The Pursuit of Stupidity

I have to start wondering if American car companies even want to be successful. A part of me doubts it. For a while, SUVs were selling like hotcakes and given that the markup on them was higher than any other vehicle, you could understand why the "big" 3 were making them to the exclusion of R&D on practically anything else, including small cars and electric and hybrid powerplants.

So, when oil started spiking and people starting migrating in droves to smaller vehicles, American auto was caught with their pants down. What was there response? The "crossover," like the Ford Edge pictured here. Not quite an SUV, not quite a car, but still plenty of profit padding built in. Instead of seeing the future that everyone, even those in the oil industry, have now accepted, American car companies just refused to let go of their outdated business model. So what do I read in the paper yesterday? Predictably, that crossover sales are plummeting and once again U.S. auto is wringing its hands.

These bastards continue to gamble with the lives of millions of Americans all so that they can continue to extract the last penny out of people for these overpriced, ridiculous vehicles. Now they tout how fuel efficient they are. Hello? Detroit? 25mpg is not fuel efficient. And, by the way, that 25mpg is the EPA estimated economy and we all know that estimate is based on wildly inaccurate assumptions about actual use. The person plunking down their money for this idiotic contraption will be lucky to get 17mpg.

For years Detroit has been telling us that they only build what America wants. Bullshit. If they never built a massive SUV, Americans would still be driving sedans and station wagons. All these people who somehow think they NEED an SUV would have managed without them, just like we did for the first 90 years of the automobile industry. People have smaller families in the U.S. than ever before so why do we need bigger vehicles? The reason is because, as I've said before on this blog, Americans have trouble thinking for themselves. They bought, hook, line, and sinker, the manufacturers vision of the glamour of SUVs. You neighbor has one and you're not going to let him have a bigger car than you, right? RIGHT??? Can't have that happen. This is America. It's my God-given right to one-up my neighbors and friends.

You know, I'm pretty sure kids will eat Ding Dongs all day if you let them. That doesn't mean it is a good idea. The car, er, truck companies fed Americans these behemoths because they made an astounding profit on each one, pure and simple. And these vehicles appealed to American ego and the sense that bigger is always better. So when SUV sales tanked and the CEO of GM started worrying about making the next payment on his mansion in Ft. Lauderdale, the answer was clear. Crossovers.

Now those are tanking too and American auto is still at least a couple years behind Japanese technology on hybrids and electric vehicles. Hyundai and Kia sales have been soaring and they don't even make hybrids. They make small, fuel efficient cars. The kind people want now. The kind that the big 3 automakers are currently ill-equipped to build. So there will probably be more plant closings and layoffs and regular middle-class people getting hurt by the myopic greed of the decision makers at these companies. But don't worry, the executives will be okay. They've packaged their salaries and perks to be recession-proof. They'll weather the storm and when the economy starts growing again, I'm sure they'll have some forward thinking designs to sell us. Anyone interested in the Model-T?