Cars No One Wants: A Few More

There are three more vehicles that didn’t fit into my earlier entries of cars that no one wants. The first two are competing vans from GM and Ford, while the third is the only off-road vehicle to buy if you are serious about off-roading.

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Ford E-Series
Ford makes a full-size van that can move a lot of gear or a lot of people. Whether you are in a band and need to take you equipment with you, or you are a church and need to take your congregation with you, Only Americans know how to make a bus you don’t need a special license to drive.



Chevy Express/GMC Savana
GM’s version of the aforementioned van can move the same number of passengers (15 adults!), and has respectable towing capabilities.



Jeep Wrangler
There’s really only one vehicle the Americans make in the off-road category that is not available in any other format. Sure, GM has their Hummer... but no one buys over $50,000 for a vehicle and then beats it senseless.

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Cars No One Wants: The Truck Edition

People in the U.S. have stuff. We have horses, machinery, waverunners and boats, dune buggies and dirt bikes, fifth-wheel trailers, toy haulers. No company outside our borders offers a vehicle ready to contend with all of our stuff.

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Chevrolet Avalanche / Cadillac Escalade EXT
The lightweight of this group, GM is the only company in the world to offer a real “transformer”. The Avalanche/Escalade EXT can convert from a four-door, short bed truck, into a full bed pickup.



Dodge Ram 3500
Dodge makes the best diesel trucks in America, and the best looking full-size trucks anywhere. The 3500 offers 16,500 pounds of towing, and a 12,200 pound payload capacity.



Chevrolet Silverado 3500HD
Chevy’s latest heavy duty truck pulls 16,000 pounds... and did I mention that it seats six?



Ford Super Duty
The Ford Super Duty offers the only factory-installed, fully integrated Trailer Brake Controller. This beast is capable of towing 24,600 pounds!

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Cars No One Wants: The Dreaded SUV Edition

No one will win any arguments trying to say the SUV isn’t an inefficient over-sized vehicle. But the argument isn’t about American car companies making over-sized land yachts. The argument is that no one wants them... which is simply not true. If you have a lot of people you need to move, and you have some heavy equipment that needs to come along... you’re not doing this using a Honda Odyssey.

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Ford Expedition EL / GMC Yukon XL
Let’s say you have four kids (with friends), a dog or two, and a boat. And let’s say you want to make a trip to the river for the holiday weekend without burning out the transmission on the mini-van trying to pull all that up the slightest hill. Only American companies make a vehicle capable of moving toys, gear, and people. Both the Expedition EL and the Yukon XL seat nine, and are capable of towing 9,000 pounds.



Cadillac Escalade
Repeat all of the above... but add all the refinements of a Cadillac. Say what you will about failed business models, but Cadillac is one of GM’s most profitable brands.



Ford Escape Hybrid
The hybrid no one seems to know about... Ford offers a 34 MPG hybrid that happens to fit more than one full-sized adult. The Escape Hybrid seats five, offers up to 66 cubic feet of storage space (compared to 14.4 in the Prius), and has four-wheel drive.

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Cars No One Wants: Muscle Car Edition

The talking points memo went out last week, and apparently all reporters and talking heads are suppose to mention that the American car companies make cars people don’t want, and no cars people do want. All three companies make cars that not only do people want, but no foreign company offers. Today I am exploring a few that may seem like unpopular offerings (though sales do not support that theory)... the American Muscle Car.

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One of the best descriptions of American muscle is “bang for the buck”. And each of these cars have it. No Japanese car company makes anything close to good old muscle cars. And no matter what our gas prices look like – and no matter what our economy looks like – Americans like big, powerful, raw machines.

Ford Mustang
Considered the first Pony car, Ford offers something that you can’t come close to from any foreign car company. Powerful, fun to drive, and affordable. Car and Driver listed the Mustang as the quickest car of 2007 under $20,000. Not only do people want this car... look around, people are buying this car.



Dodge Challenger
A throwback to the 70’s (something the Japanese can’t even do), Dodge recently introduced the Challenger. High-dollar auctions simply for the rights to buy one shows serious consumer interest.



Chrysler 300/Dodge Charger
A muscle car for the family man, Chrysler offers the luxurious Chrysler 300 or the sporty Dodge Charger. Roomy, powerful, and affordable. Good luck finding a decent sized, rear-wheel drive family car from any of the imports.



Dodge Viper
I suppose you could go to a German or Italian automaker if you’re in the mood for a supercar. But the Dodge Viper can turn more heads than most cars on the road.



Chevy Corvette
And speaking of supercars, America’s first sports car out-performs most competitors and costs a mere fraction of the price. Japan’s closest competitor to the Corvette disappeared in 2005.

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The Auto Giant Mess

There’s a lot of opinion being tossed out this weekend and today about the auto-giants and the possibility of a bail-out. Questions like, “What is special about G.M. that they should be able to live as though 2008 never happened?” Statements like, “They can be replaced by car companies that can design, build, and market cars that people actually want,” or, “The simple truth is that Ford and G.M. make ugly, inefficient cars that few people want to buy.” Ignorance repeated like, “They deserve to go under for killing the electric car.” There are so many points that are wrong in these questions, statements, and suggestions.

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First, they are so special that they do need to be bailed out. Why? Because it’s not just the blue-collar jobs they provide, though there are a lot of those. It’s not just the white-collar jobs they provide, and they provide plenty of those as well. But what about the literally millions of jobs that are related to what GM, Ford, and Chrysler do?

The automotive companies are the leading buyers of IT equipment... GM having more work-stations than any company in the country. They purchase cutting-edge virtual reality displays, advanced electronics, and the latest simulation software. The auto companies push the development of all sort of new technologies from batteries to fuel cells to new polymers.

This purchasing, this innovation, is here in America. Toyota and Honda do the same thing... in Japan. If GM, Ford, or Chrysler are gone, Toyota will fill the void and sell their cars. Toyota will make a few models here, but the manufacturing and the innovation gap will not be filled. They will keep that innovation... and the high-tech jobs... and the money... over in Japan.

In addition, the cost to the government (i.e. all of us) would be far greater than the cost of a bail-out. The retirements of over 800,000 people would suddenly fall on the shoulders of the U.S. Government. Unemployment compensation would be out of control, instantly tripling what it is right now. Not to mention all of the local governments that rely heavily on the taxes provided by auto industry plants and businesses.

Second, I am sick and tired of hearing how GM killed the electric vehicle, and how they don’t make cars people want to buy.

In 1990, GM started a long journey to make an all electric car. GM made 1,000 cars and was only able to lease around 800... at a hugely subsidized price. They didn’t kill the electric vehicle, consumer’s lack of interest killed it.

Ford and GM do not make ugly, inefficient cars that few people want to buy. Their current problem is that they made exactly the cars people wanted to buy. They made SUVs with seating for nine, draped with leather, dripping with chrome, quadruple climate zones, and a TV screen for every passenger. They weigh in at 8,000 pounds and have to go 0-60 in under 10 seconds (to meet the expectations of the consumer)... and then are listed as “inefficient”. All things considered, these SUVs are pretty damned efficient.

It just so happened that four years into the five year development time that a car takes to be produced, the gas jumped unexpectedly and out of control. Suddenly the price to fuel the SUVs that the consumers demanded was way more than filling up a Mini. Suddenly GM was no longer making the cars people want... even though a month ago GM couldn’t make the same SUVs fast enough.

GM, Ford, and Chrysler have been doing the same thing that every company in the world does. They make what people are buying, not something people might buy if all conditions fall a certain way. That’s not poor management, that’s business as usual.

Interestingly enough, none of the opponents to the auto industry bail-out have clearly expressed why AIG deserves it, but GM does not.

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GM is Idiot (Part One)

I am convinced that my nine-year-old can run General Motors better than the people in charge over there. Last week, General Motors COO Fritz Henderson told Automotive News GM has no intention of offering a minicar in America. He admits that the Smart car is popular but claims it is a “phenomenon”. He went on to say that American small-car buyers are happier with something like a Cobalt or the Aveo.

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The Aveo? Seriously? No one would rather have that pile of crap over one of these three vehicles...


This is why car buyers are spending their hard-earned American dollars on Japanese cars. Toyota not only thought it would be a good idea to bring over smaller cars labeled as Scions, but they plan to expand that line-up with even more small cars.

GM should be making entry-level mini cars with the quality of their new Malibu. You get the first time buyer in, they enjoy the experience, and they continue to buy GM products for life. It’s not rocket science.

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GM is Idiot (Part Two)

Continuing with how stupid GM can be... GMAC, GM’s credit arm, announced that they are only going to accept people with a FICO rating of 700 or more. This is their answer to the current credit crunch we’re going through. I suppose it makes sense when you tie it in with their answer to the gas crunch: a new muscle car, but not a new mini car.

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Here’s the thing, the problem with people defaulting on loans, losing their houses and cars, and causing all sorts of economic problems globally, has absolutely nothing to do with their FICO scores. Plain and simple, the people defaulting on their loans had good FICO scores, but they took out loans that were more than they could afford... gambling on their house doubling in value. Our economics woes were not caused by a bunch of people with bad credit getting new cars.

Well done, GM. Obviously your goal is to sell as few cars as possible.

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Rossi 66

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Blue Fusion announced today they plan to make a new shell that uses the styling cues from a ’66 Corvette, which would then have C6 underpinnings. I’d drive that.

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FYI, the split window ’Vette was a ’63, not a ’66.

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Seriously? Black and Gold?

A wealthy Arab man, thought to be a Sheikh, recently had his black and gold Lamborghini LP640 flown 3,250 miles to London via Qatar Airways and trucked to a certified UK Lamborghini dealership last Friday for a fluid change, which cost him a paltry £3,552 compared to the £20,000 round-trip flight. That’s a grand total of £23,552 ($46,644 USD) for a friggin’ oil change. – AutoBlog

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Forget the 47K oil change... this guy seriously has gold accents on a black Lambo? What in the hell was he thinking?



Link to AutoBlog story

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Gas Savings Calculator

I hear a lot of talk about buying a more fuel efficient vehicle in order to save money. I really think it would take a lot in order to see significant monthly savings, and wrote a rudimentary calculator to prove it.

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Enter the current price of gas (I paid $4.81 for premium this morning), your current vehicle information, and the new vehicle information below. The calculator will show you how many miles per month you would have to drive in order to actually save money.

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Current Gas Price: /gallon

Current Vehicle Information MPG:  Payment:  I am keeping this vehicle

New Vehicle Information MPG:  Payment:

 

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Send me your numbers if you are able to save money.

For the record, I would have to drive 3,555 miles each month in order to cover the cost of my new motorcycle (only 1,117 miles if I was replacing the wife’s SUV with the bike). In order for the savings in gas to pay for the bike (with my current driving habits), gas will have to cost 12 bucks a gallon!

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This is Why I Drive a Subaru

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Rear View Cameras

Starting in my senior year of High School, up until I moved to California, my Dad and I would brave the sub-zero temperatures and head to Cobo for the North American International Auto Show. There’s nothing like the concept cars. Incredible designs, color shifting paint, massive chrome wheels, and unique details and accents. One futuristic idea that is on virtually every prototype is the removal of the side mirrors... replaced by tiny cameras which are then projected onto the dashboard. These rear facing cameras look good from a design standpoint – though it is truly a design cop out. But the usability is seriously flawed.

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In-dash monitors simply cannot provide the resolution a mirror offers. Stating the obvious, a mirror is a reflection of what is actually around you. No matter how high the screen resolution you develop, nothing will ever match the resolution of “real.” Hand-in-hand with resolution, monitors are also unable to match the contrast ratio the real world offers. Particularly the monitors that will affordably fit into one’s dashboard. Daytime use might be practical, but imagine how poor the visual would be at night.

Secondly, a mirror offers three dimensions, no glasses needed. A video system will only show two dimensions, making it impossible to tell the distance of approaching vehicles. Losing depth in your rear view could be disastrous.

Third, mirrors have a larger field of view. A camera can only project what it is aimed at. In order to change the field of view, you would have to physically adjust the direction of the camera. However, to see more in your mirror, a small shift of your head will change the entire angle of the mirror in an instant... and without having to move your hands off of the steering wheel.

I’ve seen prototypes in the past where the designer obviously spent time working on an innovative mirror design. Since we are “stuck” with mirrors, why not focus on how to make them better rather then cheat by removing them from the design?

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Gas is Killing Me

A friend at work came into my office last week and was frustrated by the price of gas. Her suggestion was that the company should let us switch to a four day work week to save money on fuel. I carpool four out five days, and the topic hasn’t come up with my “lunch friends” at all. I was feeling pretty out of the loop, so I decided to look into the cost of driving to work.

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Taking a sampling of five people at the office, the average drive in was 39 miles. Using those same five people, I determined an average of 24.6 miles per gallon for their current vehicles. The local 7-11 (which is not the cheapest in the neighborhood) is advertising $3.439 for regular unleaded. So the cost to go to work and back for one day is just about $11.

$11 a week doesn’t seem like a budget breaker to me. And this assumes that you wouldn’t drive at all on your day off... very unlikely.

Since my friend was also complaining that the price keeps going up, I thought I would explore another budget issue. What happens to your weekly budget if the gas price increases by 50¢ per gallon?

One issue we have here is perception. The price for gas bounces around so much, it seems like it’s gone up a lot since last week, or last month. In actuality, three years ago gas cost about $2.95 per gallon. Historically speaking, a 50¢ increase is not likely to occur in a month, or even a year’s time.

Regardless, at today’s gas price from the friendly neighborhood 7-11, it will cost you $54.52 to go to and from work for a week. Let’s say next week the gas goes up to $3.939 per gallon. You are now looking at a $62.45 weekly gas bill, just under $8 per week more.

I’m not going to say $8 a week is nothing. But most people have $8 in loose change in their cup holders. If your budget is hinging on $8 per week, you may need to adjust some other things in your life.

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Nav Systems Vs. Common Sense

Nav Systems, Nav Systems, Nav Systems... it’s all people talk about these days, GPS Navigation Systems. I’m not buying a car if it doesn’t have a good nav system. What good is the iPhone without GPS? I gotta have my TomTom super-glued to my windshield so I can see it at all times. People, did you forget how to get from point A to point B without someone explaining it to you?!

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My friend, Gary, said he won’t buy another car that does not have nav built-in. He also went on to berate the Cadillac CTS for having the nav screen retract into the dashboard when not in use, stating he would disable the mechanism if he ever bought a CTS. Gary is a self-proclaimed homebody. He would rather sit at home and enjoy his impressive array of home theater equipment than go out traveling.

If you’re only using your car to get to and from work, why do you need nav? You would think after the first day, you pretty much have the route figured out. Buying a car based on a single over-priced option that you only actually use once a year at most, seems rather silly.

The Wall Street Journal reported in February that a truck driver trapped his vehicle on a farm road when he followed GPS directions “in spite of visual evidence he was getting bad advice.” Interestingly enough, a reader quickly responded...

GPS should be programmed to the vehicle, so that this won’t happen. If the system knew how big the vehicle was it wouldn’t get stuck on a path too small for the truck.

That’s a good point, blame the machine.

There were two even more dangerous stories reported. A 20-year old student in England lost her car to a train after following her nav system onto the tracks. She said, “I put my complete trust in the sat nav and it led me right into the path of a speeding train.” A man in New York followed the nav system in his rental car onto some train tracks. The man got stuck on the tracks, but he got out of his car and tried to warn the oncoming train. The train couldn’t stop, and demolished his car.

When you apply for a driver’s license, you are applying, not the nav system.

New portable nav systems add another risk factor for the common sense challenged drivers. It’s growing increasingly popular to mount the portable device on the dashboard, most commonly placed under the rearview mirror, blocking a significant part of the driver’s view. You might see where your TomTom wants you to go, but you can’t see where you’re actually headed. Last I checked, the nav systems do not watch out for pedestrians and bicyclists.

There used to be a system for getting places. It was called a map. The process was simple. Look at a map, memorize as much as you can, but bring the map in case you forget a step. It worked for hundreds of years, and I don’t recall any stories about driving onto train tracks or into fields and ponds.

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Steering Wheel Controls

Frequently used buttons, all at your fingertips. That is the promise of the steering wheel controls. Cruise control, radio controls, even climate controls, without having to move your hands away from the steering wheel. The concept is great, but there’s a flaw in the implementation.

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When designing a User Interface, one should take Fitts’s Law into account. Basically, Fitts suggests the distance to the target and size of the target will effect the user’s ability to quickly touch/click the target. This is used by good designers, even in vehicles. However, typically when you design a GUI, the buttons are not in motion.

On a steering wheel, the buttons don’t stay in the same place. Even a slow sweeping turn on the highway places the button inches away from its last known location. That means, while the buttons on your radio may be farther away, your brain knows exactly where those buttons are. After driving a car for a few says, you no longer need to look to control the radio or climate controls. But no matter how familiar you get with your steering wheel, the buttons will never bee in the same place, forcing you to look or feel for the right button.

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Traffic Lights

Today, LAX announced they came up with an amazing new idea to help prevent near misses on runways. The idea: red lights to notify pilots when a runway is not available. Wow. Traffic lights have been used for 96 years to help prevent auto accidents. What ever could have inspired this innovative idea?

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NHTSA Payoffs

In December, thenewspaper.com reported that the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA) uses your fuel tax dollars to offer “incentives” to police departments that write more traffic tickets. Departments must provide the award review panel with ticket counts in order for their application to count. Departments lose points, by the way, if they give warnings or fail to mention they have a no-warning policy. Still, organizers claim this is a program motivated solely by safety. However, looking at past winners, it becomes apparent that creative ways of ticketing drivers is the most common way to win.

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Police officers dress as Santa Claus in Moreno Valley, California to work crosswalks near schools. Those who drive too closely to Santa get a ticket.

I think this is great. Nothing more confusing to a driver than the crossing guards, 600 kids, and then a random Santa thrown into the mix. If they are for safety, why can’t they just put a normal traffic signal that we all understand instead of confusing drivers?

On “Maroon Day” every single member of the Minnesota State Patrol, regardless of rank or duty, is required to issue traffic tickets.

Stafford County, Virginia created “enhanced fine” zones for greater ticketing revenue.

Note, greater revenue, not greater safety.

South Carolina won NHTSA grant money through this program, and used the money to purchase six full equipped Dodge Charger police cruisers.

In a potentially unrelated story, California Highway Patrol – who only uses Crown Vics – recently received 88 Dodge Charger police cruisers for their fleet.

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Amazing Commercial

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Cerebus Killing the Viper?

Cerebus, the company that bought Chrysler from Daimler (after Daimler practically destroying it), is likely to drop the Dodge Viper from its line-up. This could quite possibly be the worst move the company could make. The Viper isn’t just a halo car for Chrysler, it’s a demonstration of what they are capable of. With the exception of Will Ferrell, kids don’t dream of someday owning a Dodge Stratus. Toy makers don’t ask companies if they can license your Dodge Caliber for making diecast.

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Too Many Brands Spoils the Car

Chevrolet introduced their 2009 Traverse crossover vehicle at the Chicago Auto Show today. The Traverse is built on their “Lambda” platform, which means it is essentially the same vehicle as the GMC Acadia, Saturn Outlook, and Buick Enclave. Does GM really need to offer four version of every vehicle they conceive?

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GM suffers from a brand identity crisis. Chevrolet is suppose to be the econo division, although the Camaro and Corvette don’t fit the bill. Pontiac is suppose to be the performance division, but they have a re-badged Cobalt econo-box and don’t have a sports car. Cadillac is definitely the luxo market. But where does that leave Buick? Saturn started as a Japanese competitor, now sells GM’s European cars.

The first thing GM needs to do is redefine Buick. The “old man” division offers only three vehicles, one of which is also available as a GMC, Chevy, and Saturn. The other two options are rather large sedans that lack style and don’t seem to belong to any recognizable market.

The newest Saturn vehicles are exciting cars. Rather than try to be Japanese, GM decided the Saturn brand would be more successful being German. And their decision to bring the popular European Opels state-side was a great move. That is, until they also gave all of those same vehicles to all the other brands. Saturn makes a lot more sense when every vehicle they offer is not also available as a Pontiac or Chevy.

Pontiac is really suffering. The G6 is unique, and the Soltice looks different enough from its Saturn Sky sister to be relevant. But that about does it for this brand. The G5 is a disgrace to the Pontiac name, and should have been kept as a Chevy-only cheapo special. The Torrent doesn’t fit the Pontiac line-up at all, and the lack of sales seems to support that theory. The Grand Prix is the forgotten child of Pontiac. Once a significant model in the line-up, the Grand Prix is so neglected I didn’t even know it was still being offered.

On the bright side, Cadillac is doing well as it is. Most of their vehicles have their own identities, with the exception of the Escalade. But it’s hard to fault Cadillac for that. People do seem to want giant SUVs with a lot of black and chrome. I would sell my soul for a piece of that market too.

The last couple of years have been hard on GM. And if the economy continues in the direction it’s going, they have quite a few more hard years ahead of them. Now is the time for GM to get the pruning shears out. If the branch isn’t producing fruit, it’s time to cut it off.

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Ducati Mod by Roland Sands

No words needed to express just how cool this bike is. Visit Roland Sands’ (flash heavy) web site. Unfortunately, no details of the bike available on his site yet.

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Auto Reliability by the Numbers

It has been my contention for some time that Japanese cars are not really drastically more reliable than the domestics. My favorite example of this false perception was the Honda Passport/Isuzu Rodeo. The Passport was actually built by Isuzu, and re-badged as a Honda. However, the Passport was listed higher than the Rodeo in consumer quality ratings. I found some numbers to show how the major manufacturers stack up.

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The table below shows the number of cars sold, the total number of recalls for each manufacturer, followed a percentage of recalls. These numbers are the totals from all of 2006 and all of 2007.

    Chrysler    4,219,155    8,540,777    202.43
    Ford        5,491,273    2,765,997     50.37
    GM          7,991,265    6,108,978     76.45

    Honda       3,060,900      805,366     26.31
    Nissan      2,087,487    3,288,907    157.55
    Toyota      5,163,349    3,007,754     58.25

Note: the reason Chrysler and Nissan show more than 100% is due to the fact that some of the vehicles were recalled multiple times in a single year.

Honda proved me wrong by having the lowest number of recalls. However, Toyota proved me correct. Toyota had 8% more recalls during the two year period than Ford.

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A Better Way to Save Fuel

A lot of people in America want to save money on fuel, are supposedly concerned about the environment, and have a desire to become less dependent on foreign oil. I think that’s great, but we’re going at it the wrong way.

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Method one, Ethanol. This is a solution that is more of a problem than the problem itself. In the U.S. we can pretty much only make ethanol from corn. Ethanol from corn yields about 30% of the energy in gasoline. As a result, the average driver in America would need approximately a half an acre of corn to make the fuel needed for one month of driving.

Method two, Hybrids. Hybrid vehicles are the feel good option of vehicles. While it feels good to drive around with a green logo on your car, if you look at the numbers, they don’t add up. For example, Toyota offers its Camry model in both standard drive-train and a hybrid drive-train. For approximately $3000 more up front ($22,240 vs. $25,200 for the hybrid) you get a savings of only 3 MPG (31 hwy vs. 34 hwy for the hybrid)! Chevrolet also offers the comparable Malibu in both drive-trains. In this case, the price difference is less than $2000 up front ($20,630 vs. $22,140 for the hybrid), but the savings is only 2 MPG (30 hwy vs. 32 hwy for the hybrid). In both cases performance suffers, losing about 2 seconds off the 0-60 time.

What is not being explained to the American car buyer, is the diesel engine. A diesel engine has significant fuel savings over standard gas engines. For example, Volkswagon offers a turbo-diesel option in their Jetta. The gas powered Jetta gets 29 MPG (hwy), while the diesel gets a whopping 39 MPG (hwy). This is nearing the 45 MPG (hwy) the Toyota Prius is suppose to get. Best of all the Jetta TDi doesn’t take the hit on performance, reliability, and long term issues (think battery packs) that come with a hybrid.

Unfortunately, none of the manufacturers selling autos in the U.S. want to offer diesels. In order to successfully sell diesels domestically, they would first need to educate the public. The American companies are suffering so bad right now, they can’t afford to spend time on educating people. Toyota doesn’t want to convince you to buy diesels because they are successfully conning people into buying hybrids.

So, for now, all we can do is buy over priced cars that make us feel like we are doing the right thing.

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