The Homer Car: Designer Homer Simpson, Bankrupted his brother after its release...
The other day I heard the Government was laying down the law on the auto manufacturers on what types of cars shall be approved for sale in the U.S. in the coming years. I can understand the impetus behind this announcement, after all GM, Ford, and Chrysler are all getting their butts handed to them - but at the same time the economy is not helping their situation either. Even Honda and Toyota are feeling the pinch, though not nearly as bad as the U.S. auto manufacturers.
I hope this doesn't mean the government is going to intervene on the design of the cars for American auto companies. It's understandable that clean energy efficient vehicles are important - but too many people are assuming that SUVs are all gas guzzlers. This isn't quite the case, some of the new SUVs coming out from GM and Mercedes Benz are extremely efficient.
The new Yukon Hybrid, for example, is an incredible truck, tons of room inside, and the fuel efficiency is quite good! The Mercedes Benz GL320 uses burns clean bluetec diesel and gets the best mileage out of any SUV I know of. The fact is SUVs are not all bad, and in many cases they're required to carry more people and more stuff.
The last thing I want to see in 10 years is a road full of Prius looking vehicles whizzing around silently. How incredibly boring would that be? As a car enthusiast I can promise you that this should never be allowed to happen.
Ford, ladies and gentlemen, KNOWS how to design a nice car. They have been caught in a bad situation and the economy hasn't helped turn the company around. If you look at some of the recent moves they made it seems like they are going down the right path. They killed off a number of brands that do not resonate with consumers, and they focused on a few vehicles - many of which are getting reviewed favorably in the major car magazines.
The new Ford Flex is a cool vehicle designed for a youth audience - features flexible layouts and makes it a great choice for young families. In 2006 Ford launched the Ford GT - a car with an incredible heritage. Back in the 1960's when the Ford Ferrari wars started, Henry Ford II and Lee Iaccoca set out to destroy Ferrari after their bid to buy the company fell apart at the 11th hour. I wrote a couple of articles on the Ford Ferrari wars some time ago - here is a link to one, and here is a link with videos to another...
Originally launched in the 1960's, the Ford GT was designed to crush Ferrari
The new Mustang is also a great car. GM has some nice vehicles too, most notably the hybrid trucks, and the Cadillac line up. I'm amazed that the American car manufacturers have come so far in the last few years - and yet the media continues to bash the cars. Bash the management if you want, but please don't bash all American cars.
The last thing we want to see is the Government designing cars --- no one wants to drive the Homer (pictured above). What do you think?
Notice any parallels between the car industry and the computer industry?
