Obammie Get Your Gun - The Wagoner is Gone!

Finally! It took the President of the most powerful nation on earth, but the entrenched leader of GM, Rick Wagoner is gone! The only thing that is surprising about his departure is how long it took. GM has been a hodge-podge of problems for the last 8 years, at least. Despite much rhetoric from the GM management about how things have and are changing at GM, it is evident that the changes they are talking about - whatever they are - were neither profound enough or grounded on a firm reality check of the current situation.

Now Mr. Wagoner is a history, all eyes will be on GM. It seems evident, however, that the following moves will come about in short order, if the giant is to have any hope of (a) getting the bailout billions they are begging for and (b) survive.

(1) Drastically reduce the duplication in the model lineups. For instance, having essentially identical vehicles badged as Chevrolet's and GMCs is plain silly in the face of the current crisis.

(2) Reduce the dealership network.

(3) Reduce the number of brands. Pontiac lost its sporty image back when big hair was cool, and Buick, long on life support (but helped by vitamin Enclave) needs to go as the second luxury brand. Cadillac is enough.

(4) If you can't sell Hummer, develop it. Yeah, this is counter-intuitive, but Land Rover just celebrated 50 years of Hummer-beaters, and go-anywhere vehicles are still needed around the world. Go global with Hummer products and give Tata Motors a run for their money.

(5) Find out why people love certain models (like the successful Malibu) and hated others (Chevrolet Blazer, Pontiac Aztec). Develop. Repeat.

GM can turn around, with or without bankruptcy. But the question remains: does it have the internal willpower to do so?

Toyota and the Art of Veneration.

Toyota is deservedly revered in the Automotive industry. It has produced a quality product that people find attractive enough to buy and they have an extremely competent management. For many years, automotive publications started to blurt out praise as soon as they saw the "T" in Toyota. Yes, they WERE that good. As a consequence, word has filtered out that a Toyota is a good car, regardless of anything else. It has been wonderful and subtle marketing that has left the competitors in the dust.

Recently, there have been signs of problems, however. Toyota built a huge factory in Texas to churn out full-size pickups and the new Sequioia. The location of the factory, by the way, was not a coincidence - deep in the heart of Pickupland, the idea was to get hard core American Pickup buyers to get in a Texan Toyota. The plan failed big time. The plant opened as the pickup market faltered. There we some recalls early on. Then the Tundra based Sequioa was launched to yawns, as the bottom fell out of the large SUV market as well. The new Venza has been praised for its interior but pelted for its ugly exterior. There are signs that the fabled Toyota quality may be slipping as their ranking falls slightly in JD Powers surveys and others.

The point here is: Beware the media hype. Yes, Toyota does make a good product, but they, just like everyone else, are fallible. Sometimes the industry and its media have great difficulty in separating hype, fiction and genuine facts. Do you remember the 1980's? Japan could do no wrong, we should all learn Japanese, they are the new rulers of the universe. In the early 1990's it was Mexico: it was the land of opportunity, the government was stable, could do no wrong, put your money there today. The car industry and its media is as susceptible as and industrial sector to the art of hype leading to veneration. We can and should learn from successful companies and countries, but learning includes examining mistakes and missteps, and blending them into the whole canvas. By examining only the positive, we create hype which serves only those who are hyped, not the community (consumers, industry and media) and produces a lopsided view of the market.

Technology and Technology Challenged.

There is no doubt about it. Technology in the automotive industry is a good thing: we are safer, cars are greener and passengers revel in entertainment impossible to imagine in the 1970's. There is a point, however, when the auto makers become obsessed with their own technology smarts and run amok.

The prime example is BMW's i-drive. When it was first introduced, you had to labor through screen after screen in order to change the radio station or the volume setting, using a knob on the center console. The latest version is more user friendly but still heavily criticized in the press. Why? Because no-one at BMW asked "why?" that's why. It gets to a point that a simple button is a better alternative to a screen. It has tactile qualities that allow you to feel around for it and punch it without taking your eyes off the road, for example. "i-drive" is complication for complications sake, and as such, reflects the arrogance that exits in BMW's management.

The other piece of technology that sounds awesome but in practice is hardly ever used by the average consumer is voice activated operation. When you see it in advertisements, you see a person crisply ordering the machine to carry out tasks such as calling Mary or taking the happy driver to Zing Ho's House of Dumplings. Having had cars with this feature, know that you must speak in a very specific language that takes up pages of the owners manual, and still gives you answers like "System does not recognize that command" and "Locating Zingers Mouse Droppings". Again, sometimes simpler is better.

Technology for technology's sake is pointless. We can all appreciate improved safety and emissions, an love our high end stereos. But adding gizmo's because they are cool is not a long term trend and is therefore, a waste of time and effort. Does anyone still have a car with a push-button transmission? Chrysler tried that back in the late 50's and it not exactly become the norm.

First, if you have been following this blog, please forgive my lack of writing. I had 2 eye surgeries in the last 12 days, and I have missed the chance to blog as a result. But, like the proverbial bad penny, I am back.

Before surgery, I made my annual pilgrimage to the Cincinnati Auto Expo '09. The mood was subdued, and some manufacturers, such as Mitsubishi, did not show. This bodes ill for the future of the event. Still, there were some interesting vehicles on the floor, and frankly, the opportunity to get up close and personal with so many cars is a gear heads' paradise.

One stand, GM's (and yes, I have been accused of GM bashing, but hey, it is an easy target for my feeble mind), attracted my attention. There was the new Pontiac Solstice coupe. Attractive outside with the sadly expected cheapo interior. This got me thinking about a few of the product missteps that I have observed or read about involving GM products. Let me give three examples:

(1) The Solstice Coupe. BMW just pulled a similar coupe from the market, the Z-4. It did not sell. Why does GM think a Pontiac will do any better? Because it is cheaper? The logic here is that garlic-flavored gum won't sell at 2 dollars a pack, so we will sell it at 1 dollar a pack. It's the garlic flavor, stupid!

(2) The Cadillac XLR is a $100,000 dollar sports car. When Car & Driver tested it after it was launched, they observed that after a rain storm, if you opened the trunk, any water on the trunk lid instantly emptied all over your Louis Vitton luggage. Who tests the designs on these cars? Somehow, I don't think that BMW, Mercedes or Jaguar would have put a car into production with that kind of flaw.

(3) The Tahoe Hybrid uses only electric power in reverse. What if you are towing and need to back up a hill? You can't. 'Nuff said.

Tom Gill, a local Chevy dealer has recently been on television here touting the "buy American" sales line. There ARE good, even great American cars out there. The trouble is, GM does not make enough of them. The product snafus mentioned above point to a far deeper problem within GM, and this writer is not convinced that current management is capable of the necessary change. Ron White, the comedian, said it best: "You can't fix stupid".