So instead, I will just post this haiku:
GM US sales dropped 18% in june.
Toyota US sales dropped 21% in June.
More imagination is needed.
With every car and truck and van in the US looking essentially the same and absolutely no effort whatsoever by major car manufacturers to create sexy, well-designed, fuel-efficient, compact cars to give the overpriced mini Cooper and gender-limited VW Bug a run for their money, we are left with a sea of cars no one wants.
Problem #1: Wallet share is tight. Buying a new car in the current economy is already a tough proposition.
Problem #2: Buying a car is an investment. Resale values of vehicles with weak mileage efficiency are dropping fast. Investing in a car today with gas prices looking the way they do (+ market insecurity) means consumers aren’t likely to fork out big bucks for a new car anytime soon.
Problem #3: Our “bigger is better” supersize-me attitude needs to change. The days of the macho-by-horsepower association are coming to a close. Deal with it.
Problem #4: Auto manufacturers are not reacting quickly enough to the oil crisis. (As if it wasn’t always coming. Didn’t anyone have a Plan-B? Really?)
Problem #5: Most cars don’t have a purpose or an identity. Nissan’s X-Terra’s success 8 years ago was due to the fact that it had a very clear place in the pantheon of vehicles. Same with the H2, the Mini Cooper, and the VW bug. Today’s contenders are Toyota’s FJ Cruiser and to some extent the H3, but that’s about it. Every other SUV is just another copy of a copy of a copy. Ford’s Mustang GT fills the muscle car void fairly well, but we aren’t exactly talking middle of the bell curve here. Crossovers are a nice concept, but I have a tough time getting excited by any new design – they’re all the same. Ergo: I’m bored just trying to think of an interesting or unique car i am jonesing for under $30K.
There is a clear absence of imagination in the auto industry, at least in the US. derivative designs create an “also-in” design culture that offers no clear value to anyone. Sure, I can get excited about Aston Martin or Bugati’s latest supercars, but when I look at cars I can actually afford – the middle of the bell curve - what am I left with? Where is the sexy, smart, well designed sub-$20K car with great gas mileage and suite of electronic interfaces I have been asking for? Where are my power outlets for laptops and media player recharges? (Real outlets, not cigarette lighter outlets.) Where is my built-in hands-free system for my phone? Where is my media player plug-in?
I’m not saying that we should all adopt the euro supercompact-car concept (although if you live in the city, don’t have any kids, and absolutely need a car, perhaps you should consider one), but there is a healthy compromise that can be met. Why is it that we aren’t seeing it yet? Every compact car on the market that isn’t a mini or a bug is manufactured on the cheap and designed on the quick. This needs to change.
Cars should always be cool. They should always be more than just a set of wheels to go to work or to the store. I’m not sure when the industry shifted to a zero personality model, but auto makers need to turn this around. Cars with personalities sell. Period. They sell because they stand for something. They help their owners express who they are. Identity development needs to become part of every new car design – not just at the brand level (a BMW is a BMW /a Mercedes is a Mercedes) but at the level of the individual model. Scion has adopted the concept 100%, but its designs look like someone got a hold of ten-year-old early concept drafts from 2-3 automakers and actually turned them into production cars without making any changes. (Right idea: Unique models for unique uses, but horrible execution: Not a whole lot of curb appeal, and heinously derivative designs.)
Is it really THAT hard to get this right?
Here’s what the next big auto hit looks like:
1. It has so much personality, it could be a Mac. (Sorry, I’m supposed to be the PC guy, but we all know where “cool” lives these days.)
2. It looks GREAT. Not just good, but GREAT. People want to rent it from hertz and budget and Avis. Your friends want to drive it when you show it off at your next together. People on the street stare at it when you drive by.
3. The interior is a mix between the cockpit of a 1930′s rallye speedster and the cabin of a brand spanking new custom Leer jet.
4. Real power outlets. Media player interfaces. Hands free wireless interface. Just do it.
5. MPG superstar status. Make it part of the car’s identity. Not an afterthought, but at the very core of the car’s purpose.
6. $12K-$18K is the sweet spot. It’s a compact.
7. But make it look, feel and perform like a $30K+ car.
8. Invent something smarter than a cool cup holder. Like a built-in passive cabin ventilation system for really hot summer days. Or a slot for a portable hard drive inside the dashboard. Or a fully insulated trunk compartment for laptops, cameras and other electronics. Or accessible + concealable storage compartments for passengers. Or a new seat adjustment interface. Or yeah… a better cup holder.
Europeans have been designing very cool, high performance compact cars for decades. Look to Renault, Citroen, Opel and Peugeot, for starters. Even mercedes sells compact cars in Europe now.
Think, guys. Dream a little. Invent something that brings value to the market. More importantly, make your brand, your designs and your every conversation with us, the people who should be dreaming about driving your cars, stand for something. Give us something to desire and crave and get excited about.
A 20% drop in sales might be great for your car lease units, but that isn’t where you want to be. Wake up and do something.
More people are holding on to their old cars, maintaining them, fixing them up, and driving them less. I’ll bet you could sell a refurbished 1984 Tercel for a decent amount on today’s market.
Also, I think we’re going to start seeing some steampunk car mods appearing pretty soon.
I realize that sometimes impossible dreams have to be dreamt. However, I think there’s a very good reason why cars that look, feel and perform like a $30K+ cars don’t (and won’t) cost $12K-$18K… because they cost a lot more than that to make.
Buy shares in Volkswagen, seriously. The new Sirocco hits hard in just about all of the catagories you described and the engineers at Porsche have been working away to make super efficient, small block engines which correspond to the heavy anti-pollution criteria over here and still get you from 0-100 snappily.
If you want to move up a class the new Passat CC looks sexier than the new Mercedes and is 20k cheaper. I’m telling you Volkswagen is the new black (I drive an Alpha 159 and am looking to change).
Cool post Olivier.
Not so, Nobrainer. Having spent some years in product design, I can tell you with absolute certainty that you can pretty easily make a better, sexier, more high performance version of an existing product for far less money than it costs today.
And I am not talking about hiring cheaper labor either. From design enhancements to the choice of materials, the devil is in the details. You can (and should) give your customer the impression that they got more product for their money than they should have.
Every time they get behind the wheel of that car, the thought in the backs of their heads should be “I can’t believe I only paid $x for this!”
I’ll grant you this: The $12K version won’t feel like a $30K car. But the $18K version sure can.
Maybe you won’t be seeing ostrich skin on the steering wheel or 1000-year-old redwood dashboard accents, but the choice of interior materials these days is a lot broader than the same tired crap that most auto makers unload on us year after year. (Hint: If we want to suffer cheap upholstery, most of us don’t have to leave our office.)
;D
By the way, have you looked at how cool razors look these days? My $7 Gilette Mach 3 is a thing of beauty. Look at how badass some of Rudy Project’s optics look. Look at some of the curves on high end time trial bicycles and helmets. Design is everywhere. Automakers need to start looking outside their industry for inspiration. Even their concept cars are starting to all look the same. From personal grooming products to sunglasses, from European furniture to luxury plumbing, from haute couture to consumer electronics, the range of design elements that could find a place in automotive design is astounding.
Design takes both vision and courage. Auto makers designing models for the US market need to stop playing it safe and give Americans more credit when it comes to style and taste. They also need to up their game a bit: Over-delivering is not the same thing as leaving money on the table. Build a great car, make a profit, capture drivers’ hearts – capitalize on your market share momentum intelligently. Trust me, Wall Street won’t mind if you pace yourself.
Definitely looking forward to steampunk cars.
Hopefully, they will be smaller and prettier than the giant mechanical spider in the unfortunate big screen reboot of “The Wild Wild West.”
Lots of polished brass pipes, clustered bouquets of chrome levers and some art deco stained glass for good measure.
As long as the leather aeronaut goggles match the seats, I’m good.
Tim, VW has always been the new black.
Even when it was the old black, it was the new black. ;D
Hey, does anyone remember the “Le car” fiasco back in the 80′s? Renault brought its very popular and well-designed R5 to the US, but instead of offering the same car, proceeded to cheapen it to such an extent that it ended up being a step down from the Gremlin and Yugo. (Three lugs per wheel? Really?)
This exercise in turning a great little car into a cheap pile of crap effectively killed any hope of importing French cars into the US market ever again. (Although I think the time has come to try again – and do it right this time.)
Compact cars work as long as auto makers don’t position compacts as cheap pieces of crap. The “Le Car” debacle is the example NOT to follow.
(Although I think the time has come to try again – and do it right this time.)
The new C5 is cool and the new 607 (which I presume will be the 608) is set to be cool too. I have no idea if the US will think it’s cool but it’s cool anyway.
I have to agree that there is generally a lot of room to improve products via design. In cars, not so much. In the interior, perhaps. But I’m guessing that most of the costs are outside of the interior.
Why not so much? This goes along 2 lines:
The first is that, assuming you make huge, HUGE, technological strides and are able to profitably sell the $30+k car for $18k, then you are also able to sell the $40+k car for $30k; at which point the new $18k model is still far inferior to the $30k model.
The second, is about design constraints. For example, if you want tremendous fuel mileage, you can go with a tiny engine, new-fangled drivetrain, or ultra-lightweight construction, or some combination of the 3. The first choice takes you out of $30k performance range, the last 2 bump up costs by a few k. And then it still has to be safe and reliable.
@ Nobrainer. I totally see your point, but we’ll have to agree to disagree on this. Euopeans and Japanese auto manufacturers know how to build extremely fuel efficient compact cars with lots of street performance built-in.
Case in point: I used to drive from Greenville to Charleston on 2/3 of a tank in my Honda CRX in under 150 minutes, and that was 15+ years ago. Old technology. Old interior design. I haven’t seen an improvement in either in almost two decades.
Still, even back then, I enjoyed great gas mileage nowhere near the 55mph “optimal” cruising speed, and that little car could accelerate like no one’s business WITHOUT the benefit of turbo. My wife’s 2003 VW bug isn’t quite as nervous, but can still get me out of a jam faster than my Passat in a street duel. (Not that I actually live the Project Gotham lifestyle or anything…)
All of this to say that small cars and small engines that provide both great mileage and fun race-like performance already exist. They’ve been around for twenty+ years. Improvements in fuel economy may be incremental, but when you’re already getting 30-35+ mpg, you’re doing okay. Yet only 2-3 models of compact cars in the US have decent critter comfort designs, while the vast majority lives in the “bottom of the heap” economy category. In the US market, when it comes to cars, bigger is still better. Ergo, smaller is worse. Wrong approach.
My beef with compact car designs in the US is less about engine performance and more about design. #1: Compact cars need not look like little boxes on wheels. Put some love into the look of the thing. Make these cars cute or sporty or fun. Something. Make them stand out on the road. #2: Compact shouldn’t mean cheap looking interior. Enough with the pleather/plastic and cheap carpet and upholstery. Enough with the taxicab rubber panels and generic cup holders. Compact cars are still being designed as if they were intended to be shipped to 3rd world countries: The interiors are so basic and minimal that they’re even less personable than the inside of Belgian tramway cars. (And that’s saying something.)
There is no pride put into these cars. They’re positioned as the low end of a auto brand’s fleet, and that is the wrong way to look at it. If Ford and Chevrolet put as much thought, love and pride in its compacts as VW and Fiat/Austin did in their bug and mini (cooper), they would not be seeing 20% drops in car sales right now. In SUVs, absolutely… but the drop in sales would be partially if not mostly offset by an increase in fuel-efficient compact cars.
As it is, I would consider trading my beloved Passat V6 for a cool little sporty compact… but don’t have that option here. The options that Tim brings up are for the most part not available in the US (yet).
If at least Ford and Chevy were trying to create bug/mini killers, our conversation would be very different. But as things are, Ford and Chevy are still pushing tanks and don’t seem to have anything in the works to compete against the rest of the world in an fuel-poor market.
Not that the present administration is helping drive that shift, mind you. (And yes, I think the government has its part to play in helping markets align themselves to shifting energy policies.)
I’m just asking for cool options outside of Europe and Japan’s borders, that’s all.
What do you drive, if I may ask?
Been searching for information just like this thanks for getting it out there.