I can’t help but notice all of the great news coming out of the foreign car market as U.S. automakers other than Ford are slowly but surely falling behind in market share. What’s going on?

OK, we don’t need to rehash Ford Motor Company’s financial woes anymore. At this point, it looks like the once-mighty automaker needs a fast exit strategy, in the form of a merger perhaps, to save its legacy. And I can’t help but notice all of the great news coming out of the foreign car market as U.S. automakers other than Ford are slowly but surely falling behind in market share. What’s going on?

Toyota recently said it aims to sell 9.8 million vehicles worldwide in 2008, up from the 8.85 million level projected for 2006, according to this story from The Age. Toyota also said it has revised upward its unconsolidated earnings estimates for the April-September period this business year, due to an increase in overseas sales and a weaker yen versus major foreign currencies than initially expected.

Conversely, Chrysler is having major troubles unloading its stock. How do you recover from something like this:

Chrysler said it would reduce shipments of slow-to-sell vehicles to Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge dealers by 90,000 in the three months ending Sept. 30 and by an additional 45,000 in the last three months of the year. Chrysler, which would not rule out plant closings, buyouts, or other cutbacks, is responding to the same shifts in consumer preference that have forced General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. to shed tens of thousands of workers and close plants.

The U.S. auto market is collapsing right before our very eyes. Hell, even the unremarkable Nissan Motor Company is kicking U.S. butt, according to this news story that details the success the company has found in the light commercial vehicle unit, reaching its business objectives under the Nissan Value-Up Plan in fiscal 2006 a year ahead of schedule.

Ahem, a year ahead of schedule.

Nissan sold 400,267 LCVs in fiscal 2005, up from 182,000 in fiscal 2002, and posted a consolidated operating profit margin of 7.7 per cent thanks to its strategy to strengthen sales since fiscal 2004, like improving its product line-up and expanding its global market presence.

Improving its line-up and expanding its global market presence.

How does the U.S. respond to overseas competition? Let’s turn it over to DaimlerChrysler Chairman Dieter Zetsche:

“We were hoping that we could find our way out of this situation by continuously reducing our production, but not significantly, and increasing our sales. The reality is that we fell short of those plans, and relatively significantly.”

So far this year, the three Chrysler Group brands have combined for a 12.9 percent share, down from 13.6 percent for the first eight months of 2005.