I don't like Chryslers. Or Fords. Or, for that matter, anything GM makes.
I do like their old cars. The sight of a '63 Corvette Sting Ray is heavenly. But I would rather avert my eyes away from the newer cars pumped out of Detroit.
It seems I'm not the only one who has had qualms about Pontiac's spiderweb-like rear lights, Ford's ugly interiors and Chrysler's inflated retail prices. Americans have been turning to foreign manufacturers to take care of their American dream for at least a decade now. Hyundai and Kia are no longer joke manufacturers, now offering cars with better mileage and quality for less than their American counterparts. Ford, Chevy and Dodge are no longer the obvious choice when it comes to picking out a new truck, either. Have you seen the made-in-America Toyota Tundra lately?
Ford, GM and Chrysler haven't been able to find the confidence to take a long and hard look at themselves and face the bitter fact: Their product just isn't good enough anymore. Good is an encompassing term, by the way. Words like innovative, beautiful, valuable, efficient and quality all fit under the definition of a 'good' car.
The Europeans make good cars. The Japanese and Koreans also make good cars. Sure, they got into the game a little late, but they've whipped Detroit faster than a '70 GTO in terms of quality, efficiency and design. Detroit sounded its own death knell when GM fueled the race of conspicuous consumption with the introduction of the Hummer H2, a truck whose primary market is petite blondes who can't see over the steering wheel and men who have, ahem, confidence problems.
Meanwhile, everywhere else, car manufacturers focused on producing smaller and more efficient automobiles. Even the Detroit Big Three were making smaller, and yes, better looking cars in Europe. But we didn't want them, they said.
Our car manufacturers aren't to blame. They weren't wrong. We were wrong. Few people pined for GM's limited production electric car in the late 1990s and instead waited in lines for a chance to purchase the behemoth Ford Excursion. When the first Toyota Prius came onto the market the customer base consisted of those who cared so much about the environment that they scraped off their Coexist and PETA stickers from their last car as to not waste any paper. Bring on the Hummers most everyone else yelled. When the gas crisis hit and today's banking and credit crisis appeared, the Big Three were caught with their pants down.
Now as Chrysler is reorganizing under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and many experts predict GM will soon follow, more power is being given to the United Auto Workers. The single institution that holds the most responsibility in its own downfall by demanding inflated wages and entitlement benefits, which hinders competition between foreign automakers, will now own more than half of Chrysler LLC, positioning themselves to shoot off their other foot.
On the bright side, Italian automaker Fiat will now be charged with running the day-to-day operations. Yes, this is going to work out just fine.
Matthew Christ is a political science sophomore. His column appears weekly.
