Car Sales and the Future of Detroit

So, nobody is buying new cars these days. Well, about 40 percent fewer consumers are buying new cars and trucks to be more precise. There are burgeoning lots filled to the brim with excess inventories scattered across the country, and not just with domestic models. All of the world’s automobile manufactures are feeling the pinch as consumers in both the east and west tighten purse-strings and turn down the thermostat.

For those who were born before 1970 (or thereabouts), this pull back in car buying is not new news. It has happened before and it will undoubtedly recur in periodic fashion in the future. Of course now it is all hype, depression and talk of an irreversible economic collapse. I think this is silly on several fronts. First off, look around with eyes open and ask yourself if you see a depression? Are there homeless people pounding on your door crying for potatoes? No, of course not. Secondly, how many people do you know that unwilling out of a job right now? Come on, bring it on! Next, being pragmatic, economies always recover. Look at Germany post WWI. If that economy came back after being decimated, they any positive and forward looking society can make a come from behind win and prevail.

Back to automobiles. Now, if people are not buying new, then that would indicate an aging fleet of cars in the US and around the globe. The population is still on the increase here and elsewhere, so that should indicate increasing demand over time. As the fleet ages, quality used cars will have to fill the void and as this demand increases it would naturally follow that prices would increase as well. Once a point is reached where the used inventory prices compete with new models, the new models will start to fly off the lots and into drivers’ hands. Where that point is exactly, I do not know – I’m just talking trends here. I would opine to say that that point is not that far off. Maybe it is this year, or as distant as spring 2010. Either way it is not far off in the future. Believe in Gadabout. Believe in the truth.

Hit and Run -- a short story

In a nondescript office a mid-level Federal Government bureaucrat scoffs at the US automakers while sitting in a cubicle sipping coffee and being productive at non productivity. He drives a Prius and is very proud of his life and of saving oil. The Prius was very expensive. He is green. His wife is green. His children will be green one day. He deeply believes that GM, Ford and Chrysler are backwards, inefficient and lazy. The UAW is lazy too and he holds them all in deep contempt. He has a Masters Degree. He holds himself in high regard. “They must pay, and pay dearly, for their ineptitude,” he whispers. He smiles.

In another office, somewhere nearby, a chubby man in his late thirties with a toothy smile and thin lips is preparing a document – a spreadsheet. He has an MBA from Harvard. He is trained at trimming fat. General Motors paid for his education, and that education cost plenty. General Motors had to trim fat, even within the ranks of thosse who are masters at trimming fat. So this man with the thin lips was released from the payroll and went without pay for many months until he found a Federal employment opportunity with the GAO. He had to move his family to DC and take a pay cut, but that was okay because he and his family are safe and fed and happy. He works very hard at his job, and is content at trimming fat. He is talented that way. He drives an SUV because it is safe and inexpensive. It was made by the UAW and General Motors.

Both men are Federal Bureaucrats now. The first has had a long career as one, and the second for only a few months. Bureaucrat Number One has been identified by bureaucrat Number Two as fat. Bureaucrat Number One’s position was eliminated by Number Two’s calculated research. Number One had to relocate to a very cold land known as Michigan to sit in another cubicle making less money, but he still gets to sip coffee while accruing years for retirement. Number One frowns. Number Two smiles wide with his thin lips.

Dolphins, Ponies and Shoes – Lesson 4, Travel

Like most men, Gadabout doesn’t enjoy long journeys in an automobile with a woman when mini battles erupt. In this case, the car becomes a trap. A trap because you cannot abandon it and both male and the female are forced to cohabitate. There is no getting up and heading out to the garage to work on your wood working projects when on the road. Women understand the trap and will use it to seek advantage. They are keenly aware that you have to depend on each other and that home base is miles away. They play the roll of the cat toying with the mouse. They bank on the premise that there is no way out. Or is there?

On one fine afternoon when Gadabout was just a lad of about five, he was traveling from Buffalo to Detroit with his mother, aunt, two older sisters, older female cousin, and two younger male cousins. The males were outnumbered 5-3 and the opposition had seniority. The deck was stacked against Gadabout, Steven and young Larry. Well, I guess Steven and I were to blame for some now forgotten mayhem in the tattered 1961 Ford station wagon. Aunt Marilyn was at the wheel and was losing it. I mean losing it bad; dynamic hormone imbalance stuff. She pulled over on the Queen’s highway and came to a complete stop. “Get out,” she snapped. Gadabout and Steven (age 5ish and 4ish) were forced out of the car and onto the shoulder. The 5 psycho chicks and 1 remaining 3 year old male drove away. “Crap!”

The women were collectively playing hardball. Okay, bring it on. The car pulled over about half a mile down the road and then clumsily backed up as we walked to meet it. Parents really did this stuff to their kids back then. Try that today and you end up behind bars. Well, I think the adult supervision came to their senses that maybe they crossed the line. We entered the car as victors greeted by a sobbing mess of estrogen.

So, back to our lesson. If you find yourself driving and your female companion won’t stop yapping and attacking your driving skills and other aspects of your personality, you have a way out. No, don’t kick her out to the side of the road and drive off. That is a female play. All you have to do is pull over to the side of the expressway, put the car in park and turn off the engine. This is a powerful strategic play and must be orchestrated with great care. After remaining silent for a few moments, grip the wheel at the ten and two and stare straight ahead. Then in a calm voice ask her if she would like to drive. Tell her that her attacks are noted and can be addressed at a later time, but this is not the time. Driving requires concentration and alertness, and she is distracting you from the road. She will crumble.

The female will not want to drive because you suggested it. It would be a win for you, and she really doesn’t like driving in the dark anyway. She’ll say something like, “Let’s just go and we’ll talk later.” After you start the car and hit the road, she will remain very silent and feign sleep. It will be a tie in the end, but that is better than a loss.

Summary:

Women don’t travel well and take advantage of the car as a trap to trample upon your heart and spirit. Be prepared for this in life and develop exit strategies well in advance to counter their attacks.