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Automotive Industry

This is about money - Classic Kobe's Beef - Brief Article

Automotive Industries, July, 2002 by Gerry Kobe

We've all heard the saying, "Be careful what you ask for because you might get it." But, the derivative we don't tend to hear is: "Be careful what you don't ask for because if it has profit potential you'll get it anyway."

For example, remember the hype a few years ago about the three-day car? It was going to turn the industry on its ear because it would let a customer walk into a kiosk at the mall, order a new car and three days later it would be delivered to their home. But did we ask for that?

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The whole concept was spin-doctored to make it sound like a convenience, but that had nothing to do with why the idea piqued automakers' interests. They loved it because if they could actually have figured out how to do it, they could have eliminated billions of dollars worth of finished inventory, thumbed their noses at dealers and pocketed the money.

And hey, there's nothing wrong with making big money, but the reality is that people deserve and want the opportunity to drive a car instead of a kiosk before they cut a big fat check.

The same irony applies to the telematics craze. Ask around and see if you can actually find anybody who wants to receive a fax, write e-mail, surf the Web and make phone calls while they are driving. Better yet, ask them if they're comfortable knowing that the guy in the oncoming lane might be doing that instead of steering. Believe me, this isn't about what consumers asked for, and this isn't about being responsive -- that's the spin. This is about getting high-profit content into vehicles first and then convincing us it's what we asked for. This is about money.

Interview Outtakes

'The very founding of Motorola came from when we put radios in the 1929 Model A. It was a dream come true for owners. But people then questioned if it was safe to have radios. But it became second nature to go from that to tapes to CDs. We think therefore that a lot of things people initially think are distractions can be integrated in if it is done right, and we will make sure that happens."

- Dennis Wilkie, Motorola VP and director of business development

"A three-day car is a dream that some marketing guy came up with - not a manufacturing guy. If a product is not doing well you can get it in a few days because nobody else wants it. But people order what they want, so it becomes a supply issue. If your plant can only build 100,000 of something and you get orders for 300,000, forget about three days, you might not get it at all."

Frank Ewasyshyn, DaimlerChrysler VP advanced manufacturing

Automotive Industry

This is about money - Classic Kobe's Beef - Brief Article

Automotive Industries, July, 2002 by Gerry Kobe

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