1) Corporate Mentality…

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Some car companies have sadly got it the wrong way round and put profits before people – to the point where you have to question whether they actually realise cars are driven by people. It’s about cutting corners, sacrificing quality to milk those margins within an inch of its life. It’s about pleasing the shareholders.

The maths is all wrong. // Please the people and the rest (of the profits) will follow. It’s a simple formula, but one that some can’t seem to get their money obsessed, Scrooge-like heads around. Until then, and not a moment sooner, decent American cars will continue to be the exception rather than the rule.

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2) It’s The Road, Man. It’s The Road…

Some argue that American cars are made for American roads. Long, straight roads. Low on curves. For functionality. Practicality. Not as a luxury item. Or a treat. Something to enjoy.

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A car gets you from A to B and that’s it, it’s served its purpose. There’s therefore no need for the extra jazz. It doesn’t need to be decent; it just needs to know how to handle lengthy straight highways.

3) Because they make subpar car alarms….

Case in point. Jeremy Clarkson, yes, ye Clarkson of Top Gear fame, bought a Ford GT.  While cruising in it, the alarm apparently went off, to which he received a call telling him his car had been stolen. Yes, while he was driving it.

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Jeremy Clarkson stole Jeremy Clarkson’s car. That’s a first. I mean, it’s always good to know when your car’s been stolen, even if it’s by you.  Especially if it’s by you. Crime of the century, that is. Truly. Even Phil Mitchell couldn’t get away with that.

Clarkson, you stand accused.

4) If it breaks down more often, you buy more often…

If a car isn’t built with quality in mind, then you might as well assume it’s not built with longevity in mind. Poor longevity equals paying to either replace certain parts or just buying a new car altogether. Whose pockets does all that cash go into?

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Aha.

As long as poorly manufactured cars are made, and some people (for whatever reason) continue to buy them, then it’s more or less a long-term cash cow for the manufacturers.

5) The unions…

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Some believe the unions had a significant impact on the automobile industry, going for the jugular demanding excessive wages for employees and leaving less wiggle room for profits. Manufacturers, in turn, tightened their purse strings: bargain-bucket builds – inexpensive paints and steels, lots of plastic where possible and other parts that wouldn’t know long-term if they were propped next to an age-old tree.

6) Not Enough Motivation to Change…

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The unions might have had a field day, but manufacturers are obviously not being hit hard enough in the balls to change. If you can build a crap car and still attract a significant amount of buyers, then there’s really little motivation to change. Now, if a major number of American consumers dug their heels in (or should it be wheels?), said “that’s it, no more (s)crap metal, please” and voted with their wallets (only bought imports), you’d be sure as hell those car manufacturers would sit up on their tootsies and pay attention.

7) Because a fortune teller once told three wise men that no matter how much they’d mess up, they’d get cookies and milk…

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Ford, General Motors and Chrysler, or the Big Three (doughnuts), got away with it, plain and simple. Like the banks that sent the world plummeting over a bridge, the Big Three were rewarded for their disservice. They messed up big time and got patted on the head with a bailout.

Like lawsuits, bailouts are likely to be more commonplace in the future. Manufacturers, banks and other large institutions will become corporate teenagers, knowing that if things go terribly terribly wrong, Uncle Government will be there to pick up the pieces.

Lovely.

8 ) Because they don’t listen…

When certain consumer preferences started to drift from the need for bear-sized gas-guzzling cars to smaller builds, American manufacturers did a metaphorical covering of their ears, did a ‘la-la-la-la. I can’t hear yoooooou”. They weren’t paying attention and it cost them. They thought they knew what consumers wanted, what they would always want.

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But someone listened: European and Asian car companies took the cream cake out of their American counterparts’ hands…and ran with it, filling a rising consumer need and dominating that market.

9) Because American cars are often designed by everyone apart from the designers themselves…

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Americans have a very talented bunch of designers. However, there’s little point in having great designers if they’re not allowed to be great. Sadly, with a chokehold placed on their creativity, they’re human puppets at best, while the true designers, unfortunately, are often the marketers, the accountants, the CEOs and the shareholders.

10) Because some are more interested in image projection than functionality…

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‘If we spend tons on marketing and advertising, even more than we spent on production, then consumers won’t notice they’re actually buying a plate of spaghetti, not a Ford.’

That’s it in a nutshell.

Britney Spears might look good, but can she sing? It might look like chicken, but does it taste like chicken? Weight is placed more on promoting the latest vehicle as the embodiment of Jesus Christ than the fact that the car probably won’t see it past the next 5 Christmases (if at that).

Just For Fun !