Cars, Car Companies and Congress

Seems like Detroit is in a world of hurt right now. All the liberal lefties want to blame it the product line they produce. While the big three are in Washington lobbying congress for their share of the bailout pie, the left is crying that "they should be building hybrids and electric cars" or saying the reason they're in dire straits is that they build cars that "nobody wants".

Detroit builds the cars everybody wants. They don't have just a single line of cars, they build big, small and in between. Contrary to the perception the media and congress would have you believe, GM has more cars that get over 30 mpg than Toyota does. Yes, Toyota builds the Prius. A nice little hybrid car that meets the needs of some people. Toyota also builds the15/19 mpg Tundra, a huge full size pickup truck, and a line of seven SUVs that includes the 13/18 mpg Land Cruiser. All total, the Prius only accounts for about 5% of the units sold for Toyota.

A lot of things have led to the problems Detroit has, but building SUVs isn't one of them. SUV's are the one area where they really made money. Yes, the marketing people in the big three could do a much better job of market research and understanding what Americans want to drive but if they're guilty of anything it's trying to please everyone. In fact, Detroit probably will have to reduce the variety of choices it gives consumers in order to gain some efficiency.

Most lawmakers are lawyers, not engineers or businessmen. They're not the least bit qualified to provide management consulting to any business, let alone a business as complex as automobile manufacturing. They live in a world where the value of the product or service you produce has no direct correlation to the income received. Let's face it, nobody wants what congress produces. According to Rasmussen, only 12% of Americans think congress is doing a good job. The American auto industry on the other hand is actually getting pretty high marks from the American consumer. The Ford Expedition get's a 9.1 on a ten point scale, same for the Chrysler 300. The Corvette gets a 9.3. So now, we have lawyers who are getting a 12% rating advising companies who produce products that get 90% plus ratings that they need to change the products they produce. Now, the government wants all the automakers to move in the direction of smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles but they're very cars that make the least amount of money. Like I said, they're lawyers, not businessmen.

The big three CEO's will do their pandering to congress though. They'll present plans that focus on new lines of fuel efficient cars. The bozos in congress (sorry Bozo, no disrespect intended) will probably even buy the proposals. The average consumer of cars is going to be a tougher sell. In spite of all the buzz around the Toyota Prius, it's not really a huge seller and it's not a profitable car for Toyota. Toyota sells two to three times as many Camry's as they do Prius's.

If the American auto industry is going to survive it's going to need to continue to produce products that American drivers want and they're going to need to do it for a price Americans are willing to pay.

And they're going have to work extra hard to keep the left wing liberals in congress from running their car companies for them.