Seems as if we, the driving and buying public, may have hit our tipping point based on this story((In part due to economy as well gas prices?):
U.S. consumers’ reluctance to buy new vehicles--especially low-mpg vehicles such as light trucks, SUVs and larger cars--accelerated in May.
Truck sales plunged and major automakers posted sharp sales declines for the month. But small cars achieved record volumes at several brands and the sales winners in May were either fuel-efficiency specialists--Suzuki, Volkswagen and Smart--or were car-heavy brands such as Honda, Nissan and Hyundai.
Total sales declined 10.7 percent to 1.40 million vehicles. For the year to date, sales declined 8.4 percent to 6.22 million vehicles.
http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dl...8/newsletter01
FYI: AutoWeek is the consumers/mass market sister to Automotive News.
Automotive News is to the car industry as Variety is to Hollywood.