We’re tired of getting our asses kicked by Toyota. We’re tired of BMW owning quality. We’re tired of Mercedes commanding the premium price point. We’re tired of producing second rate cars. We’re tired of Jaguars looking like a Ford Tempo. We’re tired of CPA’s trying to be car guys. We’re tired of losing market share. We’re sick and tired of being tired. Things are going to change. And this is what we’re going to do:
1. We will fight for and reclaim every point of market share surrendered over the past twenty years.
2. We will destroy our 19th century business model and replace it with the 21st century equivalent.
3. We will crush our legacy disadvantages and replace them with globally competitive wages and costs.
4. We will replace our leadership with authentic car fanatics who eat, sleep and breathe 10W40 motor oil.
5. We will never do another focus group, Oprah give-away, Hummer down-sizing or employee discount promotion.
6. We will return Detroit to it’s leadership position or die trying. We will not accept second place.
What I did hear from both Ford and GM was that they had given up. They would never regain the market share they had lost. Watching the Ford and GM interviews on CNBC today was probably one of the most disheartening things I have watched in a long time. Actually, disheartening is the wrong word. It made me angry. It made me ashamed. Having grown up outside of Detroit and having many relatives who worked for Detroit – I want to fight this battle. Anybody else out there interested? Before these boys and girls and the Democratic leadership in the State of Michigan do irreparable harm? Yes, I do believe that it is not to late.
Creative awards are meaningless if you can’t convert them into revenue, profit and market share. Click here to learn more about vSente. We wage and win battles for market share.
I hear you about regaining the lost paradise, but the issue is with management and not with well intentioned people like you. Management should be kicked out as they have failed to do anything right. Rick and Bill both suck at what they do and now are behaving like afraid kids. While the market (as stupid as always) will trade up in the next few months (thanks to accounting tricks), the situation will get worst in a year or so.
Amen! Its all about management. Just like with most OLD BOY corporations they care more about power than the company and will run it into the ground. What they need is innovation & design based on early model cars (where the history is at). I believe Ford hired away a BMW designer and they ended up with boring cars and trucks. They need to stop being so damn conservative. Not that Dodge is the greatest, but remember when they came out with the dramatic new look I believe in the late 80’s early 90’s? It set the tone for all other truck companies (they have slacked off sense then). They have conducted market research and then averaged out or chosen the median value so as to play it safe. They have done this over and over each time taking the median of the last median and ended up with a water downed product. Every product goes through an adoption process….earlier adopters through to laggers. People look at what cool people eat, drink, wear, drive, etc… and then follow that leader. You can’t shoot for the middle of the road and expect anyone to get excited about it.
It’s raining again
fluffy-looking “cumulus” clouds around. Rain, however, starts to fall much more slowly from the featureless, grey “stratiform”
Dads suffer postpartum depression too
alone in suffering postpartum depression— a “strikingly high” number of new fathers are affected as well, researchers