The Cars Were Never Better — But It Probably Doesn’t Matter
By Eric Peters, Automotive Columnist
The collapse of the U.S. auto industry would be easier to take if the cars were junk.
That’s how it was the last time one of the Big Three (Chrysler) went belly up back in 1979. If you’re old enough to remember the Cordoba, you know what I’m talking about. It was easy to comprehend the failure of late ’70s-era Chrysler because Chrysler’s cars of that period were junk. People tend not to buy junk — end of story. Simple relationship. Cause and effect.
But today?
Never have the products of the Big Three — especially GM and Ford — been as good as they are right now. The incidence of problems, recalls, etc. is actually lower for some American-brand cars than for Toyota and Honda. By any objective measure, parity, at the very least, has been achieved. The cars are damn good. But they’re not selling.
How do you fix a problem like that?
The cruel answer is, it’s not up to GM or Ford anymore. They have done almost everything they can, on the product side. What’s coming home to roost is a deadly trifecta of lingering buyer suspicion of American-brand cars combined with soaring gas prices and an economy in free fall.
You can fault the American car companies for the first item — the unpleasant legacy of Pintos past, so to speak — but the other two are completely beyond their control.
Some fault GM, Ford and Chrysler for building too many big trucks and SUVs. But that is what the market wanted — until quite recently. The car industry does not turn on a dime. It is not like making a candy bar or a plastic bucket. Millions of dollars and several years (24-36 months is typical) are needed to design a brand-new, wheels-up new car model and bring it from design sketch to production. The surge in gas prices came upon us — and the auto industry — suddenly.
Those who fault GM, Ford and Chrysler for not anticipating the uptick forget that every single major Japanese automaker was feverishly working on gigantosaurs of their own circa 2000-2004 — from the aptly named Nissan Titan to the monstrous Toyota Tundra. But they got to the party late — and their exposure was minimal as the feces began to hit the fan. It was relatively painless to throttle back (Nissan and Toyota may actually cancel their big trucks) and re-focus on what they have historically always done best — passenger cars.
But the backdrop issue is the collapse of the consumerist economy. What’s forgotten amid all the hair-pulling and gnashing of teeth is the simple fact that people, in the main, were only able to “buy” cars — irrespective of who made them, whether Americans or Japanese or Germans — by signing up for a big fat loan on the easy monthly payment plan.
Often, few, if any, questions were asked.
Credit and loans made it possible for even average middle income people to drive home in $45,000 vehicles (SUVs and cars). Now that credit has dried up, the party’s over. No one’s buying anything — because no one can afford to buy a damn thing. Gas mileage is a bogey. The truth is most of today’s middle-large sedans don’t deliver much better fuel economy than trucks and SUVs. About 5-8 mpgs or so better. Big whoop. If the car in question has a V-8, there is virtually no difference. Minivans are obnoxious pigs — with typical city mileage in the mid-high teens, as bad or worse than a new Escalade.
No, the problem is we’re tapped out. We can’t afford gas because we can’t afford anything. That includes cars.
Which is why the cars aren’t selling. Which is why the $25 billion bailout won’t do much except temporarily preserve the jobs of those unlucky souls working directly or indirectly for the industry.
Until the broad masses are once again in a position to buy expensive consumer goods such as automobiles, no amount of bailout boodle is going to solve the problem. Trillions in hopelessly unrecoverable debt is going to have to pass through the economy’s colon first. Then, incomes — and income stability — will have to rise, so that people not only have disposable income once more but feel reasonably secure in their jobs so that they’re willing to sign up for a big hunk of debt.
Do any of you see this happening in the near-term future? Me either.
So, we’re left with the cruel irony of an industry that has never built better products that is on life support — and not likely to recover.
Because for it to recover, we’ve got to recover first.
And no one’s offering us a bailout.
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They are right cars of today are never better they made junk back in the 1970′s with the 1973 model year the worst year for cars I just purchased a new GM car and I am very impressed how much better the quality is today.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my Audi and there is no doubt German cars are very good. My point is that in the past 10 years or so it was easy for someone of more modest means to lease an Audi or BMW, but going forward that may not be so. Therefore, we might see more Americans looking for less costly alternatives and I think it fair to say that some of the new products from Ford and GM are pretty good alternatives.
Buy a proper motorhome or sprinter camper van.
http://www.airstream.com/products/2008-fleet/index.html
http://www.midwestautomotivedesigns.com/?page=model&model=9
Never need a truck? Try pulling a 35-foot 5th wheel camper with a VW Golf diesel. Ha Ha Ha !!!
The German brands can more than hold their own. They are the only car maker NOT losing a profit. Because they offer people FUEL EFFICIENT (diesel) & SAFE cars. Just not fuel efficient models for the US market. But that is changing. If they gave us the EU transmissions for the US market, they’d all be getting 35+ mpg. Like was proven with a Porsche 911 turbo recently.
There are so many luxury and safety features you can’t get on US cars, or that were invented by the Germans that are now being forced to be incorporated into US car safety. ESP – Mercedes.
It’s only been in the past year or so they’re even willing to put XENON headlights on cars, (and still no auto leveling), or use PROJECTOR headlight housings which focus light, or NAV systems, which my Audi had EIGHT years ago, along with whiplash protection headrests and 8 airbags. Yeah it cost 48,000 – but you can find them used and just as good as new for HALF that, and be safer than in ANY US pig rig.
Not to mention diesel is still superior to hybrid gas. And I would rather use alcohol to fuel my car anyway over both, which can be done cheaply.
If you need a truck, buy a station wagon. You’ll be safer. You can always rent a truck if and WHEN anyone ever needs one, which is never.
Easy credit has helped the Euro brands and the premium Japanese brands. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of years to see if they can hold their own. For myself, I have an Audi A6 and a BMW 330ci now, but in the next year will likely trade the Audi for a Ford Flex and the Bimmer for something like the new LaCrosse or Fusion Hybrid.
Had the bimmer for three years – would not buy another one = crappy interior, rough ride. Love the Audi, but the new ones are just too pricey now that easy credit is gone…..
The new American cars look good both inside and out and the quality is there.
One thing you left out is customer service. The Big 3 have had horrible customer service records. Even if the cars have improved quality wise, there are too many people that remember when the cars weren’t quality and how they were treated by the Big 3 companies when the cars broke.
This is especially true of GM. I for one, will never buy another GM car because the the problems I had and how both the dealer and corporate office handled it (or didn’t handle it). GM’s wounds are self inflicted and if they fail, they shouldn’t be bailed out.
Rich Corinthian leather !
Jeff you look it up and find out why 10 mpg cars will not be sold.
Sure, the cars may have never been better – now. What about the last 30 years? Or even the last 5 years? This is a classic case of “too little, too late.”
Let em burn, we’ll be a stronger country in the long run.
My top 3 favorite vehicles are the 2009 Volkswagen Jetta SE, Farrari 612 Scagliet, and the 2009 Range Rover HSE.
I like the style of the 2008 Honda Civic but for a regular everday driving car the front end is too low to the ground and the seats aren’t that comfrotable.
Some people think the new 2010 Chevy Camaro is not nice looking but I think it’s great.
The older Japanese cars hardly had any power such as the older Honda Civics. I would hate take a family of 5 in a Civic to San Fransico because the Hondas little 1.8 will have to work really hard to climb a big hill there. The Honda Insight is even more worst that the Civic.
Overall regular Japanese cars don’t have as much power at lower rpms. This is why I like German cars because they tend to have more power at lower rpms.
Why won’t a car getting 25 mpg be sold in the US? Mercedes and BMW are selling cars with V12 gas engines that only get 10mpg.
That’s why there are diesel German cars that get 30-70 mpg. And even the 4cyl turbos get 35-38, while the twin turbo V6 5v in mine gets 30.
It’s just they’re NOT SELLING THEM here. Cripes, even the twin turbo Audi D3 A8 diesel got 40mpg on TOP GEAR. But BMW in its wisdom decided no, a NA diesel with 40+ mpg isn’t good enough, we need to give the US market a FI twin turbo diesel 6 at 30 mpg and charge 35k+
And I’ll take my AWD with snow tires anyday.
no spikes but i frequently ride in the snow and am wanting a Toyota Hilux for the winters well i already got mine so i dont care
john I would like to see you ride your bike around here the past few weeks. Do you have spikes to ride on ice?
Is the M3 the one that tops our at 20 mpg? Like I said you will not be able to buy one of those around here soon.
Fleet Admiral Autobahn a car getting only 25 mpg will not be able to be sold in the US soon.
i have an m3 gas mileage isn’t my thing i bought it for taking turns i ride my bike if im thinking about fuel mileage i can get 40mpg at about 100mph i payed $6500 and i have a great car if you obsessed with owning new, BMW isn’t the cheapest but then there again you get what you pay for
Take an Audi 4.2 V8, 300-360HP. Compare it to a ford flotsam 4.6 V8 235 HP, or 300? in a mustang, unless it has a 5.- whatever.
Now drop the Audi V8 into a $50,000 car that has AWD, BI-xenons, ESP, 8 airbags, 4 heated seats, nav, parking sensors, dimming rear/ext mirrors, radio with RBDS, driver info display with sensors for all kinds of goodies – to a caddy crapcalade with NON of that for the same 50k.
Plus the caddy is a hog, while the Audi can manage 25 mpg. And the allroad had an option later for a 6spd man with the V8. This was mid 2003-04, and most likely true still since the big stooges never innovate. They even refused to add tilting headrests to protect against whiplash saying it will add 35 cents to the car and buyers won’t stand for it and it’ll bankrupt them. THEY WERE ALREADY BANKRUPT, and HAVE been for decades.
What’s hurting the euro makers here is the fact they either force every option on you, or barebones. But in the EU you get to option your car out EXACTLY how you want it. None of these “packages” that add 2k to the price when you only wanted 1 option. And also the fact they are now bringing these UNeconomical twin turbo diesel beasts here when diesel is higher. You think they’d be smarter than that since they build the most enthralling cars in the world, and NO one can say otherwise. Given the choice, EVERYONE would drive a BMW / Audi / VW / Merc. over what pice of crap comes out of Deeetroit.
Nissan GT-R? Asians? They only got there off the backs of the Germans. Dismantling the Porsche, and every other car, backengineering it, then reassembling it piece by piece. And they STILL couldn’t match it around the Nürburgring without putting professor c3p0 in the backseat.
My A6 2.7T is 8 yrs old, and still bests anything on the road. It’s loaded with tech (nav -even if it’s CD based & outdated) and safety, and that’s why I don’t need a new one because there’s nothing much “new” in the new ones. They’ve outdone themselves with a long lasting car. If I were to buy a new one it would be a diesel Audi. Something you’ll not see the 3 stooges outputting probably ever.
Not to mention hydrogen vehicles are on the way in, thanks to the Germans and Asians. BMW has a 7 series that runs off pure hydro, and Merc has had a fleet of fuel cell buses running around Europe since 2004, and building hydro infrastructure for refueling. Honda has the FCX soon as well.
http://jalopnik.com/5111798/top-gear-reviews-honda-fcx-clarity
john how many BMWs do they have that you can buy under $15,000? That is what my car cost after taxes and it was built by one of the big three and I am getting over 40 mpg. I am glad I have front wheel drive in this weather we are having in the north. By the way I have my other US car yet that I have been driving a lot in the bad weather and it has 210,000 miles.
some of you all will argue with my statement go ahead im use to it but go drive a German car especially a bmw and you will know why the big three are in trouble even the Japanese cars are far superior now if all these car companies would pull there heads out of there @$$e$ and ditch front wheel drive and bring there quality standards up it would be a major improvment
Corey I heard once that airbags are more dangerous to have in a vehicle if you are not wearing a seatbelt in an accident.
Ralph Nader stated that vehicles needed to be more safer and not keep having “witch hunts” for so called “bad drivers”. Fatalities have dropped since the 1980′s due to mandatory safety features in cars. Cars should have airbags and seatbelts but people should have a choice in seatbelts.
I remember a lot of late 70s junk from foreign automakers. Fiat, Toyota, Datsun, Honda, VW, MG, Peugeot, Renault, etc. The late 70s VW Rabbit have to be paid for twice – 1st when you picked it up at the dealer and the 2nd time when you had to replace every part on it. The 1978 Honda Civic had a 2-speed automatic transmission (real high tech !).