I find it mildly amusing that when I'm watching TV and I see ads from Honda and Toyota which talk about the fuel economies of their cars, but the ads from GM and Ford talk about how my car can be faster or more powerful. With oil prices going over $70 a barrel and gas prices over $3 a gallon, I think most people are more concerned about fuel costs. But, this isn't the first time the Detroit has entirely missed the boat, and that is probably what is causing their financial woes more than what they like to market as using "expensive American workers."
But, there is a still a huge window of opportunity. The most popular fuel efficient car, the Prius, had a major design goal of being built in a "standard" automobile plant. While this makes the original deployment cheaper for what at the time was a risky endeavor, today's sales should be able to justify a new way of thinking about building cars. There is no reason that the next generation of designs has to conform to that thinking. And, I predict that those who ditch current production techniques in favor of producing greener designs are those who will win in the automobile industry.
You might think I'm crazy, modern automobile plants are complex and expensive. But, if you think about it, there are specialty cars like the Corvette that are made in small runs that would be cheap to change as new techniques are being developed. And, the idea of hybrid muscle cars isn't crazy.
What if Detroit could keep all the same ads and add the fuel economy ones too?
posted Apr 20, 2006 | permanent link
