Joel Gajewski wrote:
As sad as it is for life in Detroit, the US auto industry has not
exactly learned any lessons from the 70's/80's when foreign cars
started picking up in terms of sales. Plus, they neglect the American
market in terms of style, performance and most importantly quality.
They should have known that their business plans based on large trucks
and SUV's in the 1990's would only last for so long.
I'm not from Detroit, so Detroiters, feel free to tell me to STFU.
But I do have this observation to make:
I just came back from a 2 1/2 week trek to Tanzania & Zanzibar.
Discounting the usual big Land Rover and Land Cruiser vehicles that are
the staples of the safari tour co.'s, when it comes to passenger cars
and non-commercial vehicles, I'd say that at least 95% of the total
vehicles I saw in that category in the country were Japanese. I don't
recall seeing a single GM or Ford vehicle there at all. While being
driven to my hotel in Dar es Salaam, we fell in behind a vehicle from
the American Embassy. It was a (consumer) Land Cruiser. Oh the irony.
It seems so simple to fix - the Big 3 should switch to making good,
cheap (so a lot of the population can afford it) reliable small cars
that get good gas mileage and that're easy to fix, and do this globally
so that an ecosystem can spring up around it and ensure that people can
get them fixed easily if they have problems.
But at the same time, discounting their world-wide presence for a
moment, the US automakers are at the whims of the American consumer. If
suddenly tomorrow GM and Ford and Chrysler sent reps to Tanzania and
discovered the Japanese blanket coverage there and tried to emulate it,
what if consumers back home won't buy them? What if, now that gas is
down (to $2.65 for Premium out here in LA; undoubtedly less in other
places, and obviously less than that for Regular) a bit, the usual
American penchant for overconsumption kicks back in and they decide they
want their guzzling SUVs and huge trucks again?
The Big 3 are like a lumbering beast, unable to turn on a dime and do
the right thing for the environment and the economy, but it's the
American buying public that are equally to blame. I don't have an
answer to their ills - it seems like a classic Catch-22. I wish I did -
for the sake of all my Detroit friends whose livelihoods are affected
either directly or indirectly by the Auto Industry. And so that people
can go back to going to shows - and support Detroit's music scene.
- Greg
