepared. The Japanese automaker’s Fit subcompact nearly doubled its sales during the month, and its Civic sedan set a June record.

By contrast, Toyota executives said they could not meet demand for its Prius hybrid-electric car or its small, fuel-efficient Corolla and Yaris models.