Drunk-Proof Cars

Are "drunk-proof cars" coming to a dealership near you?

Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs.com reports:

Two members of the U.S. Senate, one a Democrat and the other a Republican, have taken a step by sponsoring the ROADS SAFE Act, which would authorize $12 million a year for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to develop technology that would prevent an intoxicated person from driving a vehicle.

The objective, of course, is to prevent drunk drivers from getting on the road and causing fatal accidents. Senators Tom Udall (D-NM) and Bob Corker (R-TN) co-sponsored the legislation, expressing hope their bi-partisan approach will help secure passage.

So long Chevy, Hello Chevrolet

Richard S. Chang of The New York Times reports:

On Tuesday, G.M. sent a memo to Chevrolet employees at its Detroit headquarters, promoting the importance of “consistency” for the brand, which was the nation’s best-selling line of cars and trucks for more than half a century after World War II.

And one way to present a consistent brand message, the memo suggested, is to stop saying “Chevy,” though the word is one of the world’s best-known, longest-lived product nicknames.

“We’d ask that whether you’re talking to a dealer, reviewing dealer advertising, or speaking with friends and family, that you communicate our brand as Chevrolet moving forward,” said the memo, which was signed by Alan Batey, vice president for Chevrolet sales and service, and Jim Campbell, the G.M. division’s vice president for marketing.

Fritz Henderson Feedback

Readers respond to the news that Fritz Henderson is no longer running G.M.

JWilly writes:

It's hard to tell how much significance should be given to the "car guys vs. money managers" and "knows the culture and can get stuff done vs. can see the flaws in the culture and force changes" arguments. When the bankers took over from Billy Durant the second time, the money guy they put in charge turned out to be a quick study as a car guy, and became a visionary leader. GM's worst decades were helmed by internally developed money guys who were blind to their strategic death spiral. Ford's Alan Mullally, totally from the outside and knowing nothing about cars, has been brilliant at recognizing the fine distinctions between what works and what doesn't, and turning around their equally broken culture.

On the other hand, it's pretty scary that Ed Whittaker seems to be proud of not knowing anything about cars, or why people buy them, and is backed by a Board that is equally know-nothing except about finance.

From news reports, the specific fault leading to Fritz's firing was the failure to make lots of money selling Opel, Saturn and SAAB. There doesn't seem to be a second half to the story, in which it's explained why it's Fritz's fault that Renault came to its senses regarding Saturn's prospects, no one wants the SAAB carcass, and Opel obviously has been GM's engineering center for mid-sized sedans for the past decade.

Whittaker seems to have been just waiting for an excuse to take over himself. He's a super-sized-ego kind of guy, with a track record heavily influenced by luck in my opinion. Well, now we get to roll the dice with our whole stake bet on him.

Rich Frost writes:

I hate to bring up money, but since American taxpayers pretty much own the company -- how much is Fritz going to be collecting now that he has left this flaming turd known as GM? I only ask this because it seems like the CEOs from all of these bailout companies profit handsomely from all of these failures and the people paying the bills (i.e., the American taxpayer) usually ends up getting screwed.

G.M. Board Tells Fritz Goodbye

The "Tell Fritz" webpage — an empty PR gesture that G.M. trotted out after bankruptcy to show that CEO Fritz Henderson was in touch with consumers — was good for something. Bill Vlasic of The New York Times used it in the lead of today's story on Henderson getting canned:

As part of his bid to make General Motors management appear more accessible and responsive coming out of bankruptcy, the chief executive, Fritz Henderson, set up a Web page called Tell Fritz.

One consumer sent in a question last month asking why G.M. had fared so poorly in a recent Consumer Reports survey.

“We were generally disappointed in our results,” Mr. Henderson responded. “We simply must produce better results.”

On Tuesday, the new G.M. board agreed emphatically with Mr. Henderson’s assessment, and asked him to resign immediately.

Is it just me, or does Fritz Henderson look a little like Charles Foster Kane?

Back to the Bricks is Back

Want to see downtown filled with people? Back to the Bricks starts tomorrow.

Scott Atkinson of The Flint Journal reports:

"Now in its fifth year this car show has grown faster than a revved up muscle car. Last year, an estimated 20,000 cars and 125,000 car lovers rolled into town. And, this year organizers expect it to draw even larger crowds."

Detroit: Understatement of the Year

Welcome to Detroit.

Cars available.

I'm only on the ground in Detroit for five minutes and I'm already spotting signs with unintentionally deep meanings. There's been endless analysis of the auto industry and the national economic outlook, but this alternating LED at the airport pretty much sums it all up.

G.M. Car Slideshow

The New York Times has a nice slideshow of owners with their G.M. cars here.

What'd I do? You killed the car.

(Photo Courtesy Sudler Sotheby’s International)

The house featured in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, including the iconic car scene, is for sale in Highland Park, Illinois. If you were a Flint kid in the eighties, this is your chance to finally fulfill some of your high school pop-culture fantasies, provided you have $2.3 million.

Let's Harken Back to a Time When Americans Bought Buicks and Moose Heads Adorned Corporate Offices

Although this looks like the study where Arthur Conan Doyle wrote the Sherlock Holmes stories, it's actually the old office of the Buick president and general manager. Not sure if the moose head was standard or if you had to really go out and shoot it.

I always feel like a slacker when I visit Gerry Godin's All Things Buick blog. I tend to go for the quick hits on a topic, hoping that readers can fill in the gaps and not point out too many of my errors. (Translation: I'm kind of lazy.) Gerry takes a more authoritative approach and covers things in depth. I spend way too much time at his site, often reading about factories that are only memories now.

Right now he has high quality, easily readable scans of an amazing book called The Factory Behind the Car: An Illustrated Story of the Immense Manufacturing Organization that Builds Buick Valve-in Head Motor Cars.

Clearly, Buick likes to do things big, even book titles. And if you don't think too much about how things have changed, it's a fun read.

Flint Artifacts: Buick Employee Badge

Auto industry primer

Some readers who are in the thick of it may find this too simplistic, but Edward Silverstein offers a fairly succinct overview of the current U.S. auto industry and the role of organized labor:

"To understand the labor issues facing the U.S. auto industry is to understand the U.S. auto industry itself. Between 2006 and early 2008, the Big Three automakers (GM, Ford and Chrysler) cut about 80,000 jobs through buyouts and early retirements, and more are on the way. The goal is to have a smaller, lower-paid workforce. The former workers will head into new careers in different industries. Layoffs could be down the road, too.

"A major problem facing the Detroit-based auto industry is that contracts negotiated by the auto unions were so generous, compared at least to the salary and benefits offered by non-unionized auto manufacturers elsewhere in the world, that the Big Three can’t remain competitive with companies from overseas.

"They are not selling enough vehicles – due in part to wages and benefits spelled out in contracts. Some workers blame management for not offering and concentrating on the right product line. Others say that a government-sponsored national health plan would alleviate much of the pressure that the auto companies find themselves facing. Americans spend more on health-care per capita than other nations that are known for manufacturing cars – Japan, Germany, China, South Korea and France. Some workers would like tariffs imposed on imported cars. Then there’s the issue of the U.S. economy, which may keep some consumers from being able to afford a new car.

"The union has been generally supportive of the buyouts. In fact, the employee buyout plans were developed with the United Automobile Workers (UAW) union ."

Can Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Associations Control Health Care Costs?

"The UAW has also been working with the auto industry to find a way to keep up with retiree health care costs, which are estimated to total between $100 and $116 billion as of early 2008. GM may be responsible for about half of that amount, and has four retirees for every current employee, according to industry estimates. The plan being developed as of 2008 calls for setting up a health care trust administered by the UAW, called a Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Association (VEBA).

"Critics argue that VEBAs in other industries tend to be under-funded by the companies, so that shortfalls need to be made up by the individual retirees themselves paying higher deductibles and co pays. GM expects to save billions once the trust is created."

Industry Looks at Two-Tier Salary System

"The auto industry is continuing to look for ways to pay workers less. One option gaining in popularity is the two-tier salary system where non-core workers in manufacturing plants earn much lower wages than those with core responsibilities. Many workers resist such a system.

"The automakers say these are the kind of steps needed to make the U.S. auto industry competitive with companies such as Toyota. The hope from unions and management is that as American-made cars continue to improve, consumers over time will opt to buy a Ford, GM or Chrysler rather than an import.

"Whatever the outcome, it’s clear that the Rust Belt – in states like in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio, as well as Pennsylvania – has suffered from the slump in the auto industry. From 2000 to 2006, Michigan lost more than 330,000 jobs, most of them in manufacturing. The UAW has seen a decline in membership since the 1970s, when membership was over 1.5 million. Membership was less than 540,000 at of the end of 2006.

"The UAW has held strikes in recent years but for the most part the union appears to be cooperating with management to bring improved health to the nation’s struggling auto industry. The question is whether the workers will back concessions and make the industry more economical and more competitive."

The end of the affair

slick, who sells cars for a living, reflects on a time when buying a car actually meant something:

"Ah...the glory days...I remember when someone in the neighborhood bought a new car they parked it at the end of the driveway nearest the sidewalk and eventually all of the neighbors would wander over and take a look, inside, outside and under the hood.

"Today getting a 'new' car is like getting a new pair of socks, nobody cares. Usually we don't even know our neighbors and they could care less about what you drive.

"America and especially Michigan and more specifically Flint had a strong love affair with the automobile. Now it's gone from a love affair to a lackluster marriage out of necessity.

"The car manufacturers have removed all of the mystique and put out cars that rarely vary from the year before. Gone are the days of papering the showroom windows and keeping the new models under wraps. Somehow it was a much simpler and yet more exciting time with the automobile."