Needed: A new generation of car guys for GM
As a presidential candidate in 2007, Barack Obama and his daughter Sasha drove a car not much smaller than the Chevy Spark. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
In Detroit, they call them “car guys,” the people with gasoline in their veins who love automobiles for what they are and might be, not for being units on a spreadsheet or instruments of social policy.
At the heart of the consternation over Monday’s bankruptcy filing by General Motors and the news that American taxpayers will now own 60 percent of this fallen industrial colossus is this question: Is President Barack Obama a car guy?
“What I have no interest in doing,” the president said Monday, “is running GM. GM will be run by a private board of directors and management team with a track record in American manufacturing that reflects a commitment to innovation and quality. They — and not the government — will call the shots and make the decisions about how to turn this company around.”
Perhaps so, but there’s skepticism all along the political spectrum about that. The Obama administration already has pressured GM into changing its mind about building the Chevy Spark in Asia. Instead, as a concession to the United Auto Workers, the fuel-efficienct mini will be built in the United States.
A Spark prototype, in metallic pea.
That’s a good thing for autoworkers, but maybe not such a good thing for GM. What if customers don’t want to buy 160,000 four-door minicars a year? Particularly if they cost more because they’re build by union labor.
What if GM’s management team falls back on the old reliables: big (albeit more fuel-efficient) sedans, light trucks and SUVs? How does this serve the social goal of moving the United States to energy independence? If the government is going to be in the car business to the tune of $50 billion, can it resist the urge to tinker with buying habits?
Or should it even try to resist that urge? The era of cheap energy that made General Motors the largest industrial corporation on earth and transformed America is coming to an end. Maybe this is the time, and GM is the tool, to begin changing attitudes.
The history of government intervention in auto markets is mixed. Tito’s Yugoslavia had a hand in the Zastava works that marketed the car known as the “Yugo” in the United States. The East German government gave its people the Trabant, the ugliest, dirtiest and least-reliable car ever made.
On the other hand, the United States military wartime industrialization methods — abandoned in the United States after 1945 — became the basis for Toyota Motor Co.’s kaizen (continual improvement) philosophy that created some of the best cars in the world.
Government and private industry can both do it right when they have to, as in during World War II. We would argue that given the state of the economy and challenges of the environment and energy supplies, this is another of those times.
Only that kind of emergency would justify the extraordinary government intervention in GM. Generations of private decision-makers had their chance to remake the auto manufacturer. Their first allegiance was short-term gain, both private and corporate. The United Auto Workers took its cue from them.
The industry had a great 80-year run, but a business model predicated on cheap gasoline is no longer sustainable.
The new GM needs a new kind of car guy: Designing and building great American cars is now just part of the job. They must also salvage good jobs and preserve America’s industrial base while creating a new business model: sustainable, flexible and yes, socially conscious.
Don’t forget the Lada.
There is plenty of oil in the world, forget social goals, Americans talk this game about enery independance but they won’t buy those small cars. Auto companies will build what people will buy
Where is Lee Iacocca when you need him? He may be old but he’s smarter than any board of directors the President could name. He saved Ford, he saved Chrysler, It’d be nice if they let him save GM.
“Car guys”? My guess is that like everywhere else car enthusiasts in Detroit are called Gear Heads. Not a derogatory term, many of my friends and relatives are Gear Heads. The only “car guys” I know are on NPR, and have a column in the Post on Fridays. Click and Clack, the Tappit Brothers, Tom and Ray Malliozzi. Please excuse me if I misspelled their last name.
If for no other reason than preserving our ability as a country to build armament for our defense we need to save the auto industry. In WW2 the entire auto industry was converted to building planes, tanks, etc. We need a manufacturing base for strategic purposes. Lose that ability and we become vulnerable to every cheap dictator out there.
………2009 EPA Chevrolet-Toyota fuel mileage: Cobalt 25/35-Corolla 27/35, Malibu 22/33-Camry 21/31, Silverado 15/20-Tundra 15/19, Tahoe 14/20-Sequoia 13/18…..clearly fuel effecient cars isn’t the problem with GM.
I read once where most of the Japanese cars were actually designed in California. We have the ability and talent to design cars people want. Problem is, those people don’t work for the car companies. They work for Apple. I’ll bet Steve Jobs could design a car in about two weeks and they couldn’t keep it in stock. Bring us the iCar
Lee Iococa is still alive. He just lost his lifetime company car and pension last week.
To Crashtest,
You’re right fuel efficiency isn’t the problem. We can’t compete with manufacturers that have national universal health care. Their labor costs are cheaper. Even the plants they build in the U.S. are subsidized by the fact that they are newer and don’t have the burdens of as many retirees and an older workforce. Remember when getting a job with a big company meant you had a “good” job with some security, and benefits to keep you healthy, and better than a living wage so life could be enjoyable and you could pass on a better life to your kids? Unions fought for all those benefits and raised the standard of living for workers in this country. Now I see them being vilified by their fellow citizens who reaped those benefits as well. It’s absolutely shameful.
Cheerleading for fascists. Way to go Post-Dispatch!
Like millions of other Americans turned off by this blatant rip-off, I won’t buy a GM or Chryseler product until the companies are returned completely to private investors and the American taxpayer is repayed the billions the Obama government has wasted on them.
Unions have priced themselves out of the market. Right or worng, very few people are willing to pay hundreds of dollars more for the same item to support Union pay scale and their retirees. Chevy (in my opinion) makes a car equal to or better than any ANY vehicle sold. People buy on price. You can get more car for less money with an American built Toyota because they do not have the burden of paying a UAW retiree that retired 20 years ago. I’m not wanting to bash Unions but again, when looking a basically the same thing… who is willing to pay $4 for a hamburger when you can get one for $2?
Ironic(?) that this “new generation” the PD thinks would be so awesome is led by unqualified, clueless, partisan hack.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/01/business/01deese.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss