"What Detroit's doing right" As seen in the Washington Post
I just read THIS ARTICLE after seeing the link posted by @scottmonty on Twitter. I was excited to see that someone outside of Detroit thought Detroit was doing something right (there is a snag there, let's see if you catch it).
The article is about all of the high tech, high fuel economy and somewhat sustainable cars the Big 3 is churning out right now. One of my favorite lines in the piece:
ยท Ford and GM tied for the leadership position in the prestigious 2008 J.D. Power Initial Quality Study -- with 11 models ranked in the top three of their respective segments.
All that talk about Detroit being out of touch with consumers can be put to bed. The big 3 invest 12 B in R&D annually and are putting out some pretty impressive numbers as it comes to fuel efficiency and the like.
Here's the thing that gets me. Do you know what the # 1 and 2 selling cars in the U.S. are? The answers may surprise you. It makes me wonder how out of touch Detroit really is.
Please read the article AND say good things about Detroit!
Be Connected-
Terry Bean
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Terry,
You're right. It would have been great if someone from outside Detroit wrote this article in the Washington Post. Unfortunately, Attorney General Mike Cox wrote this piece, so it's still the Michigan perspective. We need people in the rest of the country to understand it, so hopefully it had some affect on the Washington Post readers. It's a small start.
Terry,
I love Detroit as much as the next guy. But saying that the Big three are "in touch" with America because they spend 12 Billion a year on R&D is not ok. 12 Billion? First off, that is an insane amount of money. I don't claim to be the financial manager or accountant for anyone in the big three. But what happened to good old fashion "asking people what they want" could that cost 12 billion? Plus a good sales person helps educate their client to what's best for them rather than the flavor of the week. SO how about some of that money being spent on better marketing and PR (ala the @scottmonty's of the world). Or at the very least, if you going to say that you spent 12 billion, don't say it in the same article where you talk about asking for a 13 billion loan, and not give some kind of ROI for the 12 in R&D...
That being said, in general we do need these types of articles being circulated around the country. Someone want to write for the New Yorker?
I mis stated my point about being out of touch. It's not about the 12B, it's about the # 1 and # 2 selling cars.
Americans claim they want one thing and buy another. That was my point.
As far as your point about 12B being a ton of $, I am not sure how much they spend in R, but I bet in pales in comparison to how much they spend in D.