Pretty Car on the Street

Who Could Resist the Mini Cooper?

You can call me an old party pooper
For not going along with the mob
But who could resist the Mini Cooper
After seeing "The Italian Job"?

© 2002 by Michael J. Farrand

Of Course There Are Drawbacks

New Yorker, August 2005 issue.

General's Move

General Motors should . .

1. GO METRIC so they can . .
   
2. GO GLOBAL making cars that compete in all markets around the world like their competitors do. Saab makes cars that are competitive worldwide. So does the G.M. German subsidiary. Bring in the engineering smarts from "over there". But at the same time . .
   
3. GO AMERICAN emphasize traditional American strengths, such as pick-ups, SUV's, full-sized cars, V-8's, and muscle cars, which also happen to be high-profit when done right.
   
4. GO LEAN drop Pontiac (shifting quality cars to surviving groups), combine Saab with Saturn (or just drop Saturn, it's not distinctive anymore), distinguish the truck missions of GMC (focus on work? go up-scale?) and Chevrolet (focus on consumer?). Ditch the requirement to make a car for every segment, just meet Toyota head-to-head with Chevrolet products, Acura head-to-head with Buick, and Lexis head-to-head with Cadillac. Discontinue all models that aren't making money, except where a hard argument can be made that they drive traffic to the showrooms, maintain customer loyalty, or lead to move-ups later.
   
5. GO DISTINCTIVE like Cadillac has done so successfully; like Hummer has done.
   
6. GO GOVERNMENT make the pitch to the U.S. Federal government regarding "legacy costs" and how to be competitive with global interests who don't shoulder them to the same degree. Use the government to bargain with the unions to combat their anti-competitive effect.

Worst Case for Ford

If it comes to it, Ford Motor Company could . .

1. Close down Mercury.
2. Sell Mazda to the Koreans; it's in better shape now than it was.
3. Sell Aston-Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover, and Volvo to the Germans; all are in much better shape than they were when Ford bought them.
4. Keep or sell Hertz depending on the advantages it gets from the rental car market, and the testing and feedback from rental car customers.
5. Consolidate around Ford and Lincoln, emphasizing those things American car companies do well, i.e., big cars and trucks, but also competing head-to-head with the Japanese--say Honda--on all things they do well.