American Cars
Driving home from work today, I happened to find myself behind a very ugly Buick SUV or minivan of some sort. Like some sort of candy, the car’s rear seemed designed to be striped. A black rear window, a red stripe of lights, a stripe of paint (the vehicle was blue in this case) and a black bumper. I was shocked at this terrible design. That got me thinking about the state of the car industry today. Recently it was announced that Toyota sold more cars in the United States (for the last quarter) than Ford did. Earlier this year (or late last, perhaps) Toyator surpassed GM to become the world’s largest car maker. And I myself, of course, recently purchased a Honda. So what has gone wrong with American car makers today? Here are my thoughts on the subject.
A) Reactionists, not Radicals. It seems that the American car companies seem bound, for the most part, to follow trends, not set them. This is not true in all cases or entirely true for every situation, but even when it is partially true, it has devestating consequences. Case in point: SUVs. I don’t know whether American car makers or low gas prices had more to do with the rise in popularity of the SUV, but either way, just a few years ago they were still all the rage. American car makers were on top of that trend. But as gas prices rose, people started to realize that it was an expensive proposition to purchase a vehicle that got 12 mpg. Still, however, American car makers plowed forward. It has only been in the last year or so, facing huge losses, that American car makers have tried to make better, more fuel efficient small cars and produce hybrid SUVs. They failed to look to the future and lead the way, instead satisfied to go with what worked in the past.
B) Terrible design. Have you seen Ford’s new sedans the Five Hundred and the Fusion? There is nothing to motivate a person now driving a different car make (and happy with it) to switch to Ford. The cars look dull and unintersting. Positive reviews of the Fusion don’t seem to be helping any either. A solid, well-made car without good design will fail. I believe this is the reason it took Toyota and Honda a very long time to gain dominance in the US market. They have both been selling cars here for a long time, but have only recently achieved dominance over US makers, as their designed continue to get classier and sportier.
C) Too many makes! With each American car company (except Chrysler, and god knows they’ve had way more than their fair share of troubles) carrying multiple makes, how much creativity can come from the company? GM has Chevrolet, GMC, Jaguar, Buick, Cadillac, Saturn, Oldsmobile, Saab, Hummer, and Pontiac. Some they’ve bought, some they’ve developed. In contrast, the world’s largest auto maker Toyota has Toyota, Lexus, Scion, and I think they own LandRover or RangeRover. But that’s it! With so much attention paid by the big makers to producing different and unique vehicles for all those makes, it’s no wonder they can’t come out with a good product more than once in a while.
D) Too much focus on cutting costs, not enough focus on making more money. Slash, slash, slash is all you hear these days from American car makers. They’re laying off this many employees, and closing these factories. In the mean time, their cars are not getting redesigned. Old makes aren’t getting retired fast enough. There are far too few signed of transition from within their enterprises. They do nothing to keep their product fresh, only keep their employees on their toes with the constant threat of layoffs. But Japanese car makers seem to constantly push the envelope, while still seeming to play it safe and not make mistakes. Camry, the best selling car in America, just went thru a major redesign. They realize that they have to constantly cement their lead, not stay confident that success is guaranteed.
So that’s the word from me on annoying American cars. I’m very happy to be driving a Honda. And what with Toyota and Honda both building new factories in the US, buying “foreign” now means supporting the American worker even more. As of right now, there is no reason, in my mind, to buy an American car.
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