General Motors suffering setbacks in trendy cities

Cities that set buying trends for the rest of the country increasingly are turning to foreign cars despite General Motors Corp.’s attempts to win back buyers.

Sales of Chevrolets, Buicks and other GM brands are slipping in places like New York, Los Angeles and Miami as the Detroit automaker pours resources into reinforcing an image of rising quality, according to Bloomberg.

In New York, for example, Toyota has a 4 percentage point lead in market share; just five years ago, GM was ahead by 4.5 points.

“You can almost re-enter the market like you would enter a new country,” Mark LaNeve, who heads the company’s North American sales and marketing.

GM plans to introduce subcompacts at the New York International Auto Show tomorrow that are capable of achieving 40 miles per gallon.