by Bert Meinders

Created on: October 04, 2009

Why is the US car industry dying?

For as long as I can remember (about fifty years), I have been aware of a fundamental contradiction of people's perception of American cars. They have always been popular here in New Zealand, in the sense that when car shows are held they tend to be dominated by American cars and light trucks, and drag racing, that most quintessentially American of motor sports, is (inexplicably) popular. We have a lot of hot rod clubs, and a free newspaper "for car enthusiasts", called "Petrolhead", which is written mostly in American rather than English and refers to nonamerican cars as mports", even those that were assembled here with a substantial local content. People regard a Cadillac, even the deservedly forgotten seventies/eighties Seville, with reverence while ignoring a Bristol, Ferrari or Bentley.

Yet very few people drive American cars here. Japanese and Australian cars account for most of the traffic, with a large and growing European presence.

My experience of the US car industry is indirect and anecdotal, but some of its weaknesses have always been apparent to anybody prepared to think. Let's look at a few examples.

About fifteen years ago, Ford tried to "rationalise" its Australian operation by replacing the Falcon with the Taurus. This failed; the Falcon is still with us, and still with rear-wheel-drive. Apart from the dreary ugliness of the Taurus - it looked like a Chrysler Airflow which had been held too close to a flame - it was not sufficiently rugged for Australian conditions and not practical enough. Despite being longer and having a transversely mounted engine and front wheel drive, it had no more interior space than the Falcon, and its excessive overhang tended to snag on ramps and kerbs. Its 3-litre V6 engine lacked the torque of the Falcon's 4-litre inline six (a 4.9-litre V8 is optional). However, its cupholders were superb, smooth and unobtrusive and capacious. Those in the Falcon were obviously a ten-minute afterthought. The (cheaper) Falcon had had the cupholder development money spent on suspension and steering instead, and it showed. No amount of excreta tauri could turn the Taurus into a winner in such a comparison.

Unions are a fact of industrial life. In Britain, unions and management were antagonistic for far too long, and this is an indictment of both sides. In Japan and Europe, apart from Italy where normal socioeconomic ideas seem utterly irrelevant, unions and employers worked together to keep the

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>