State of the US Auto Industry
The US auto industry is in a very sad state of affairs and no amount of US taxpayer’s money can solve the years of misguided leadership!
Maybe one day in the immediate future there won’t even be a US auto industry! Think that statement is farfetched? Where then is the US manufactured television industry? Or for that matter, many other inventions otherwise created in the USA but are no longer made there? There will probably always be cars manufactured in the USA, but these are brands owned by foreign auto makers like Honda, Toyota, Hyundai and many others. American brands will be sold off to foreign manufacturers in the long run and will then imported back from China or Korea or India one day.
Why is this indeed the case? What happened to the American brands such as the once mighty and powerful GM and Chrysler? Why did these giants require taxpayer’s money to bail them out only to have that fail miserably as well?
“Planned Obsolescence” was the buzz word ringing through the many a management office of old Detroit! Making cars that would make the parts suppliers rich, including Detroit of course, was the order of the decades! Everything in the car carefully designed and orchestrated to require replacement almost right away. Shocks that would be worn out by the time the buyer got home. Brakes, tires, you-name-the-part would be worn out and in need of replacement almost right away or it would put the driver and passengers at dangerous risk! Sell ‘em cheap (crappy cars) and keep ‘em coming back for more (parts)! Ha! Even the petroleum companies were minting the coins as well and still are…. That is yet another commentary for another time…
“Follow the leader”, “Me too”, “Take absolutely no creative risks” and other similar slogans and strategies were what kept Detroit cluelessly churning for many decades, until now. Seems the old management standby vehicle has HIT the wall. Parts are everywhere and the human casualties are too numerous to account for. So much for thinking outside of the box, or crumble zone!
Historically, Detroit has always been very late to the party in trying to capitalize on any meaningful trends that were apparent in the marketplace. That is how we were blessed with cars like the Ford Pinto and the Chevrolet Vega as well as the American Motors Gremlin among others, many others, too many others…
These cars were rolling grenades, especially the Pinto with its own “match to the bomb” rear-end technology (fuse) and the American Motors Gremlin, a car truly worthy of its name! How about the infamous Chevrolet Corvair? A car many loved for reasons I never understood (and it happens to be my first ever car) so I know firsthand what I am talking about. In fact a ’60 model Monza that I spent more time taking, or rather dropping the engine/trans assembly from the bottom in order to fix one stupid ill after another (until I could do it in record time). A Volkswagen Beetle it was not, ever! “Deadly at any speed” it was…! Remember the Ford Edsel? We won’t even go there…
There have been so many turkeys and lemons in the line-up that Detroit should have given out turkey sandwiches and lemonade to everyone in the US for their perseverance in believing in that aspect of the American dream. Most American auto makers mastered the “institutional” form of advertising in order to brainwash people in into buying cars that were friendly instead of technologically superior to the foreign models. Reliability through technological brilliance never seemed to dawn on the US auto manufacturers. They would only update and improve their product if they had too! And usually these changes come only if the foreign cars have pushed them to with superior product at more reasonable prices.
Chrysler now sold and GM rapidly going kaput is now not only a sign of the times, but rather victims of their own “obsolescence” in strategic thinking. It is no wonder that this market condition has finally come to fruition. And why should the US taxpayers foot the bill for the stupidity and arrogance of what decades of incompetence have caused! The American consumers aren’t even purchasing enough of these clunkers so why should they foot the bill to keep them afloat? Survival belongs to the fittest!
When the leaders of Detroit went to Washington to ask for huge amounts of money to save their asses, they flew there in Private Jets! It only reinforced the idea that their time has come once and for all. Too bad that so many workers will suffer the price of failed management…
The auto industry has become bloated and ignored best practices for decades. I do not think they will recover.