Who killed the American car?

The Beast

Shades of 2008 as we see American auto companies struggling again, largely because their attempt to shift to smaller, economical cars hasn't taken hold of the American imagination, which remains obsessed with gas-guzzling SUVs and trucks.  GM announced it will close down eight auto plants, at least five in the "Rust Belt" because its sedans aren't selling.  This includes the Chevy Volt, its venture into electric cars.  Ford is similarly struggling.  Chrysler remains a work in progress, relying largely on Fiat to keep it going.  It too sees most of its sales in SUVs and vanity cars like the Charger and Challenger.  None of these companies have been able to market a successful electric car.  Ford has its economical Focus, with an EV version, but isn't a high-demand car.  Ford has had more success marketing its super-charged Mustang.

Of course, our Jobmaker-in-Chief is none too happy about this turn of events.  He had promised more industrial plants, not less in the Rust Belt, which he carried in 2016 largely on these false promises.  It was known then that these auto companies wouldn't deliver, but he tried to strong arm them into doing so, and now vents his wrath on twitter.  This doesn't bode well for 2020 but somehow Trump will manage to foist the blame on the auto companies.

To some degree it is the automakers' fault for not using the last ten years to more successfully market small cars.  Instead, it catered to the insatiable American demand for bigger engines and bigger vehicles.  Dodge boasts that its 2018 Challenger has a Hellcat V-8 engine that can produce 707 horsepower, which translates into 16 miles per gallon.  No wonder Americans complain about gas prices as they continue to buy these gas guzzlers.

The funny part is that the Tesla Model 3 has far better overall performance and is an electric car.  Yet, these auto companies won't invest in high performance electric cars, which are all the rage now.  There is even a Formula E world championship that began in 2014, featuring fully electric Formula racing cars.

This is what happens when you get a new president who doesn't make any attempt to follow up on his predecessor, who had urged American auto companies to get in on the game before it was too late, and offered tax incentives to do so.  Instead, Trump would like to see the "Big Three" bring back coal-powered cars.

The absurdity of the situation is not lost on auto experts.  Unless you are an aficionado of muscle cars there isn't much to rave about in regard to the cars the Big Three are putting out these days.  Even among compact trucks, the Honda Ridgeline and Toyota Tacoma beat out American trucks.

Lack of innovation, lack of marketing strategies, lack of any sense of what is really driving the automotive industry is once again leading to the collapse of the American automotive industry.  Another bailout is on the horizon.

When it comes to electric cars, which are all the rage in Europe, Chevy never saw the Volt as anything more than a concession to Obama's demand for more environmental-friendly cars.  For decades, the oil and automotive industries tried to kill the electric car until Tesla came along and made the electric car sexy.  The Volt is the bucktoothed country girl of electric cars.  GM has done little to make this car more appealing, focusing instead on SUVs and trucks, which it continues to push on the public.

Americans have grown up on this idea of big cars and big trucks, and no oil crisis or government mandates will deter them from the dream of owning the ultimate muscle car or six-wheeler.  The electric car is seen as a Hollywood fetish and of no practical use on the open road.  It doesn't matter that you can find EV charging stations in almost any Walmart parking lot, and Tesla offers superchargers throughout the country, except in oil-rich North Dakota.  We continue to live with this pre-1973 view of the automotive world because it suits our fantasies.

No one is more lost in these fantasies than Donald J. Trump.  His administration froze fuel-efficiency requirements on the automotive companies in August, using some of the most absurd claims you can imagine.  This from a guy who rides around in the Beast courtesy of GM.  I guess he figures General Motors owes him, although this new fleet of Presidential limos was ordered by the previous administration as a good will gesture to the bailed-out company.

As the old saying goes, you reap what you sow.  Trump went out of his way to accommodate the American auto companies, despite the fact these companies are woefully incapable of managing themselves.  They have repeatedly failed to keep up with automotive trends around the world, and the taxpayer is left to pick up the tab.  GM cost the US government $50 billion in 2008, $11 billion still outstanding.  Chrysler cost nearly $11 billion, with Fiat picking up most of the tab when they bought the company in 2011.  Now, we will have to go through this process all over again as these companies struggle to keep afloat in a rapidly changing automotive world.