Friends close, enemies closer.
So I can't stop hearing about the Big 2 in the news lately.
First it was (the damsel perpetually-in-distress) GM and the talk of the mythical white knight (no matter how GM CEO Rick Wagoner wants to spin it), Renault-Nissan. Will the charming prince Ghosn ride in and save the world's largest auto maker? Something about this seems wrong.
GM has been trying (with mixed results) to reinvent itself for years now. Changing management, cutting brands, exchanging ideas... well, considering exchanging ideas. What would Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn really be able to do? Sure, he helped lift Nissan from the dismal abyss of small, non-recognizable car makers to become a first-class car company. But things seem to have leveled off. Sure Nissan's profit margins are the envy of the industry, but innovation seems to have slowed. You can almost hear the shift_ from relentless improvement to plain old complacency. Nissan is not interested in improving fuel efficiency (except for the Johnny-come-very-lately 2007 Altima Hybrid).
This common disregard for fuel efficiency could make Nissan and GM great friends, but GM doesn't really need a friend right now; it needs an enemy. Friends are what got GM into this mess in the first place. The world's largest corporation doesn't become the world's largest corporation overnight. You have to hire lots of your friends. You need thousands of yes-men and yes-women to stand behind you as, reminding you that you are right (despite what the critics say), supporting you as you stop taking chances and stop making decisions. Only with an army of drones can you stagnate innovation. Ok, I'm being a little too harsh. I know that there are lots of hard-working people at GM. But this is exactly my point: GM needs some criticism. Somebody (which I hoped would be Wagoner) needs to stand up and say, "Stop. Let's try something really different."
Ford has been going through its own tough times lately. And they have recently had the idea forced upon them that they too should consider an alliance with another company. And today, the Wall Street Journal suggested that maybe GM and Ford should merge. Oh yeah. GREAT idea. Exactly what both companies and entire country DON'T need. What would help GM move even slower? Why, more yes-men! What has kept GM from being nimble in the changing marketplace? A DOZEN DIFFERENT BRANDS THAT DON'T COMMUNICATE! Can you imagine a GM-Ford merger? Half-assed model-sharing among all these brands: GMC, Chevy, Saturn, Pontiac, Buick, Cadillac, Hummer, Saab, Vauxhall, Opel, Holden, Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Mazda, Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover, and Aston-Martin.
I think it's worth typing all that out because it highlights the ridiculousness of the suggestion of a GM-Ford merger. I guarantee that if such a monstrosity were to occur, the first thing to happen would be a good old-fashioned brand-thinning. They would probably ax 1/3 to 1/2 of those lines, lay-off the blue-collar workers, thin the white-collar workers, and keep the executives. I mean, come on, you don't really need people who design or build your products... you need yes-men.
The name of the game is changing and now would be a bad time to bury your heads in the sand. Dare I remind you of the 80s? Not only did Toyota, Honda, and Nissan win that war, now they're doing better than ever before. You're lucky that Ford controls Mazda and DaimlerChrysler controls Mitsubishi. Hyundai-Kia are the new current threat (they figured out how to be competitive in half the time it took Toyota), and while laughing at Geely and Chery is fun (and easy), it won't make them go away. Again, this would be a BAD time to ignore your enemies.
I hope people read this. You can either believe me or not and I can either wind-up being right or wrong. If I'm right, listen and wise-up. If I'm wrong, give me a job as an inflammatory pundit who gets paid for writing nonsense for TV or magazines... like Bill O'Reilly or John C. Dvorak. How they got and keep their jobs is beyond me, but I'd love to be paid for sharing my ignorance.
First it was (the damsel perpetually-in-distress) GM and the talk of the mythical white knight (no matter how GM CEO Rick Wagoner wants to spin it), Renault-Nissan. Will the charming prince Ghosn ride in and save the world's largest auto maker? Something about this seems wrong.
GM has been trying (with mixed results) to reinvent itself for years now. Changing management, cutting brands, exchanging ideas... well, considering exchanging ideas. What would Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn really be able to do? Sure, he helped lift Nissan from the dismal abyss of small, non-recognizable car makers to become a first-class car company. But things seem to have leveled off. Sure Nissan's profit margins are the envy of the industry, but innovation seems to have slowed. You can almost hear the shift_ from relentless improvement to plain old complacency. Nissan is not interested in improving fuel efficiency (except for the Johnny-come-very-lately 2007 Altima Hybrid).
This common disregard for fuel efficiency could make Nissan and GM great friends, but GM doesn't really need a friend right now; it needs an enemy. Friends are what got GM into this mess in the first place. The world's largest corporation doesn't become the world's largest corporation overnight. You have to hire lots of your friends. You need thousands of yes-men and yes-women to stand behind you as, reminding you that you are right (despite what the critics say), supporting you as you stop taking chances and stop making decisions. Only with an army of drones can you stagnate innovation. Ok, I'm being a little too harsh. I know that there are lots of hard-working people at GM. But this is exactly my point: GM needs some criticism. Somebody (which I hoped would be Wagoner) needs to stand up and say, "Stop. Let's try something really different."
Ford has been going through its own tough times lately. And they have recently had the idea forced upon them that they too should consider an alliance with another company. And today, the Wall Street Journal suggested that maybe GM and Ford should merge. Oh yeah. GREAT idea. Exactly what both companies and entire country DON'T need. What would help GM move even slower? Why, more yes-men! What has kept GM from being nimble in the changing marketplace? A DOZEN DIFFERENT BRANDS THAT DON'T COMMUNICATE! Can you imagine a GM-Ford merger? Half-assed model-sharing among all these brands: GMC, Chevy, Saturn, Pontiac, Buick, Cadillac, Hummer, Saab, Vauxhall, Opel, Holden, Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Mazda, Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover, and Aston-Martin.
I think it's worth typing all that out because it highlights the ridiculousness of the suggestion of a GM-Ford merger. I guarantee that if such a monstrosity were to occur, the first thing to happen would be a good old-fashioned brand-thinning. They would probably ax 1/3 to 1/2 of those lines, lay-off the blue-collar workers, thin the white-collar workers, and keep the executives. I mean, come on, you don't really need people who design or build your products... you need yes-men.
The name of the game is changing and now would be a bad time to bury your heads in the sand. Dare I remind you of the 80s? Not only did Toyota, Honda, and Nissan win that war, now they're doing better than ever before. You're lucky that Ford controls Mazda and DaimlerChrysler controls Mitsubishi. Hyundai-Kia are the new current threat (they figured out how to be competitive in half the time it took Toyota), and while laughing at Geely and Chery is fun (and easy), it won't make them go away. Again, this would be a BAD time to ignore your enemies.
I hope people read this. You can either believe me or not and I can either wind-up being right or wrong. If I'm right, listen and wise-up. If I'm wrong, give me a job as an inflammatory pundit who gets paid for writing nonsense for TV or magazines... like Bill O'Reilly or John C. Dvorak. How they got and keep their jobs is beyond me, but I'd love to be paid for sharing my ignorance.