ULTIMATEORANGESS
05-07-2009, 04:02 PM
http://blog.nj.com/njv_mark_diionno/2009/05/the_big_threes_need_for_innova.html
Automotive News, Media & Press - descent article a coworker showed me.
View Full Version : descent article a coworker showed me.
Spoolin
05-08-2009, 02:26 AM
+1 good article
PopaPork
05-08-2009, 08:29 AM
Great article, really shows all the sides of the problem! Good find, and figures it's from NJ! Go JERZ!
I loved these quotes. "but what grounded the car industry was this: Bottom-line thinking bred mediocrity. Mediocrity pushed customers elsewhere, killing the bottom line."
"In the 1970s, American cars lost all their pizzazz."
"GM makes excellent cars today. The Buick line is as reliable and long-lasting as any German or Japanese luxury brand. Chevy trucks never stop running (my own is up to 310,000 miles and not even huffing or puffing). But the style edge still goes to the foreign cars."
"Can anyone tell the difference between a Ford or a Chevy from 100 feet away? They all look the same. Boring."
"With the government's backing and blessing, they should commit to a new energy source -- like the hydrogen-oxygen car Honda is building, called the FCX Clarity. They should promise to have them in production in five years, tops, and let the filling station entrepreneurs follow. The cars may be lighter and slower, but look where fat and fast has gotten us."
"They could. But they won't. They're stuck in their own past. It's been more than 30 years since the first oil embargo, the day the dual-exhaust music died. And they still don't get it."
These and a few other really show what the problems are....
I loved these quotes. "but what grounded the car industry was this: Bottom-line thinking bred mediocrity. Mediocrity pushed customers elsewhere, killing the bottom line."
"In the 1970s, American cars lost all their pizzazz."
"GM makes excellent cars today. The Buick line is as reliable and long-lasting as any German or Japanese luxury brand. Chevy trucks never stop running (my own is up to 310,000 miles and not even huffing or puffing). But the style edge still goes to the foreign cars."
"Can anyone tell the difference between a Ford or a Chevy from 100 feet away? They all look the same. Boring."
"With the government's backing and blessing, they should commit to a new energy source -- like the hydrogen-oxygen car Honda is building, called the FCX Clarity. They should promise to have them in production in five years, tops, and let the filling station entrepreneurs follow. The cars may be lighter and slower, but look where fat and fast has gotten us."
"They could. But they won't. They're stuck in their own past. It's been more than 30 years since the first oil embargo, the day the dual-exhaust music died. And they still don't get it."
These and a few other really show what the problems are....
ChaseSS
05-08-2009, 04:57 PM
^^^ agreed. If it were as simple as building hydrogen cars it would have been done already. The fact is that there isn't a cost effective way to make them affordable to the general public.
If "innovation" is the sole blame for their downfall, they wouldn't be the 2nd largest automobile manufacturer right now, they still sold more cars than everybody else except toyota. Like I've said a hundred times, there isn't one single reason that the big 3 are failing. There are many reasons: high labor costs, bad management decisions, bad marketing/advertising, legacy costs, etc... the list is long... I would argue that they recently discovered innovation - look at the new CTS, malibu, silverado, corvette, etc... all are top of their class
its hard to be a profitable company when you don't make money on the cars your already selling
If "innovation" is the sole blame for their downfall, they wouldn't be the 2nd largest automobile manufacturer right now, they still sold more cars than everybody else except toyota. Like I've said a hundred times, there isn't one single reason that the big 3 are failing. There are many reasons: high labor costs, bad management decisions, bad marketing/advertising, legacy costs, etc... the list is long... I would argue that they recently discovered innovation - look at the new CTS, malibu, silverado, corvette, etc... all are top of their class
its hard to be a profitable company when you don't make money on the cars your already selling