ASU2003

Are you interested in buying a new car in the next 5 years?

Things aren't looking too good. Did they produce cars that were too good in the 90s, so people like me can still drive a 15 year old car and have no problems with it? Are the unions making them pay the workers too much? Are the pensions and healthcare benefits for retirees the problem that allows foreign car companies to charge less? Is the 2 year lease keeping some people from buying brand new cars, instead buying lightly used cars at a discount? Is the production before sale method and over producing too many cars something that the US auto companies need to change? Or is it a perception of quality issue?

Here's my take on it. No one is producing the car that I want for the price I would be willing to pay. I would like to buy a GM Volt style car, but in a S-10 pickup truck model. And I wouldn't want to pay more than $20k for it. And they shouldn't make the car until I've bought it. This is what the US auto industry isn't doing right. They should have a few models on display at the showroom, but they produce about 2 times as many cars as they should. Then they have to have firesales at the end of the year. This destroys the resale value of the car.

Now, if they really wanted to shake things up, they would go to a perpetual lease style of business. Take a page from the evil cell phone industry. You have to buy the service in order to drive the car. You get every service possible, but you have to pay $100/month, even on a fifteen year old car. This way, the engineers can use stainless steel parts, solid plastic body panels, carbon fiber hoods, roof and trunk and prevent rust and other appearance of aging. The car 20 years from now should look the same as on day one. They can spend the money to put a plug-in hybrid system in it and people don't have to worry about the batteries.