When you're running in the back of the pack, it's almost impossible to take the lead. Detroit has learned this painful lesson in the small car market, but they're planning a compact comeback with spiffy new models like the Ford Focus, Holden Vauxhall Opel Saturn Astra and … uh… can I get back to you on that? Even though the imported brands have been giving us high-quality small cars for years, Forbes reports Ford and GM research "shows [them] that small-car buyers will no longer tolerate flimsy seats, cheap plastic dashboards, noisy engines and bumpy rides." (They must have finally driven a Honda.) This epiphany isn't lost on Saturn's general manager Jill Lajdziak who said, "People who go into a small car want expressive design and they want a level of refinement in the interior. We've got to make sure that our small cars are delivering what they want. They don't want to compromise." Ford CEO Alan Mulally admits his benefactors have a problem too: "It's a segment that we've been out of, so we need to have really good products in it. We missed a whole generation of Ford products. We knew the trucks and the SUVs, No. 1 in the world, but they grew up with Civics and Accords." That's all well and good, Al and Jill; the first step to curing a problem is admitting you have one. But when you're trying to hit a moving target, finally figuring out you need some ammo isn't enough; you have to aim in front of it, not at it.
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I’m looking forward to the Holden Vauxhall Opel Saturn Astra. It remains to be seen whether it will achieve success on the market and turn a profit for GM deepen GM’s foray into the red on every model they sell. Still, I’m hopeful they’ll get built here eventually, as Opel/Vauxhall/Holden/Saturn makes more sense than having the same model compete under multiple badges in one market (ie: the rest of GMNA’s lineup).
Let’s hope Ford comes to the same realization and brings their Euro models stateside. The Ford Ka could be a hit in our most congested cities, and Sajeev anxiously awaits a test drive of the Mercury Mondeo…
The Ford Ka could be a hit in our most congested cities, and Sajeev anxiously awaits a test drive of the Mercury Mondeo…
Damn right I am.
We’ve been hearing that the Ford Fiesta (or a derivative of) is coming stateside by 2009…too bad that’s not “right around the corner.”
What’s most disturbing about Mulally’s statement is that not only have they missed out on this segment, their partner Mazda is quietly building one of the arguably best cars in the segment. Can’t they just send the engineers over to Mazda to figure out why the damn thing works so well? I can only assume that Ford took the same team that extended the life of the “old” Mustang for nearly twenty years and have put it on the “new” Focus.
And after driving a Lincoln MKZ, I found it very difficult to recognize the excellent Mazda6 underneath; it had lost nearly all of the charm of its brother-under-the-skin and substituted bling for substance. Toyota and Honda both tarted up their mid-sized cars and the results (ES350, TL) are luxurious if not driver-oriented vehicles. Ford tarts up a Mazda6 (a superior chassis to both the Camry and Accord, in my view) and ends up with just another watered-down Lincoln.
And, GM’s failure to create a modern and smooth engine out of the Ecotec is hard to believe from a company which simultaneously builds a pushrod V8 that is in most every measure better (power-to-weight, fuel mileage, torque) than a four-cam, turbocharged flat 6 the kids in Stuttgart have spent nearly 50 years refining. What’s with that?
As traffic congestion increases and gas prices rise, hopefully the American consumer will wake up and banish the notion that small cars are automotive penalty boxes. This notion that lack of money is the only reason why anyone would buy a small car has has created a barrier to bringing more premium small cars to the US market. The expectation that small must be cheap simply makes importation and local manufacture of premium small cars uneconomic – you just can’t buid a Euro Focus and sell it at the price of a US Focus. I hope that Saturn succeeds in generating interest in their Astra (even though they are selling it at a loss) and that this will convince GM (and Ford) that the market is ready of premium small in the US.
The Big 2.x have got to realize (even if it’s already way too late) that small cars are for two different markets.
The first, which they cater to reasonably well, is for the young first-time buyer who is on the cheap and just needs wheels to get to work or school. Did I mention that that buyer is looking for the cheapest set of wheels? Okay, a couple of safety features and a loud stereo are cool additions, but this car is just meant to be an alternative to the used market – with better financing options and warranty.
The second market, where the real demand (but no Big 3 cars) can be found, is for the seasoned car owner looking for a smaller car with the same level of quality and features their previous larger vehicle had. They want better fuel efficiency, and perhaps easier parking, but they don’t want to cheapen out on comfort or reliability. If anything, they may expect a few more amenities in exchange for the steel and space they are giving up. Innovation in the use of interior space, the safety features, and the vehicle’s handling are qualities that attract this market.
Detroit needs to wake up and respond to the clue bat that is beating on them right now. They failed to keep looking over their shoulder while the SUV craze kept them fed, and now there’s no one trailing them anymore. They just don’t believe that money can be made in this category, and it’s because they don’t see more than one market for small cars.
As usual with small cars – customers get stung by gas prices from foreseeable issues with supply from unstable countries and our insatiable demand. Detroit is years behind the competition in refinement and performance in their small cars and resort to rebadging Korean built cars or reskinning the same old tired platform in hopes that people are stupid enough to think the car has been completely revamped.
With the Astra – isn’t that the “no-no” practice of dumping by selling a car built in another country at a loss in yet another? Isn’t this the “foul” the Detroit cried about for decades – before they looked at themselves and found that they couldn’t do anything efficiently due to management and unions.
@ edgett: As for Vette engine as impressive as the 997TT – recall that the z06 has 7.0 liters to the 3.6 liters in the 997TT (that’s about twice the engine size and 2 more cylinders).
Here’s a summary of key statistics from German Auto Zeitung October 2006 issue (order: Z06 / F430 / Gallardo / 997TT Manual with SC):
0-100 kph: 4.4s / 3.8s / 4.2s / 3.9s
0-200 kph: 13.0s / 12.2s / 13.4s / 12.5s
Top Speed: 320kph / 316 / 315 / 310
Handling: 1:39.4 / 1:38.1 / 1:38.2 / 1:38.1
Handlung: 63.5kph / 69.2 / 69.1 / 67.2
Stopping Distance: 35.1 / 33.4 / 33.4 / 33.2
Actually their statement is an indictment of their practices entirely. “No long will the consumers tolerate crap”? Seriously, they wonder why most people won’t come near an American product anymore… So while it is trendy they will devote some miniscule amount of effort to bring something that might qualify as average, before abandoning the market to something more glamorous with quick high margins again.
I have no idea how these CEOs got to be so out of touch with simple business values. Foist crap on people and your reputation turns to crap. Make every product as good as you can, sweat the details, and maybe, just maybe, you will engender customer loyalty. Even despite Toyota’s recent decline in CR ratings, I trust them more to improve and fix those problems than GM or Ford.
@ jaje – My point was not that the Corvette was superior to the 997TT, but if you look at power-to-weight, I think you’ll find that the lowly pushrod V8 produces more power and weighs less than the superb flat 6. And yes it is a much larger engine in terms of displacement, but in the end, the engine gets more performance from less weight and realizes at least equivalent fuel efficiency in doing so.
My point is not to knock Porsche, but that by most measures GM have taken a sow’s ear and turned it into a very fast silk purse. Why can’t they apply similar engineering talent to the Ecotec?
@ edgett – I misinterpretted your original intent. I do see the z06 engine as a masterpiece of ohv technology (I have a 2500HD Silverado with the 6.0 v8 – similar engine to the base Corvette just tuned for low end torque and not higher rpm torque). It’s a shame GM can’t build a good 4 cylinder – considering they’ve had over 3 decades to perfect it. Of the 4 cyls today I consider Honda the king of smooth and powerful inline 4s – but makes sense since they are an engineering firm first…manufacturer 2nd.
“My point is not to knock Porsche, but that by most measures GM have taken a sow’s ear and turned it into a very fast silk purse. Why can’t they apply similar engineering talent to the Ecotec?”
Response: I imagine that working on the Ecotec is the GM-equivalent of being sent to the gulags in Siberia or designing small cars—a low prestige, unwanted, career-killing division.
Sad but probably more true than false.
I think the Big 2.8 (well, at least Ford and GM) get it, but unfortunately, like everything else, they are slow to deliver. Really, the only thing the new Focus lacks is an exterior with some sort of design cohesion. I rented one on my last business trip – that thing is quiet, the interior is better than anything in its class in my opinion, the handling is crisp, the engine responsive. Sitting on the inside of that car, the Civic is trumped… but that outside.
Ford’s next B-car, however, will be very good. We’re getting the Euro version with a different nose for crash standards. I just wish they could get it here in mid-2008 when it launches in Europe instead of in mid-2009.
The Saturn Astra will be a very good car, I think. Again, like the Fiesta, it is GM’s European model. GM also has the Aveo, and while the old 5-door model is junk, the 4-door is actually a half-way decent car. I would certainly choose it over a Yaris (although the Fit is a step up).
Both companies are also working on mini-utes based on their B platforms, and I heard that the Reflex project is alive again at Ford. So, they get it. It’s just they needed to really get it about 3 years ago so that these products could be out now instead of debuting in ’09/’10.
Small car renaissance from Detroit? What a joke of an article.
The American automakers have a lot less small cars coming to market in the next few years than compared to the Japanese. Toyota has their new Corolla coming to North America in a few months. In 2009, Honda is supposed to release a new Fit to North America. That is just to name a few of course. And on the market currently the Japanese dominate with the amount of small car offerings they have.
It is especially egregious that Ford, the company that became a global giant by building basic transportation, had to wait until Mulally arrived to be told that unappealing big(er) cars (e.g., an ’05 Taurus) can’t sell well against appealing small(er) cars (e.g., an Accord).
Oh, we can understand why the company clung to Henry the Deuce’s dictum that small cars mean small profits. Detroit believed a car’s price should be in proportion to its mass. At one time there was an almost one-to-one linkage of dollars and weight: a 2,000 pound car sold for about $2,000; a two-ton car brought four grand. Thus, the Big 3’s enormous fixed costs and overhead–and eventually even UAW labor became a de facto fixed cost–ensured that low-price cars would be money-losers.
So the key variable wasn’t content; it was mass. And the public once generally accepted that rule. In 1971 a friend bought a new BMW 1600, which was essentially a Teutonic Datsun 510 with a marvelous four-cylinder engine. Another friend asked how much it cost. Upon being told the amount (it was about $3,500, I think) the response was “Gee, for that much money I can buy an Impala!” Over time, the market changed but Detroit didn’t. Or couldn’t. But perhaps survival is possible. New UAW contracts will help trim costs, as will cuts in overhead and unneeded production capacity. A real breakthrough would be ending the veto power that component units (e.g., the employees who engineered the “domestic” Focus) exercised over decisions with fateful company-wide consequences. If American engineers can’t design engines or transmissions as good as Toyota’s or Honda’s, they must be jettisoned. Sub-optimization isn’t good enough in today’s global competition.
While Detroit has allegedly learned this painful lesson in the small car market, what about the mid-size and full-size car market? In the sea of Camcords and imported crossover SUVs, Detroit is an also-ran. And the large car market is dying from neglect.