Back in the day when foreign cars were the butt of Americans' jokes there was a knee-slapper about one particularly unreliable European marque. Fix It Again Tony is the punch line question to the Jeopardy! answer: What does the acronym FIAT stand for?
Until Japanese cars caught on in North America (most Baby Boomers were married with children by then) the import market was all about quirky little European models like VW's original Beetle plus a handful of snobbish hi-lux and exotic brands. With the ascendancy of Datsun (Nissan), Toyota and Honda, however, Euro niche brands like FIAT, Peugeot and Opel were forced out of the US market.
Aided by socialistic assistance from the Obama administration, FIAT
has taken a stake in the Chrysler recovery experiment. Thus, it is sadly likely that the domestic auto marketing think tank will consist of even more Euro-socialist, environmentally-conscious bureaucrat theoreticians and fewer real car guys. Auto enthusiasts and comfort-craving Middle Americans, as usual, have little to say in the matter.
Despite the sham corporate re-birth of GM that has been designed, first and foremost, around protecting UAW jobs and keeping their Democrat-contributing union coffers full, the US auto industry has been at a point for some time where the faucet has barely dripped brand and nation-loyal consumers who still have the ability to purchase. That faucet is in serious jeopardy of being completely shut off as our economy remains in decline.
Unless and until government car czars and their corporate yes-men grasp a few simple facts about the American car-buying public, taxpayer money will continue to be thrown at the domestic automakers to little avail...
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Fuel efficiency and pro-environmentalism are not major consumer motivators. Fuel economy is a primary concern, a bit more so since the four-buck-a-gallon scare and the current Dollar-devaluation-based price hikes, but it is graded on a curve by car shoppers. If, for example, a V6-equipped Chevy Malibu is capable of getting 30mpg on the highway, the average consumer is less likely to be interested in a somewhat smaller car, say a Toyota Camry, with a 4-cylinder engine if it is EPA-rated for about the same gas mileage, stickers for about the same price and has had a greater number of safety recalls. For that matter, why would a long-time Toyota owner opt for a hybrid Prius when he could buy an extremely reliable and fuel-efficient Corolla for thousands less?
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Government intervention has always been a hindrance to domestic car sales. From the mandating of catalytic converters and other pollution controls to unrealistic Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations to bumper impact standards and crash ratings, the government has always made it more and more difficult for truck sales-reliant US automakers to be competitive with the so-called import brands. Being forced, as a result of bureaucratic infiltration, to adopt even harsher fuel economy and emissions regulations is giving so-called import brands an even bigger advantage.
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Tax breaks and cash-for-clunkers" subsidies will not get the job done either. Big rebates, low APR financing, no-dicker stickers and factory incentives for college grads, first-time buyers, members of the military, etc. are never enough to move distressed merchandise. Americans love to bargain with salesmen! While one might assume that younger, more liberal Americans are less likely to dicker, the advent of Consumer Reports followed by exposure to hundreds of Internet car-buying tutorials per year have actually emboldened younger people, making them more apt to arrive at the showroom loaded for bear and ready to hammer the dealer. Usually, this does not occur before they have received multiple low-ball price quotes from dealers online. The influx of immigrants from Asian and Mid-Eastern nations over the last quarter century has also kept old-fashioned bargaining popular.
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Unionism has enabled so-called import automakers to gain an unfair advantage. How dangerously ironic is it that the UAW, perennial bedmate of Democrats, has been a co-owner and future stake-holder -- along with the US Government -- in GM? Meanwhile, non-union Asian and European companies like Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, Volkswagen and BMW will continue manufacturing vehicles for the American market right here in the USA at a significantly reduced labor/employee benefits cost.
There is a growing anti-union political and consumer backlash. The big question that Americans have begun to ask is: "Can we ever count on unions to act capitalistically enough to help domestic manufacturing companies survive?" Moreover, can we ever expect the government to fix anything -- regardless of how many of our tax dollars they spend?
| The author has been continuously involved in most aspects of new vehicle retailing since 1987...has received sales performance awards from GM, Nissan and Chrysler...has been actively involved in motorsports for over 30 years...has worked as a developmental test driver. |
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