Robert Cringely: don't bail out the auto industry, outsource it to Jobs
Instead of a bail-out, Robert Cringely thinks we should get Steve Jobs to take over the Detroit automotive industry. It's wishful thinking woven into a magic carpet ride through a fanciful never-to-be-future, but it's loaded with fantastic little flights of fancy:
It wouldn't be boring, that's for sure, and I'm fairly certain Steve could do a better job than the Detroit executives currently in charge...The first lesson Jobs learned was that he couldn't build a successful company selling products at a loss. While we can argue that Apple prices are higher than they might be, nobody can argue with Apple's quality or its success at selling those products. So the first thing Jobs would do as head of a U.S. car company would be to eliminate the lines that are showing -- and have long shown -- little or no profit, which today generally means the biggest and the smallest cars. Goodbye Hummer...
[Jobs would] look at the car market and conclude a number of things: 1) it's a no-brainer to embrace dramatic design (no boring cars); 2) performance sells, and; 3) safety and fuel economy are co-equal secondary goals. So Steve's goal for his car company would be to make a limited line of vehicles that were dramatically styled with visibly different technologies from the competitors and were uniformly 20+ percent safer and 20+ percent more fuel-efficient.
What if Steve Jobs ran one of the Big Three auto companies? [I, Cringely]
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this is the silliest thing i've read in months. let's start with:
"One advantage of my having written about this industry since dinosaurs roamed the earth..."
...which makes you qualified to understand the financials of the american car industry?
"Honda is an archetype for this sort of marketing, having a limited line of cars with nothing down at the bottom fighting it out with Kia and Hyundai."
...except hyundai's market share has increased in the past 5 years as it begins it's honda-like ascent into higher-quality and better market impressions. the new genesis is getting rave reviews and selling out at many dealerships. the fact is that hyundai is behind only toyota in terms of honda's direct competitors.
"1) it's a no-brainer to embrace dramatic design (no boring cars); 2) performance sells, and; 3) safety and fuel economy are co-equal secondary goals."
...along with the 20% efficiency/safety comment, this guy makes it sound like this is something that happens overnight once a genius like jobs takes over.
"Their prototype car the Volt takes hybrid cars to the next level, I just wish they were selling them now because Toyota or Honda will probably beat them to the market with something similar. Another thing Apple does well is product introductions. They very rarely show their hand before they are ready to send you home with one. GM announced the Volt in January of 2007 yet it is still slated for sale by 2011."
...and he saves the best for last. first incorrect thing about this: the volt will be a 2011 model, meaning it'll be for sale on 2010 (assuming GM makes it that far). the second is the complete lack of comprehension as to the lead time of car design and release. most fully new models start (in public light, at least) as a concept, then a production demo, then full production. start to finish, that's a 3-5 year process due to how insanely more complicated an auto is compared to, say, an ipod. if toyota or honda had a direct competitor for the volt, we'd have seen it already.
seriously: thumbs down all around.
oh, and...
"[N]obody can argue with Apple's quality..."
except my friend who had to replace his ibook's HD 3 months after getting it (losing thousands of photos) and then having to replace the replacement drive 6 months later. or every person i've ever met who's ipod battery started to die conveniently at the end of it's 2 year warranty.
i know a lot of people who can argue with it.
Honda does have the Fit which is a very small car.
Father forgive me, for I have sinned. I didn't read the article before mentioning the Fit, which he does address in a way.
Anyway, the problem with the Apple - Car company analogy and his idea of the car companies getting rid of their manufacturing is this: a manufacturing job at the Big Three is currently a pretty good job. Good pay, good benefits, etc, just not very good job security at the moment. A manufacturing job for one of Apple's vendors is absolute shit in comparison. They pay dollars per day, provide no job security, little to no benefits, make you live at the factory. That's a huge reason as to how Apple is so profitable; off the backs of poorly paid, indifferently treated workers halfway around the world. Other computer companies are no different, but at the moment, car companies are different.
Granted, outsourcing manufacturing wouldn't mean they would all move overseas, but that's been the trend with most manufacturing. I'd hate to see the automakers put a system in place that encourages it.
To the sort of people that confuse marketing/packaging with innovation/engineering this would seem like a really good idea.
Apple would probably make cars that are worse and more expensive than current American cars, but it will suddenly be cool to drive them.
"A manufacturing job for one of Apple's vendors is absolute shit in comparison. They pay dollars per day, provide no job security, little to no benefits, make you live at the factory."
which is exactly why apple is so rich: make an ipod for $40 and have a 500% mark-up at the point of sale. this is not even close to the economic model of producing a car.
If Jobs ran a car company, you'd pay $150,000 for the equivalent of an Escort that randomly burst into flames, but looked so sweet you'd be excoriated by the other members of the kool kidz klub if you didn't have one.
Robert Cringely wants to relegate the Big Three to a boutique shop that shares as little compatability with the rest of the market as possible, controls only a small percentage of the total market in sales, and is run by an egomaniac tantrum thrower with no record of dealing with unions.
HAHAHAHAHAHA. I wonder if it was hard to type that with Steve Jobs dick in his mouth.
"Uniformly 20+ percent safer and 20+ percent more fuel-efficient" ...not to mention 20+ percent more expensive (but that does includes the smug sense of superiority that comes being an apple owner)
..oh and then they would have 5percent of the market, they could do that without Jobs.
well at least they could build the cars in china instead of in the states?
Not meaning to continue jumping on the piece, but don't the US automakers still hold a very significant piece of the market? Toyota only recently out-sold GM, and they've fallen behind again. So the model of "chip away at your larger competitor's market share" really doesn't apply here.
I think they just need to make better cars, bring the job protection and benefits more into line with reality (no more being paid not to work, pensions shouldn't be fully vested in 15 years, etc.), and make cars that genuinely compete with the Japanese companies.
They have the home field advantage, most people want them to succeed, but they have to throw us (the consumers) a bone every now and then. Give us something we want to drive that lasts.
I can't wait until I have to get an appointment with a 'Detroit Genius' to have my car tuned up. "No User Adjustable Parts Inside" will be painted on the hood which will be screwed down with tamper-resistant screws; Ed Felten and his grad students will end up being the mechanics in a remake of the movie 'IQ' with Lessig instead of Einstein as the jolly professor ("How they hangin', Doc?" is still funny to me after seeing the movie three times).
#7 POSTED BY XDMAG
Apple would probably make cars that are worse and more expensive than current American cars, but it will suddenly be cool to drive them.
Those are called Volkswagens
Jobs would probably ban unions and separate his workforce in small, highly motivated design and engineering cells. Next, he would tie the cars down to one gas station (special adapters, gas quality), one garage chain (incompatible replacement parts), and keep new products a secret till they are publicly available. Thereby he would gain a 3 - 5 year head start over imitating competitors. They would be likely to produce a highly integrated and therefore well working product that nobody could repair by himself, or even open without voiding the warranty. And you could only listen to music bought on itunes on your apple car stereo :)