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Automotive Industry

Letters - Letter to the Editor

Automotive Industries, June, 2002

Money for the Mini?

Good story on the Mini, BUT who wants a $20,000 shoebox? There are so many other cars out there in the 20K price range that have enough room so you are not touching shoulders with your passenger as you ride along and will give a very good driving experience such as you describe from the Mini.

I know the Mini had loyal fans in the UK but they are used to riding in miniature vehicles. I don't think there are enough affluent folks in need of an exclusivity fix to sustain many sales other than in California. And I wonder what it is like to drive the Mini on snow-covered roads. There doesn't appear to be much side collision protection if you slide off a slippery road.

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The Mini is a cute niche car and if they can be profitable with 5,000 a year sales in the U.S., they will make it, otherwise in three years it will be gone.

Tom Kuchnicki

Snowy, Cold Northern Michigan

The question for Mini is not "Will it make money?" but, "how LONG will it make money?" BMW predicts profits at low volumes but that assumes those volumes will continue according to their business case. The New Beetle looked hot initially as well, but once the initial surge of Beetle buyers bought one, the sales fell off. Mini is a novelty in the same way Beetle and PT Cruiser are. Unless BMW planned for a drop off in sales, I predict it will take a big drink of red ink in years three and four.

Robert Kenseth

Dublin, Ohio

Questions but No Answers

Cummins is a master at stating the obvious and asking a lot of questions that he and nobody else can answer. Of course the automakers want sustainable volumes and no over-capacity but if he can figure out how to do that he'll be the first. The industry has been talking about it for years but the best minds in the business have admitted that if you can't control when people want cars then you can't control the process of making them. I suppose his next column will be on eliminating hunger or world peace.

Kent Miller

Dearborn, Michigan

OnStar Off Target

Hansen's column "Rethinking Telematics" is so on target. I have personal experience with GM's OnStar program and it is a complete bust. One of OnStar's own service people spent a half hour telling me about how many complaints they receive every day and how outraged people are when they learn they have to pay extra to keep the service working. I went ballistic when I found out the first year's cost was built into my vehicle and I never used it once. GM created a lot of bad will by getting greedy and making OnStar "standard" on vehicles, but not the service that makes it functional. I won't get burned a second time and I'll never buy another GM product.

Name withheld by request

Warren, Mich.

Tier 2 Blues

Craig Fitzgerald needs to be brought up to speed before he gives advice on how to "secure business with new domestic automakers." I work for a Tier 2 company and we've been trying to get new domestic business for over 10 years. But the new domestics bring their existing suppliers with them and they do so because they make good products. Nobody has to tell me I have to beat the competition on price and warranty and design; I live that nightmare. But getting your foot in the door is so much more complex than Fitzgerald makes it sound. We've been doing all the things he suggests and more for a decade and we are just now melting the ice. Fitzgerald lives in a fantasy world.

Name and company withheld by request

I predict (Mini) will take a big drink of red ink in years three and four.

Robert Kenseth

Automotive Industry

Letters - Letter to the Editor

Automotive Industries, June, 2002

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