Pray for Ford

May 19, 2009. The last day of the automotive era of America. After more than 30 years of American cars not worthy of anything other than rental counters, GM, Ford, and even Chrysler have clawed their separate ways out of car hell to make a few decent cars. The economic downturn is the excuse Obama is using for killing our cars this time, just as Nixon killed our cars in the 70s when the Arabs held us hostage at the gas pumps.

Ford got started in 2005 with the retro look Mustang, and people came. Ford has continued to improve exponentially, especially since bringing in a CEO not named Ford. GM has floundered around for five years and just reached show rooms about 10 days ago with the new Camaro, as Ford is ready to release its second at bat with another version of the 64 pony car. As bad a company as Chrysler is, they beat GM to the plate with the Challenger, including Hemi engines more than a year ago. Unfortunately for Chrysler, the depression retarded sales, but there would have been very few buyers of the Challenger motif anyway, after the Camaro hit the streets. Have you noticed the retro part of Detroit's success stories? How long until we have the Model Z?

The Japanese moved into the U.S. in a big way in the 70s and gave us decent cars to drive, even though they were not what we really wanted. Their success resulted in fabulous offerings from Germany; BMW, Porsche, Mercedes, even old British named cars, built in Germany, flooded our market and made Detroit the laughingstock of the auto world. They will do it again, and they will be in showrooms near you sooner than the 2016 date Obama has given the industry to produce 39 MPG cars and 30 MPG trucks.

I just can't wait to see what Government Motors will produce. A cereal box with four wheels, an electric engine, and a few fender port holes off a 56 Buick perhaps? This as Honda introduces a hydrogen cell engine with 600 brake horse power, or perhaps a 1.8 liter four cylinder made out of titanium and propelling a four door sedan of carbon fiber composite from 0-60 in 3.8 seconds, while having plenty of room for five full sized adults. Government Motors will not be able to use these new materials due to excess labor costs, not to mention, no composite fiber union job title, and will continue to offer sheet metal cars weighing less than 3000 lbs only because the 2016 models are all under 15 feet long and have 13 inch wheels.

The president of the United Auto Workers, along with the CEO of GM, President Obama, will declare anyone buying a Honda as unpatriotic for not paying an extra $5000 for the American junk. Forget that the Honda is made in Alabama, those workers aren't part of the UAW, and therefore have no rights as American citizens. They still have to pay their taxes though.

We have all seen this same scenario play out before. Starting in the 70s and continuing up until about 2005, all three Detroit automakers, for the most part, simply made bad cars. First the Japanese, then the Europeans, and finally even the Koreans made great cars and outsold domestic models, over the course of more than 30 years. Just as Detroit was about to actually compete again, the government has stepped in on behalf of the UAW, and given the auto companies away. The really sad part of the story this time is the government actually believes that the UAW, with bureaucratic guidance, and stifling regulation, can compete with the worlds best car companies. Honda, Toyota, BMW, etc, etc will all build cars to the government's specifications that actually work, and that people will want to buy. Short of an outright ban on any vehicle other than one manufactured in sight of Lake Michigan, the United States government can not compete with entrepreneurs from anywhere.

The light truck, SUV, and van segments were pretty much left to the Detroit automakers until the last 10 years. Detroit did trucks pretty well, but since there was no real competition, no new technology and no creativity was required. The same pushrod V8 technology from the 50s worked great on a ladder frame with a box on top. When the Japanese entered this market most recently, Detroit was forced to start building better vehicles in all segments, as Toyota surpassed GM as the country's largest auto maker. The government is now giving all those hard earned lessons away to the UAW, who really aren't in the same league with world wide corporations, but they are better than government workers. Unfortunately, as we embark on the next automotive era, the UAW is the controlling owner, and they are staffed by nothing but government workers. Pray for Ford!