Lack of understanding niche marketing cost many automakers their very existence.
Rarely has any heavy industry, or major sector of American business had such an enormous degree of marketing catastrophes as has the auto industry. Most businesses can miss the mark in marketing, and when flaws become apparent, corrections can be made to repair a damaged image, then, with appropriate corrections, try to regain market losses.
However, when auto manufacturers make such errors, costs can be in the tens of millions of dollars, or even billions of dollars, and, as has happened in a number of cases, bring down the very existence of the company altogether.
Less than a hundred years ago, when automobile production hit its stride, there were literally hundreds of car builders in this country. Today, there are three, well, possibly two, if the present rate of losses continues much longer.
In the early days of the industry, marketing trial and error was expected, and in 1934, when the Chrysler Airflow bombed, there was more than marketing to blame. Production delays and a grotesque body design didn’t help, but in the fifties, when market research was considered ‘scientific’, the Edsel became the most phenomenal marketing fiasco of all time! The late, world-renown semanticist, S.I. Hayakawa called the marketing research firm that Ford used for the Edsel, “Harlot social scientists who tell their clients what their clients want to hear.”
Also in the fifties, Studebaker had the most successful niche market models in America, but instead of taking advantage of their unique market character, they made some of the most incredibly illogical, even ridiculous management decisions imaginable, and pirated several Chevrolet designers to develop a car that more closely resembled Chevrolet, and designed themselves right out of business! The logic that people who want a car like a Chevrolet will, most likely, BUY a Chevrolet, not a car that only resembles a Chevy! BUT, that logic seems to have been a little too difficult for the South Bend auto maker’s managers.
American Motors, Auburn, Cord, Deusenburg, Hudson, Kaiser, Packard, and several other car makers made similarly idiotic mistakes, and paid the ultimate price for doing so.
Asked why GM did not make electric cars, a GM executive recently said, “We did make an electric car in the early nineties, but the public did not show sufficient interest in it to justify full scale production of that kind of car!” Such fallacious and absurd reasoning is a gross oversimplification and does not address the reality of the situation.
GM did produce an ugly, bloated pig of a car with an electric motor, with virtually insignificant promotion, and when great throngs of people didn’t rush out to buy one, they fatuously concluded, “People aren’t ready for electric cars!” Choosing electric, hybrid or fuel efficient cars, today, sends meaningful messages to the masterminds of motor city.
Americans drove TWELVE BILLION miles less this year than last year, because gas prices forced us from our cars whenever discretionary travel gave us a choice, drivewise! .
Number ONE cause of fatal sccidents
Number ONE cause of fatal accidents a surprise to many safety proponents.
“Speed kills… “Slow down and live.” We’ve all heard the safety slogans. However, one of the most recent highway safety studies, commissioned by the Pacific Institute of Research and Evaluation, (PIRE), shows the leading cause of fatal crashes in the United States to be far more deadly than excessive speed, drunk driving or cell phone use, although these may share culpability in some events.
An overwhelming majority of fifty-six percent of all fatal accidents and one third of all injury accidents can be DIRECTLY attributable to FAULTY ROAD CONDITIONS! Those of us with years of experience investigating accidents, analyzing statistics and conducting studies, are certainly not surprised by this salient fact. Of the 37,261 people killed on our highways last year, 20,867 of them lost their lives due to BAD ROADS.
This equates to one death every twenty-five minutes, as… “Inadequate roadway infrastructure is responsible for the majority of fatalities.” The annual cost of fatal accidents alone is $217 billion. This is more than THREE AND A HALF TIMES the $59 billion spent by state and federal governments combined on roadway improvements, according to the Federal Highway Administration. Legislators need to focus fiscal priorities on the fatal flaws in our roadways to make safety more cost effective.
The most dangerous faults are inadequate shoulders, guard rails, and obstacles near traffic lanes with woefully poor directional signage. Improvements needed are wider shoulders, more adequate guard rails, break-away power poles and lighting standards, rumble-strips along pavement edges and legible signage for quick, clear communication so drivers have minimal eye deviation from the road.
Most fatalities occur on rural roads where speeds tend to be higher and alcohol is more likely to be involved. Rural roads generally have less frequent maintenance, seat belts are less likely to be worn, and emergency assistance crews require longer to reach remote accident scenes.
The cost of other causes where roads are not a factor is: $130 billion for drunk driving, $97 billion for excessive speed, and $60 billion for failure to wear seatbelts. Medical cost alone is $20 billion, and property damage amounts to $52 billion, with business and industrial productivity loss set at $68 billion, and we, the taxpayers are stuck for about $12 billion.
The principal research scientist and author of the study was Ted R. Miller, PhD in Regional Science. Incredibly, 85% of all the costs, or $439 billion, could be saved by the highway system proposal described in the last TBJ issue Drivewise.
“Speed kills… “Slow down and live.” We’ve all heard the safety slogans. However, one of the most recent highway safety studies, commissioned by the Pacific Institute of Research and Evaluation, (PIRE), shows the leading cause of fatal crashes in the United States to be far more deadly than excessive speed, drunk driving or cell phone use, although these may share culpability in some events.
An overwhelming majority of fifty-six percent of all fatal accidents and one third of all injury accidents can be DIRECTLY attributable to FAULTY ROAD CONDITIONS! Those of us with years of experience investigating accidents, analyzing statistics and conducting studies, are certainly not surprised by this salient fact. Of the 37,261 people killed on our highways last year, 20,867 of them lost their lives due to BAD ROADS.
This equates to one death every twenty-five minutes, as… “Inadequate roadway infrastructure is responsible for the majority of fatalities.” The annual cost of fatal accidents alone is $217 billion. This is more than THREE AND A HALF TIMES the $59 billion spent by state and federal governments combined on roadway improvements, according to the Federal Highway Administration. Legislators need to focus fiscal priorities on the fatal flaws in our roadways to make safety more cost effective.
The most dangerous faults are inadequate shoulders, guard rails, and obstacles near traffic lanes with woefully poor directional signage. Improvements needed are wider shoulders, more adequate guard rails, break-away power poles and lighting standards, rumble-strips along pavement edges and legible signage for quick, clear communication so drivers have minimal eye deviation from the road.
Most fatalities occur on rural roads where speeds tend to be higher and alcohol is more likely to be involved. Rural roads generally have less frequent maintenance, seat belts are less likely to be worn, and emergency assistance crews require longer to reach remote accident scenes.
The cost of other causes where roads are not a factor is: $130 billion for drunk driving, $97 billion for excessive speed, and $60 billion for failure to wear seatbelts. Medical cost alone is $20 billion, and property damage amounts to $52 billion, with business and industrial productivity loss set at $68 billion, and we, the taxpayers are stuck for about $12 billion.
The principal research scientist and author of the study was Ted R. Miller, PhD in Regional Science. Incredibly, 85% of all the costs, or $439 billion, could be saved by the highway system proposal described in the last TBJ issue Drivewise.
Transportation System Proposal
Transport system proposal that addresses this country’s most serious problems: the Economy, the Energy crisis, the Environment, and Even the value of the dollar in your pocket.
Fifty-five years ago, when we began looking at future directions for advancing automotive design, the problem was obvious from conditions on freeways in major cities. Our national transportation system of millions of cars, driven independently over ever- proliferating multilane roads was ultimately going to clog traffic arteries and lead to the inevitable total traffic tie-up; nation-wide gridlock. This foresight was even more accurate than transportation designers conceived a half century ago, and combined with oil and economic crises, unforeseen by those designers, portends far greater urgency today, than could have been imagined back in those days when gasoline sold for fifteen to twenty cents a gallon!
Most mass transit system concepts do not include independently operated automobiles, and many openly predict the ultimate demise of cars as serious transportation. Most American citizens have deeply felt love affairs with their cars, and find such change hard, if not impossible, to support. We love driving far too much to accept the idea of independently operated cars being doomed to extinction. Thus motivated, we have pursued ideas to preserve the independence of American motorists. Every time proponents of mass transit propose conveyances for hundreds of people, car-enthusiasts bristle. Most mass transit concepts not only take people out of cars, but take away one of America’s most prized freedoms: to get in your car to go where you want to go, when you want to go!
The proposed system we have developed, conceived years ago, embodies serious and realistic solutions to our country’s most complex dilemmas. Implementing this system today would create thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of jobs across the entire country, eliminate most highway truck traffic, greatly reduce shipping costs, thereby stimulating the economy by reducing retail cost of most consumer goods, while preventing a great number of serious highway accidents, significantly curtail vehicle pollution by ending the use of fossil fuels for cross country travel, and substantially lower the cost of long distance motoring and greatly increase the efficiency and time consumed in highway travel!
By converting the fast lane of every interstate to a “power channel” that becomes the ‘road’ for an aerodynamic, cocoon, or pod, into which containerized freight, or loaded tractor-trailer rig, or multiple cars, are parked, then pods are moved at high speeds (up to about 200 mph,) and docked at preprogrammed exit and entry terminals, without stopping or slowing the speed of other pods, all by a coordinated control network. The pods would be virtually maintenance free, rather than wheels, riding on electrically powered magnetic field support, propelled by an electric motor, components of which are within the channel road, with inter-acting components in the base of the pod, with the powering electrical energy generated by solar panels and wind generators erected along the highway route. Once the generating systems are installed, the energy is GREEN, and virtually free, as maintenance is covered by user tolls at rates lower than oil prices make independent driving / mileage costs.
While traversing the country, professional drivers and motorists would be free to perform work, play, eat or enjoy the scenery while sitting in their car, van, or lounge area within the pod, equipped with rest facilities, food services, etc… for a reasonable toll based upon miles traveled, as any toll road, collected at terminals. This is not theoretical. It is existing-state-of-the art technology, and a serious proposal, its description only slightly condensed for this exposure. This concept not only addresses the problems of our outmoded transportation system, but also makes a gargantuan contribution to our country’s much needed economic recovery, paving the way for future car enthusiasts to continue driving their cars.
ADVANTAGES: 1-Creates thousands of jobs across the entire country. 2-Reduces oil consumption sufficiently to free U.S. from imported oil. 3-Improves environment; greatly reducing pollution. 4-Reduces transport cost, thereby stimulating the economy, retail consumer goods prices could be significantly reduced. 5-Saves four hundred thirty nine billion dollars by highway accident prevention, (see attached study). 6-Provides trucking industry with much higher capacity for shipping more goods faster at the same, or lower rates. 7-Provides new green energy generating sources to be incorporated into the developing national energy grid. 8- Saves from 30,000 to 40,000 lives from fatal traffic accidents.
Fifty-five years ago, when we began looking at future directions for advancing automotive design, the problem was obvious from conditions on freeways in major cities. Our national transportation system of millions of cars, driven independently over ever- proliferating multilane roads was ultimately going to clog traffic arteries and lead to the inevitable total traffic tie-up; nation-wide gridlock. This foresight was even more accurate than transportation designers conceived a half century ago, and combined with oil and economic crises, unforeseen by those designers, portends far greater urgency today, than could have been imagined back in those days when gasoline sold for fifteen to twenty cents a gallon!
Most mass transit system concepts do not include independently operated automobiles, and many openly predict the ultimate demise of cars as serious transportation. Most American citizens have deeply felt love affairs with their cars, and find such change hard, if not impossible, to support. We love driving far too much to accept the idea of independently operated cars being doomed to extinction. Thus motivated, we have pursued ideas to preserve the independence of American motorists. Every time proponents of mass transit propose conveyances for hundreds of people, car-enthusiasts bristle. Most mass transit concepts not only take people out of cars, but take away one of America’s most prized freedoms: to get in your car to go where you want to go, when you want to go!
The proposed system we have developed, conceived years ago, embodies serious and realistic solutions to our country’s most complex dilemmas. Implementing this system today would create thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of jobs across the entire country, eliminate most highway truck traffic, greatly reduce shipping costs, thereby stimulating the economy by reducing retail cost of most consumer goods, while preventing a great number of serious highway accidents, significantly curtail vehicle pollution by ending the use of fossil fuels for cross country travel, and substantially lower the cost of long distance motoring and greatly increase the efficiency and time consumed in highway travel!
By converting the fast lane of every interstate to a “power channel” that becomes the ‘road’ for an aerodynamic, cocoon, or pod, into which containerized freight, or loaded tractor-trailer rig, or multiple cars, are parked, then pods are moved at high speeds (up to about 200 mph,) and docked at preprogrammed exit and entry terminals, without stopping or slowing the speed of other pods, all by a coordinated control network. The pods would be virtually maintenance free, rather than wheels, riding on electrically powered magnetic field support, propelled by an electric motor, components of which are within the channel road, with inter-acting components in the base of the pod, with the powering electrical energy generated by solar panels and wind generators erected along the highway route. Once the generating systems are installed, the energy is GREEN, and virtually free, as maintenance is covered by user tolls at rates lower than oil prices make independent driving / mileage costs.
While traversing the country, professional drivers and motorists would be free to perform work, play, eat or enjoy the scenery while sitting in their car, van, or lounge area within the pod, equipped with rest facilities, food services, etc… for a reasonable toll based upon miles traveled, as any toll road, collected at terminals. This is not theoretical. It is existing-state-of-the art technology, and a serious proposal, its description only slightly condensed for this exposure. This concept not only addresses the problems of our outmoded transportation system, but also makes a gargantuan contribution to our country’s much needed economic recovery, paving the way for future car enthusiasts to continue driving their cars.
ADVANTAGES: 1-Creates thousands of jobs across the entire country. 2-Reduces oil consumption sufficiently to free U.S. from imported oil. 3-Improves environment; greatly reducing pollution. 4-Reduces transport cost, thereby stimulating the economy, retail consumer goods prices could be significantly reduced. 5-Saves four hundred thirty nine billion dollars by highway accident prevention, (see attached study). 6-Provides trucking industry with much higher capacity for shipping more goods faster at the same, or lower rates. 7-Provides new green energy generating sources to be incorporated into the developing national energy grid. 8- Saves from 30,000 to 40,000 lives from fatal traffic accidents.
KIA
KIA: One of the newest American auto makers.
With the Nissan assembly plants in Smyrna, Tennessee, the Mercedes plant in Tuscaloosa and Hyundai factories in Montgomery, Alabama, KIA is in good company with their newest mammoth manufacturing facility about eighty miles east of Hyundai-Alabama in West Point, Georgia. With the Kia addition, the Southeast now has a concentration of heavy manufacturing facilities that puts this formally undeveloped area of our country into an industrialized economy to a greater extent than ever before.
KIA converted an aging textile mill into an expanded state-of-the-art auto manufacturing monolith with rampant robotics performing almost every operation possible. Kia can now be added to all the other brands that boast: Made in America by Americans for American buyers; Honda, Hyundai, Isuzu, Mazda, Mercedes, Nissan, Suzuki, Toyota and Volkswagen.
The latest offering from Kia is the Forte’, an efficient small sedan with big performance and an available six speed stick shift to make it more fun than a car this economical is normally thought to be.
The driver of this aesthetically pleasing, sleek sedan can put just the power needed to the road using the most appropriate notch for the six speed stick to select how much verve to put into the curve being negotiated. Churning the shift lever carefully, the Forte driver can choose just how thirsty those 173 horses will be, from the 2.4 liter, DOHC, 4 cylinder engine. Forte’ can be driven for economy or for hot performance with the power plant it shares with the KIA Optima with proven dependability and excellent economy. On one ‘econ-run’ test, driving conservatively, the Forte’ turned in 39 miles per gallon!
With independent front suspension and torsion beam rear, sport tuned, the KIA Forte’ is a real a blast to drive briskly. The best news is that Forte’ will do it using only 32 miles per gallon on the highway and an impressive 22 mpg in the city.
With a sticker stating $17,195 base price and a normally accessorized model such as our test car rounding out the bottom line at $19,490, including a $695 freight and handling charge, the sharp looking Forte’ sedan comes off feeling like a bargain with its crisp, responsive performance and sports car-like handling, drive wise.
With the Nissan assembly plants in Smyrna, Tennessee, the Mercedes plant in Tuscaloosa and Hyundai factories in Montgomery, Alabama, KIA is in good company with their newest mammoth manufacturing facility about eighty miles east of Hyundai-Alabama in West Point, Georgia. With the Kia addition, the Southeast now has a concentration of heavy manufacturing facilities that puts this formally undeveloped area of our country into an industrialized economy to a greater extent than ever before.
KIA converted an aging textile mill into an expanded state-of-the-art auto manufacturing monolith with rampant robotics performing almost every operation possible. Kia can now be added to all the other brands that boast: Made in America by Americans for American buyers; Honda, Hyundai, Isuzu, Mazda, Mercedes, Nissan, Suzuki, Toyota and Volkswagen.
The latest offering from Kia is the Forte’, an efficient small sedan with big performance and an available six speed stick shift to make it more fun than a car this economical is normally thought to be.
The driver of this aesthetically pleasing, sleek sedan can put just the power needed to the road using the most appropriate notch for the six speed stick to select how much verve to put into the curve being negotiated. Churning the shift lever carefully, the Forte driver can choose just how thirsty those 173 horses will be, from the 2.4 liter, DOHC, 4 cylinder engine. Forte’ can be driven for economy or for hot performance with the power plant it shares with the KIA Optima with proven dependability and excellent economy. On one ‘econ-run’ test, driving conservatively, the Forte’ turned in 39 miles per gallon!
With independent front suspension and torsion beam rear, sport tuned, the KIA Forte’ is a real a blast to drive briskly. The best news is that Forte’ will do it using only 32 miles per gallon on the highway and an impressive 22 mpg in the city.
With a sticker stating $17,195 base price and a normally accessorized model such as our test car rounding out the bottom line at $19,490, including a $695 freight and handling charge, the sharp looking Forte’ sedan comes off feeling like a bargain with its crisp, responsive performance and sports car-like handling, drive wise.
DODGE DAKOTA
TBJ
DRIVEWISE
DODGE DAKOTA… Four Door Crew Cab test in a blizzard.
The most severe blizzard in forty years marked our recent test of the Dodge Dakota Crew Cab TRX4, 4X4. Having tested several big Rams from Dodge over the past few years gave us confidence that the Dakota could meet the challenge such weather brings with it.
Having driven so many Ram ‘monster trucks’, our euphemism for these full sized gargantuan pickups, most of which have grown to become immense monstrosities with cargo box sides more than shoulder-high.
To those of us who use pickups for the chores they were originally intended, (hauling stuff), lifting your ‘stuff’ over the sides has become an exercise work-out more strenuous than weight lifting. It’s a lot easier to fork hay over the rib-cage high side of my twelve year old pick-up than with any of the new models with these ridiculously high sides.
Lacking such height is a major Dakota advantage as its box sides are not so absurdly high they become barriers preventing easy access to the cargo space. Another great feature in Dakota side panels is tie-down and stake-body hardware fittings along the top, to accommodate side post-rails and/or infinitely practical and convenient, adjustable tie down brackets for virtually any category of cargo.
Testing the Dakota during the blizzard proved the truck to be as capable and rugged as any truck we’ve ever tested regardless of size. Hauling huge bales of hay and other cargo through heavy, blowing snow over ice-laden fields, trails and roads proved Dakota to be an incredibly amazing vehicle. It even towed a large tractor sideways off a slippery escarpment with the truck hub-deep in terrestrial muck. We did get the truck stuck in the mud once, but with careful, tedious jockeying, it eventually pulled itself out.
The big difference in this Dakota and previous models, is interior space and four door access, like a luxury SUV and just as comfortable and quiet, with very impressive highway manners, i.e. more precise handling than earlier models for safer high speed emergency maneuvers.
As impressive as the Dakota may be, one criticism prevailed. The control layout and instrument panel are poorly related to an obscuring steering wheel rim, and the switch from 2 to 4 wheel drive is hidden on a recessed surface under the main panel. Overall instrument/control legibility suffers, but not enough to be a deal-breaker. The Dakota ended the test with our highest ever truck rating, drive wise.
DRIVEWISE
DODGE DAKOTA… Four Door Crew Cab test in a blizzard.
The most severe blizzard in forty years marked our recent test of the Dodge Dakota Crew Cab TRX4, 4X4. Having tested several big Rams from Dodge over the past few years gave us confidence that the Dakota could meet the challenge such weather brings with it.
Having driven so many Ram ‘monster trucks’, our euphemism for these full sized gargantuan pickups, most of which have grown to become immense monstrosities with cargo box sides more than shoulder-high.
To those of us who use pickups for the chores they were originally intended, (hauling stuff), lifting your ‘stuff’ over the sides has become an exercise work-out more strenuous than weight lifting. It’s a lot easier to fork hay over the rib-cage high side of my twelve year old pick-up than with any of the new models with these ridiculously high sides.
Lacking such height is a major Dakota advantage as its box sides are not so absurdly high they become barriers preventing easy access to the cargo space. Another great feature in Dakota side panels is tie-down and stake-body hardware fittings along the top, to accommodate side post-rails and/or infinitely practical and convenient, adjustable tie down brackets for virtually any category of cargo.
Testing the Dakota during the blizzard proved the truck to be as capable and rugged as any truck we’ve ever tested regardless of size. Hauling huge bales of hay and other cargo through heavy, blowing snow over ice-laden fields, trails and roads proved Dakota to be an incredibly amazing vehicle. It even towed a large tractor sideways off a slippery escarpment with the truck hub-deep in terrestrial muck. We did get the truck stuck in the mud once, but with careful, tedious jockeying, it eventually pulled itself out.
The big difference in this Dakota and previous models, is interior space and four door access, like a luxury SUV and just as comfortable and quiet, with very impressive highway manners, i.e. more precise handling than earlier models for safer high speed emergency maneuvers.
As impressive as the Dakota may be, one criticism prevailed. The control layout and instrument panel are poorly related to an obscuring steering wheel rim, and the switch from 2 to 4 wheel drive is hidden on a recessed surface under the main panel. Overall instrument/control legibility suffers, but not enough to be a deal-breaker. The Dakota ended the test with our highest ever truck rating, drive wise.
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