What ifs: Can GM help rebuild a new America?
The future is coming whether we're ready or not
Using Detroit to reinvent transportation, and America
For almost as long as I’ve been a blogger on the auto beat, I’ve been very critical of GM. At the end of the day, it seems to me that foreign oil dependency is the greatest threat facing the US, and GM just hasn’t been a corporate leader on this issue. GM hasn’t been the General leading America in the war for energy independence.
While GM is still not yet the General leading the battle against foreign oil, there is some hope that GM is primed to brake out of its transportation mold.
No. I’m not referring to the Chevy Volt. While I love the concept of the Volt, Volt technology will be too expensive to have any real world impact on US foreign oil dependence any time soon. While the Volt will have long term value, GM’s eAssist mild hybrid powertrain, for instance, will save far more gasoline in the interim to much cheaper plug-in vehicles.
Besides, the plug alone isn’t revolutionary enough.
Ultimately, just plugging in the current US fleet isn’t the future. The entire idea of personal transportation will have to be reinvented from the wheels up to balance increasing congestion, higher energy costs and to meet the needs of emerging markets and new cohorts of consumers.
And that makes recent comments by GM’s North American President Mark Reuss very interesting.
“What if” – the new mantra for Reuss according to the DetroitNews – GM built a new model for the future of transportation in partnership with the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan? What if, this partnership started building the future, right now, in the Motor City?
Thus, instead of using Shanghai, China to prove the viability of something like the EN-V two seat transportation pod, Reuss suggests that Detroit be ground zero. Build the future in America, not China.
Without doubt some will pooh-pooh ideas like the EN-V, but such concepts will inevitably change transportation fundamentally and far sooner than most dare to believe, not just because of congestion and costs, but also because of seemingly unrelated technologies like social networking. So, the fact that GM seems to recognize this inevitable reality is great news.
Of course, GM recognized the possibility of $4.00 gasoline long before 2008, but did little because the status quo made more sense in the boardroom. Will GM be different this time? Will GM dare lead America to a new future, a future that most Americans can’t even yet comprehend?
One way or another, changing America’s energy paradigm is the key to the future, and transportation is a huge part of that equation. Few US companies have more ability to help lead America towards a new future than GM. Yes, it’s a heck of a lot to ask of any company, but if the US is going to win the future, it’s going to need a great General.
Hopefully, America won’t have to wonder “what if” GM can be such a corporate steward too long, but at least GM seems to be wondering “what if” they built a new corporate mold. That’s at least a good start.
It needs to have two more wheels before I consider it a means of transportation.
The MIT City Car would do just fine for me around town.
I too am a critic of GM as well as Toyota but I would suggest that to expect any corporate entity to do anything that is not in their own perceived best interests is misguided.
Let me give an example. Battery technology is not producing the hoped-for breakthroughs as quickly as we want them but do we blame the corporations that are engaged in developing those technologies?
I do not believe GM is the greatest auto company in the world or the US – anymore than I think they are the worst – but especially so I don’t judge them on what I think they should be doing – or not because fundamentally the job of any corporation is to survive and that means selling what people will buy – even there are other things that could be offered but is not.
GM, for instance, offers a hybrid truck but not Toyota but do they get much credit for that fact? Nope. Because the truck is very expensive.
So instead of blaming Toyota for not producing a “better” Hybrid truck, we, instead, blame GM for …what amounts to IMHO – a laundry list of things the critics find fault with – not one or two major failings especially if compared on an equal basis with say Toyota but things that are almost specific to each individual critic – or seemingly so.
I don’t defend GM – which I think in many ways is a mess but I do believe that we should have a level playing field when laying blame on the auto companies for what they do or don’t do.
Pillorying GM alone for not showing “leadership” is pretty subjective IMHO.
we all have our opinions… tis true…
truth be known, my view – the most cynical of the American car companies is Chrysler which produces (according to Consumers Reports AND J.D. Powers) CRAP cars but they know how to style their cars for popular tastes and they do well selling cars…. but in terms of “leadership”…if we wanted to compare them to GM or Toyota… no so good.
Companies like GM are behemoths and they are not very nimble ..and risk adverse by their nature.
by the way…. as a TOTAL ASIDE… I read that some companies are not using electric engines that utilize rare earth metals and that Telsa is one of them and that either GM or Ford also is on the same track.
true? false? thoughts?