Levin is 100% right, although he doesn’t flesh out the argument enough. I grew up in the NY Metro area (and lived briefly in the Southwest as well), and Detroit’s underwhelming models year after year would frustrate me… Why won’t they give up column shifters? What’s with the velour, tufted seats? Why can’t I get a US made luxury sports sedan with style and a manual? Can’t Pontiac get rid of their cladding? Etc, etc, etc…

Well, I moved out to Minnesota for a while, THEN I finally *got it*. Detroit is making vehicles for their neighbors! I don’t mean to rag on the midwesterners (they’re fine folk), but the heartland just has a different culture from the coasts. The Pontiac Grand Am was the official car of the town I lived in, and Lumina was what “respectable” people drove. My neighbor even said to me, “I want my drivers seat to feel like my favorite armchair.”

Different culture, different priorities, different tastes. These people would look at a BMW 5 series and just *not get it*. There’s nothing wrong with that, except that everyone else outside the heartland does, and they buy cars too. Detroit has only recently woke up to them.

US Automakers have got to stop treating their West and East coast design studios as cool incubators for dream cars, and start using them to design models to sell to the people who live there.

fantastic point

Dumbest thing I have ever heard in my life! Just think if we started looking to the “trendy areas” for political advise too, omg the country would be screwed, the so called “trendy areas” are so out of touch with with actual America that they might as well be their own country (actually I wish they were, we would all be better off)

GM and Ford remind me of a 2nd hand clothing outlet – sure, you can get nice things, but usually long after they’ve been innovative, and for the most part things don’t fit current trends. James, I think you’re comparing apples and oranges brining politics into the discussion: car design is something susceptible to trends like the fashion industry, and innovation like the technology industry. On a whole, GM just *doesn’t get it* until way too late in the game. SO MANY of the models being released (HHR, Cobalt/Pursuit, Impala, Monte Carlo etc. etc. etc.) would have been interesting maybe 7-8 years ago, but today? Instant forgetability..

i am a diehard gm fan, but i do think that gm needs to get its head out of its you know what and start making more exciting product but i do not think that these trendy areas are the place to turn, GM has to sell cars, not make rappers happy with fresh bling

When has design become a political topic? Since one is getting away from the subject, if the coasts were separate countries, I think GM and Ford would be in deeper financial troubles…

I grew up on the west coast. Now I work at GM. When I arrived I was surprised at what these people thought were great cars. Oldsmobiles? I didn’t even know they existed before I arrived in Michigan. The only GM brand that interested me then was Saturn, but these midwestern guys would never think of driving a compact car like that. No wonder they neglected Saturn for so long. I think they have their act together now. The new Saturn Aura coming out this summer is world-class. Or have I been here too long?

Why not follow real trends insted of fads i.e. Mucle Cars. They have been around a long time and are never going away. Or better yet creat your own trends

Not all Detroit companies don’t get that cars are trendy…. How about the 300C, Charger, Magnum, Challenger….. Those all seem to be very popular right now. they came out of Detroit. The 300C was Car of the Year….and that car was concieved 6 years ago in Detroit. At $29,000 for a HEMI, it represents one of the best car values out there, and it is a smash hit, both trend wise, and sales wise…. So, I dont buy that the Midwest doesn’t get it, I think that Ford and GM don’t get it… that’s it, and that’s all…. and don’t even think to say the Germans and Mercedes are why the 300C came about, or that it is “German” That car was underway long before the merger happened. The merger just shortened development time because of the parts available from Mercedes. Detroit got into SUVs due to popular trend, and stuck with them because they could not deliver a car that was the size (full size) and power American buyers wanted. Now that technology has allowed rear-wheel drive full size sedans that have power and reasonable economy, Americans are snapping them up. American manufacturers now have the ability to deliver what the market wants, v8 power, 23mpg, rear wheel drive, AMERICAN STYLING and a full size package. While Chrysler delivers that, Ford delivers a lame 98 A6 rip-off called the 500 (how ironic, given the roots of that moniker), and GM delivers a, well, let’s just say uninspired copy of a Japanese mid-size sedan calle the Impala, again, ironic given the roots of the Impala, and its popularity when it was opriginally made (It was the single best selling car for almost a decade back in the 60s). So, it’s not really the midwest, or Detroit, because MOST employees at these companies are trasnplants from ALL OVER THE WORLD. It’s the oversized beaurocracy of GM and Ford that prevent it from making the right and pure decisions. Too many politics, too many cooks in the kitchen.

Living in Europe as we speak, this whole discussion reminds me of your latest presidential election. The coasts were all pro-Kerry and the middle were all pro-Bush.

Maybe it has something to do with the better education of the cities in the coastal areas.

I do believe GM, Ford, and Diamler are beginning to produce more desirable products. Saturn is looking hot with Aura, Sky and the new Outlook. Mustang has the performance and price, and all the Hemi’s mentioned before. One has to be careful, because we all know some tends will always stay (ie Muscle Cars, credit to Bill). but the question is will they make money. Case point, due to rising fuel cost, more people are buying passenger cars then SUV’s and other low MPG vehicles. It’s better to sell a full line of good products and make money, than to sell a few money making models. ie, Tahoe, F-150, Mustangs, Corvettes…etc. It’s not the best idea to throw all the savings into one stock, so I don’t see why GM, Ford and Diamler should invest only in a handful of models. I want to drive a GM or a Ford, just not a Tahoe or a any derivative of F-150.

I meant the Old Chrysler Group when I said Diamler.

Kiss my X Since when does geography define education? I am a highly educated individual that happened to take a job in Detroit. For as many “educated” customers that drive expensive import cars in California, there are just as many “undeducated” porn stars etc. and vice-versa for the Midwest. Your comment is ciompletely ignorant, making me wonder about your educational status…PS – Michigan, or example, has the highest rate of high-school students that graduate into higher education, as well as some of the highest collegiate test scores in the nation. In fact, U of M, MSU, MTU, and WSU have some of the MOST difficult entrance requirements, and MOST of thier students come from the “coastal-educated” states to earn a degree from the “dumb=midwest” because the coastal schoools are complete crap, unless you are talking about Ivy League

Trendy cars and halo cars (like the Ford GT for example) are necessary to the companies over all image, but tragically they are not the ones that make money. Having a whole portfolio of trendy cars would be bad business.

Being from the “coast” I appreciate the imports more than American cars but we are just talking about style here…not where the car is made. Look at the best selling cars in the US last year…the Camry and Accord. Sorry, they are “imports” AND boring as hell! Do they sell either of those models in those forms in Europe. Nope! Because the average American wants a non-polarizing style, with fat seats and a soft suspension. Of course this excludes present company, because generally the readers of this blog would be of enthusiast ilk.

Lets face it, you can complain as much as you want about American designs…but boring apparently sells. Get the reliability on track, take some time to restore your reps and the American car industry will be respected again.

Scott Anderson, although you are probably right… but geography ofcourse DOES define education in most parts of the world. All those coastal people that come to central US universities move back to the coasts afterwards probably haha .

Anyway… I was just speculating.

Phil,

You’re missing my point a bit. I’m not saying Detroit should ignore the needs and wants of midwesterners. Obviously, Toyota doesn’t ignore the elderly and conservative population in the midwest in making cars like the Avalon and Camry.

The problem has been that entire Detroit *lineups* have only targeted this group. My friend, who is very auto savvy and was looking for a car last year, said, “I can’t believe there isn’t a single US car, save the Corvette, that I desire.” He bought a Mazda RX-8. What US made and conceived model competes with that style-wise. Save the CTS (which I rejected due to a terrible interior), what US made model has the same sensibilities as a 3-series, G35, IS, or A4? Certainly not the Zephyr or 300C, which appeal entirely to a different style sensibility…

The point is that Detroit should develop and sell to the coasts as well as to its heartland… Don’t leave anyone behind…

Good point Garris,
Just immagine people in the midwest driving Audi A4 instead of F150

BTW, sorry for bashing the US…

But a lot of US news teams (especially those republican ass kissing Fox News) is bashing my country all the time… I sometimes just have to bash back a little