Airbags for the Auto Industry

Looking back in time it shouldn't be all that surprising that we find ourselves in the situation we're currently in with the American auto industry. Now I'm not going to argue as to whether or not it makes sense for Congress or the president (both incumbent and incoming) to do anything to 'bail out' the auto industry nor am I going to try to come up with solutions to it knowing fully well that even if I did come up with the end all be all solution to the dilemma, there are far too few people who would read this blog and then think it to be the idea that would save the auto industry. Heck I'm not even going to talk about what the deep driving reasons behind the collapse may be. I'm sure there are economic indicators but as a layman, I will point the finger at one thing that most certainly had some part of it. Ego.

Now the heads of the big three American automakers were in DC this week to request (cough cough... beg) for money from the government to keep the industry from collapsing as sales are suffering big time. It's all tied into the credit crisis that is affecting the entire country. Credit companies are going belly up due to the number of bad loans that were being passed around and now people are so freaked out about getting a loan for anything that they aren't buying cars. Plus, with fuel prices fluctuating as if they are on a see-saw most people are getting reluctant to even contemplate getting a non-fuel efficient car. And therein is part of the problem. How to build a car that is good enough for the family but is fuel efficient as well. The answer so far has been you can't.

So where does the ego come into this? Well if you think back about a decade ago you'll recall that minivans began picking up in popularity because it offered the cargo and family carrying capacity that most vans did but on a much smaller scale. Vans like what the A-Team or Scooby-Doo drove were just a bit too much for most people so they weren't as popular as they had once been. The minivan was the perfect answer. But the problem was that most guys had an issue with the minivan. It didn't quite go with our macho exterior so we were very reluctant to even consider finding ourselves behind the wheel of one. I remember that I sat in one as a kid was was thrilled that there was so much room in back but I also recall thinking that it was like sitting in a glorified school bus. For most men it became a sign of being a family man whose days of fast driving and fast living were long gone. So then what to do?

In comes the SUV craze. The Sport Utility Vehicle became the catchphrase of the late 20th Century and everyone could agree that it was a happy compromise for everyone. It offered good cargo capacity and it was macho. Most guys could feel comfortable in their male egoness by saying that they drove an SUV. You couldn't make the assumption that they were family men. You could assume either they had a family or did a lot of off-road driving in winter landscapes on the weekends. This was the illusion that was sold to a lot of us and we happily embraced it. So what if they were among the least fuel efficient cars on the road. If I wanted to drive an urban tank then that was my right wasn't it? Sure I would have to fill up fuel after sitting in traffic for five minutes but still, that didn't matter because it was way better than a minivan.

Move forward in time and as emissions standards changed and as fuel prices began their steady upward creep it became more apparent that something needed to be done. Now while most commercials will happily proclaim that their SUVs will get the highest mileage per gallon of any vehicle in its class, even the hybrids are only able to do as well as my Porsche. And I think that my Porsche is a hell of a lot more fun to drive and anyways, my priority is not for hauling a lot of people so why do I need a minivan or an SUV. So in spite of the fact that people were becoming more aware of the need for better mileage, Detroit continued to churn out cars that were still way behind in their fuel efficiency standards. I mean even Ferrari is starting to seriously look at developing high performance engines with great fuel efficiency. I know the American auto industry has been trying for a long time to get standards up to snuff but there has never been a sense of urgency because people continued to buy their cars despite everything else. Now that the industry is on the verge of going belly up, they realize the mess that their ego has gotten them into.