Meanwhile, there was a piece on the ABC evening news tonight, about the Chinese automaker’s and their autonomous/self driving capabilities being a “national security risk” to the US.
…anything to protect the US auto industry…anything
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The term “The Big 3” is still Ford, GM, Chrysler. Yes, Chrysler is arguably not a US automaker (but I’d argue it is, as the majority of their sales and production is in the US - or at least North America - along with the Chrysler division headquarters). History and all, you know.
The largest 3 may well be different today (my understanding is that Toyota now makes and sells more cars in the US than Chrysler). But that is a different issue.
“The Big Three” hasn’t changed. It’s a conventional short hand. If you want question someone on their use of that in a specific setting, I have no problem with that. But I would suggest being clear that you aren’t trying to change the term, but instead you are questioning whether those are the right automakers to be talking about.
Backing up to your original post in this thread, I believe you knew full well which automakers were being referred to. Yet you questioned the term and tried to change its meaning rather than accept the commonly understood meaning and question whether GM, Ford, and Chrysler was the right companies to consider.
Asking if those are the right companies is a legitimate question. Playing dumb and trying to swap in Tesla for Chrysler is disingenuous. Particularly since Chrysler (and Toyota and Honda and Hyundai and Nissan and maybe one or two others) sell more cars in the US than Tesla.
–Peter
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Nah, that was just a tongue in cheek comment! Tesla is obviously still small compared to the others (GM and Ford). But they are growing faster, so maybe someday soon they will be part of what someone might call “big” US auto companies.