What do most people want to drive?
The other day, I was browsing through the RSS feeds and came upon an article on Wired about a new VW concept car, a 42-mpg VW diesel roadster:
It’s an impressive concept: 42 mpg and emits about as much CO2 as a Toyota Prius. Not only that but it looks damn sharp. If it drives as well as it looks then VW will likely have a hit.
But it wasn’t the talk about the concept car that caught my eye, it was this:
VW is among the few automakers that didn’t take a beating last year. Although sales were down for the industry as a whole, VW sold 6.2 million cars last year, a 6 percent increase over 2007. “We all know 2009 is going to be a very difficult year for the auto industry,” Winterkorn said. “So far Volkswagen group has handled the market well.”
Being a VW owner myself, I’m not surprised that VW is still doing well even in an uncertain economy. You’re certainly not going to see VW trying to hit our government for a bailout. They don’t need to.
If you look throughout VW’s product line, you’ll notice one thing in common: with the exception of the Touareg, virtually every car VW sells starts at around $30,000 or less with most of their product line being closer to $20,000. That puts most of their product line into the hands of most consumers.
The reason why VW and others are still doing fairly well is because they’re giving customers what they want: high quality, efficient cars at the right price. This is a company that for years has been marketing themselves as a company that makes driving fun and their cars tend to reflect that.
This got me thinking. With the current American car company bailout, what exactly are American car manufacturers doing to compete?
For years, American car manufacturers have basically been changing the rules in order to compete. Now, with the bailout, they’re forced to look at the products they sell and come up with better ones that will compete better with the likes of VW, Toyota, Honda, and other car manufacturers that are leading in the development of more efficient cars.
About the only car manufacturer that appears to be doing something is GM. GM recently promised a 40-mpg city car and a Cadillac Volt. I believe the original Chevy Volt is good start and I wish more American car manufacturers would take the risk and do more R&D towards cars like this.
One car manufacturer I don’t feel sorry for is Dodge. Right now, they’re advertising their latest Dodge Ram truck on the homepage with a tagline that says “All guts. All glory. All new.”. Sick. I can’t tell you how many Dodge Ram Challenge commercials I’ve seen in the last month alone. How many more testosterone driven truck commercials is it going to take for these guys to realize that this isn’t the kind of vehicles most people need?
Over half of Dodge’s product line is filled with trucks, SUV’s, and sports cars. Not exactly the kind of cars that are known for their efficiency. If Dodge was to go bankrupt, as much as I wouldn’t like seeing American workers be without jobs, seeing Dodge disappear wouldn’t phase me in the least.
Granted, there are people who want trucks, SUV’s, and sports cars. There’s no denying it. But I believe that the majority of car buyers want a lot of bang for their buck and want higher quality, more efficient cars. As such, I think many American car manufacturers are hurting because they haven’t been delivering that. They’re getting slammed by the likes of VW, BMW, Toyota, Honda, Kia, and others who are simply building the kind of cars that a lot of American buyers want.
The only option for American car manufacturers is to aim higher and build a better product.
Tags: chevy, dodge, gm, ram, volt, vw
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January 15th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
[...] Tuesday, I posted a bit called What do most people want to drive?, giving some thoughts about the car industry and the decline of the American car [...]