Carpe diem

There comes a time in life whether it be personal, business or industry that a particular entity can not afford to pass up. It is their make or break time. It is a time where they must seize the opportunity, seize a time that may never come again.

That time is now for American automakers. Over the decades we have been led to believe by their advertising they were competitive and their products were just as good as any other, be it from Tokyo or Berlin. As we look back on what Detroit offered us we should be ashamed of ourselves for buying nearly anything they rolled down the line. Although styling changes often in less than a decade, who can relate to the K car line once offered by Chrysler? They nearly fell apart just running down the street. To this day I see autos and trucks from times past put out by GM where the paint was so thin and poorly applied it peeled off in sheets and they did nothing about it. Ford was no better offering vehicles where wheel bearings would nearly fall off. They have been making autos for over one hundred years and can't produce safe wheel bearings? It is these kind of issues that plagued consumers over and over again. It's no wonder the buying public turned to overseas companies. American automobiles seemed as though they were designed and built by sixth graders.

In today's landscape Toyota is struggling with quality issues and consumer confidence is failing. With the 'big three' all coming out of financial crisis, two from bankruptcy, now is the time to seize an opportunity American auto makers haven't had in five decades and win back customers with a quality product. The American public doesn't need the low quality rust buckets once forced upon them. Automakers need to look beyond initial quality and make a product that stands up to ten years of normal use without significant repeated failures. If they do, the buying public will spend their dollars at home and the big three may yet again become the big three. If they fail, let em die and they have no one to blame but themselves.

I own an eleven year old Isuzu that still has the original exhaust system. Why can't Detroit do that? (Of course I just jinxed myself and it will likely fall off tomorrow).