Saturn has joined Ford Motor Co. in encouraging its dealers to make both the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord available for test drives for comparison shoppers.
Saturn wants consumers to compare the two Japanese models with the Saturn mid-sized Aura sedan.
"We'll do the ad side, they'll (dealers) do the vehicle side," Saturn spokesman Michael Morrissey said at a press briefing. Saturn was expected to announce its "Side-by-Side-by-Side Test Drive" program with national and regional advertising supplemented by local dealer ads. The program runs through July.
Ford is encouraging test drives of the all-wheel-drive Fusion and the front-drive Camry and Accord, in what the automaker calls the "Fusion Challenge."
Ford has launched television, print and Internet ads comparing the Fusion directly with Accord and Camry.
Both General Motors and Ford are out to change the perception that their products are inferior to Honda and Toyota.
Over the last 25 years, Ford and GM have lost an enormous chunk of their market share to the Japanese. In 1980, GM commanded 46 percent of the U.S. car market but that is down to 19.2 percent this year.
Ford has dropped from 17.3 percent in 1980 to 11.1 percent this year. At the same time, Toyota sales have tripled in the U.S. and Honda sales have doubled.
Both GM and Ford hope the side-by-side advertising campaign will help them demonstrate that they have closed the quality gap with the Japanese automakers.
Ford is bragging about its strong performance in the J.D. Power and Associates initial quality comparisons and GM is touting its five-year, 100,000-mile warranty.
Ford car sales are up following the "Fusion Challenge" so far this year with the automaker selling 66,260 Fusions. By comparison, Toyota has sold 193,900 Camrys during the first five months of the year.
