What Happend Detroit?
Sorry Detroit, my home state, and everyone who is patriotic. I am patriotic, but there comes a time when you have to just move on no matter how hard it is. This may be that time.
I have defended the American Auto industry for a long time. But I have recently conceded that the foreigners may have taken our great industry and made it better. It is not the fault of the Unions, it is not the fault of the Managers, it is not the fault of the CEO and corporate headquarters. It is everyone’s problem, including the consumer.
Lets talk about it in reverse, the easiest way to tell a company that you do not like what they are doing is with your money. Don’t buy their product and they will change until they find out what you want. With the auto industry this has not happened. They have done a tremendous job with their “Buy American” campaign. There is nothing wrong with being patriotic, but if you are buying a product that is consistently getting worse just because of the brand name that is the consumers problem.
Now the “Big Three” have gotten themselves in a bind. They have not changed, instead they have told us what we wanted. That has caused their product to become inferior. Sorry, I am saddened to say, but over all the inexpensive cars of Ford, Chrysler, and GM cannot compete with the inexpensive cars of Toyota, Nissan, and Hyundai. The high end cars of Ford, Chrysler, and GM cannot compete with the high end cars of BMW, Mercedes, and Lexus (which really just is a nice Toyota). The only thing that is saving them is the nice trucks that they produce, but they need to be careful. If they also become complacent with their trucks Nissan and Toyota will overtake them in this category also.
What is the other problem? Henry Ford came up with the best and most efficient model for manufacturing ever. EVER! Now the Japanese and Koreans have made it better. What have the Americans done? I am saddened again to say they have made it worse. The combination of overpaying its employees, acceptance of poor quality standards (I can’t wait to see the comments from the UAW), and the mismanagement of the company leaders has lead the American Auto Industry to where it is at.
I have a huge problem with this. The people who work for the companies, including several of my own family members, are great people. The companies have no reason to be in such pain and sorrow. How did this happen?
We live a great life here. We have a lot of great things in our garage and attics. We have beautiful homes compared to the rest of the World. We have become complacent. We have fallen into the trap of every Championship team except for the UCLA Men’s Basketball team and Lance Armstrong. Every other championship team or person has gotten complacent in their actions. Micheal Jordan the most competitive man on earth other than Lance Armstrong got so board with basketball that he quit and tried baseball. The greatest winning streak of all time…110 years in a row…25 consecutive championships in the America’s Cup Sailing Competition the Americans resorted to a multi-hulled boat challenging the rules finally giving up the title. From 1870 to 1980 Americans ruled the sailing world. Since 1995 we haven’t even made the finals. We simply got complacent.
So how do we change? Just like all great sports teams do, they retool, take a few beatings, but plan for the long run. How does Detroit do this. Reduce, resize, remodel, and reload. Take aim and fire. It can be done and we will do it, but please be patient, everyone from the government to the auto industry needs to just take a deep breath, we will get through this if we plan. If we just shoot randomly we will falter greatly.
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