WaPo columnist Warren Brown never turns down an opportunity to show Detroit some love. Or at least lash out at its haters. Today he takes on the “sophist nonsense… spun by people who haven’t bothered to check the numbers, and who have paid even less regard to the history of their supposed knowledge,” otherwise known as opposition to the government bailout of a failing industry. And like Michael Jackson’s greatest music video, the arguments appeal to the sense of pathos rather than logic or reason. The financial sector and price-conscious consumers are blamed for dragging down Detroit, despite the fact that both have supported Detroit for decades. The automakers may have slurped all the credit they could get for years, and consumers may have only purchased Detroit iron on price alone, but they’re the ones to blame for the industry’s downfall, reckons Brown. But like the gloved one, Detroit can’t create its own very public trainwreck and then blame people for noticing. Or if you must damn the media and public for calling your failures like they see them, at least do it with a sense of humor. Even Michael Jackson knows that.
Category: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
“Spirit Airlines wants to bailout Detroit air passengers.” Geddit? The airline is offering a “Detroit Bailout” sale; travelers can fly from Detroit to domestic and international destinations at prices starting from $59 each way. This isn’t the first unusual promotion offered by Spirit. The airline once held a “Hunt for Hoffa” promotion in which visitors to its website could play an online game involving longtime missing and presumed dead labor leader Jimmy Hoffa. Customer complaints forced the cancellation of the Hoffa promotion.
Conan O’Brien presents Detroit’s call for bailout bucks.
GM has become the first Detroit firm to acknowledge the toxic fallout from what’s fast becoming known as Corporate Jet-Gate. Reuters (via Yahoo News) reports that GM will send back two of its leased corporate jets, after attracting widespread criticism for jetting to DC with begging bowls in hand. Actually, according to GM spokesfolks, GM decided to return the aircraft because of a “really aggressive cutback in travel.” Seriously? “There is a perception issue,” says GM’s Tom Wilkinson of CEO Rick Wagoner’s travel to Washington on a private jet. “We need to be very sensitive to that going forward.” What’s next? Alan Mulally’s Lexus?
We’ve had a few confused comments on the Dodge EV vs. Challenger “drag race” video, so we thought we’d fill in some details. And post something between Bailout Watches. First of all, the stunt was choreographed by Chrysler. ENVI President Lou Rhodes is behind the wheel of the Dodge EV while a weak-ankled Chrysler employee handles a Challenger 6.1 with octegenarian restraint. Clearly this was intended as a PR two-fer. Chrysler gets to show off its Tesla wannabe and its muscle car, while giving the LA Times the opportunity to write about how Chrysler’s EVs and EREVs are the future. And clearly the point was to give the Challenger the fuzzy end of the lollypop in order to show just how advanced the Chrysler EV program is. Maybe next time they could be a little more convincing. The video doesn’t so much make the Dodge EV look like a muscle-car-beating dynamo, as it makes the Challenger look like a secretary special. The LA Times’ Dan Neil admits that the Challenger was launched in second gear in both runs, and that it “seems to let up” on the second run. Nobody will say for sure if it was a lift-off or an audio effect caused by the rev limiter. Regardless of the actual details, the real point of these video stunts is to look cool, and it’s in this crucial consideration that the video really lets down. Had the Challenger sat on the starting line, dramaticaly gasifying its tires while the EV scooted to victory, the PR “message” would have remained the same and it would have looked a lot better. As it went down, the stunt looked staged and neither car came out looking heroic. Better luck next time.
Ray Wert, of “A GM-Chrysler merger makes good financial sense” fame has announced that via CafePress, Jalopnik is selling “Save GM” t-shirts. Even if it’s meant ironically, I find this so blindingly stupid that I’m commentless. Help yourselves.
Recent Comments