Disclaimer:
Yes, I am talking about cars again. The Detroit Three on life support is a once-in-a-lifetime scenario, and can not be overstated. Imagine if Microsoft suddenly goes belly-up in 75 years and goes crawling to whatever black, lesbian, quadriplegic transsexual is running this country for a loan. “We could not predict that Red Hat Siamese OSXVI would gain so much traction in the market! Damn that Steve Jobs, Jr.” You get my point.

I have owned Ford automobiles just about my whole life, with a brief (and happy) foray driving a 1991 Toyota Tercel. That was a great car – I drove it into the ground as a pizza delivery driver. It was my first financed auto, and the barely-reputable used car lot could not have made a better choice for me. I’m not what you call a “Ford guy”, but that company just happens to have the best value for the money whenever I went to buy a car: two Mustangs, an Escort, two Probe GTs (one of which I still own and drive), and our current Ford Edge. I think brand loyalty, like just about any other loyalty that does not involve friends or family, is for suckers. Unless the new Ford Fusion turns into a sports sedan (highly unlikely), there will be zero chance my next car is a Ford.

As a customer, I was never looking for anything fancy and I always had a specific budget in mind. In other words, I was the prototypical domestic automaker customer. One of the myths of the current market is that Ford, GM, and Chrysler are not making automobiles that customers seek.That is not entirely true, and there are many other factors involved (here is a good summary).

What about the foreign nameplates – they must be cranking out awesome cars that attract consumers like moths to a flame, right? You may think so, but there are many examples of “WTF?” thinking for Germans and the Japanese, too. Following are just a few – I excluded the obvious full-size truck and SUV monstrosities. Toyota and Nissan just couldn’t help themselves, could they?

Premium compact crossovers: This segment actually inspired this blog entry. They include the Acura RDX, Infiniti EX, and the BMW X3 pictured above. If you are unfamiliar with them, let me summarize – they are basically rough-riding small SUVs with high-output engines, reduced cargo capacity, and piss-poor gas mileage (20 mpg!). So where is your $40k going? Your guess is good as mine. How much does anyone really value 0-60 times when shopping for an SUV? If you want all-wheel drive with some luxury just option-up a Honda CR-V or Toyota RAV4 and save $10k. A quick aside: I really like new car shows. As an adult, I do not get excited often. However, I’m always jazzed about the SF International Auto Show every Thanksgiving week and this year I went alone. This allowed me to run around like a giddy schoolgirl, sitting in everything once or even twice. What really stood out to me is how painful it was to sit in these small sporty SUV – especially the back seats, which were absolute torture. I realize I am a big guy, but I found comfort in the Mazda3 and VW GTI. How big is the upper-class gymnast market anyway?

Pointless small cars: When is a small car not a good choice? When it gets the same or worse gas mileage and/or costs almost as much as the next larger model. The BMW 1-Series is a perfect example – almost the same prices as a 3-Series, with the same gas mileage (according to Edmunds data). Why bother? The Nissan Sentra and its smaller brother the Nissan Versa both get the exact same gas mileage. Same goes for the Toyota Corolla and the Yaris. Have you seen the Yaris? My god it is practically a toy yet it only gets 30mpg, while the much larger Chevrolet Cobalt gets 1 mpg less. Why isn’t anyone talking about this? A fifteen year-old Honda Civic gets much better gas mileage.

The bottom-line is, the number one problem with the domestic automobile companies has to do with their image. I’m not defending any specific company in any way – especially after reading The End of Detroit. What I’m saying is at this time If you look closely, all of the manufacturers are not much different. Get back to me in five years and we can survey the scorched landscape of survivors.