Last month marked a historic defeat for U.S. automakers. In July, for the first time ever, American thoroughbred Ford fell below Toyota in total U.S. sales. While General Motors still holds the number-one position, this landmark setback for Ford marks an ever-growing trend in the U.S. car manufacturing industry.

“It’s a different world,” said Walter McManus, director of the University of Michigan’s Office for the Study of Automotive Transportation. “GM by itself used to have half the U.S. market” (Bloomberg, August 2). Not anymore. According to Taipei Times, total sales of all U.S. auto companies amounted to 52 percent of the market share in July, its smallest share ever. By contrast, “[t]he Japanese took nearly 40 percent of the U.S. market, their biggest” (Taipei Times, August 7).

With Toyota at the vanguard, Japanese companies are looking to increase their influence in the U.S. market. At the same time, America’s home-based corporations seem to be packing up shop. “As Toyota prepares to add capacity to build about 500,000 more cars and trucks in North America, GM and Ford are cutting a combined 60,000 U.S. union jobs and closing 26 locations to try and halt losses in the region” (Bloomberg, op. cit.).

Change is not just on the horizon—it is already here. Although General Motors still holds pole position, the last vestige of U.S. auto supremacy is definitely under threat. “Most analysts now believe Toyota will overtake GM as the world’s top automaker well before the end of the decade …” (thecarconnection.com, August 7). It seems to be only a matter of time before GM follows its brother Ford to become another victim of Japan’s biggest company. “Toyota will clearly become the No.1 auto maker in the world sooner or later,” said Atsushi Osa, of Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management in Tokyo (Drive.com.au, August 5).

Viewed from a wide perspective, it is not overstating the facts to say that Ford slippage in market share illustrates a broad trend: the steady decline in influence of the United States, and the concurrent rise in influence among a host of other nations.