What's good for GM.....

Is good for the country... right? That's how the saying goes anyway. I've heard lots of historical analyses around how and why the auto industry is on the brink of bankruptcy. Here is one consumer's point of view.

I am disgusted with the industry at large. They certainly do not deserve a bail out. They are in this situation by their own fault. It is compassion for the workers and the simple fact that the auto industry is a huge segment of our economy that I will swallow hard and accept the inevitable.

My opinion is based on my own experience. My wife and I bought a brand new Chevy in 1980. I really liked the car at first but with extremely poor design, engineering and quality control the thing turned out to be an absolute lemon. When we finally traded it in, there were 111 recalls issued for it. Badly burned... it was many years before I could even consider another American car. We finally bought an early Saturn and liked it enough to recently consider another only to find that everything we liked about Saturn was ripped apart in a huge step backward by GM. We bought a Honda.

I travel quite a bit on business so I drive a wide variety of rental cars - some American some not. I am quite disappointed to report that I simply do not like American cars. The attention to detail is always lacking. The suspension is either too mushy or too stiff. I don't find the interior controls and dash layouts at all intuitive. The seats are less comfortable. The overall look and feel of the American cars are just not appealing to me and they are much less fun and relaxing to drive. Much of this is my own individual taste and I've always assumed that American automakers were designing for others, that I was simply not part of their target market. Apparently, their only successful target market is the gas guzzling one now disappearing. Apparently, I'm not the only one who doesn't particularly like the American automakers' product line. If these companies have ever actually asked real customers what they really want, they weren't listening very well. If these companies have ever thought strategically, they have not acted on it well. I don't doubt they have tried to do market research and strategic planning -- the point here is that they've failed miserably.

While I applaud the automakers for profiting from the SUV/Truck (i.e. gas guzzler) boom, it is unforgivable that they did not use those profits wisely and strategically to plan for the future..... the future that many foreign automakers had the foresight to see a decade or two ago. They'll whine about labor costs and unfair trade practices. Certainly some of these issues are real but they are not show stoppers. I imagine unions would be very open to all kinds of cuts when the alternative is wholesale job loss. The American buyer has shown over and over again that they're willing to pay a premium to get what they want, to get a better value through higher quality and/or more features. I see a sizable number of BMWs, Mercedes, Lexus, and on and on. If the big three would have built the better product, they could have charged more for it and it would have most certainly sold.

I know the auto industry will ultimately be rescued somehow.... but even this rather liberal and forgiving taxpayer will be mad as hell if one dime of taxpayer money ends up in the hands of the short-sighted, incompetent management responsible for this mess. Further, if taxpayers are footing the bill then the government ought to mandate intelligent forward-thinking design, as well as, innovation toward 'green' transportation.

By the way, in case anyone's wondering... I currently drive a '99 Volkswagen and love it.