Chrysler, Ford and GM! Oh, my!

Listen folks here's some plain talk from your crazy uncle Seth, they need to retool their business strategy as much as their assembly lines.

So I was reading on Yahoo how GM is whining about their not having a bankruptcy option, whaa poor baby! I have some ideas that will undoubtedly piss alot of people off but, that's what I'm good at and I'm not about to change horses in midstream.

First all three of the piglets of automotive pork need to focus on how they are going to help support all the little industries that have been built up around their industry. There are hundreds of companies that support the Automotive Industry exclusively and stand to go out of business too. The big picture is that if the big piglets cannot pull it together they are going to cause an industrial dust-bowl. So a change in philosophy is in order, a philosophy of interdependence, the reality is this without the cottage industry of engine manufacturers, and textile makers, electronics producers, plastics, metal fab etc... they would be done for. So let's look at that first, and begin forming a plan that helps them survive through this too.

• Decide to standardize equipment by making engines and transmissions and all the basic drivetrain and electronics interchangable between manufactures
• Combine R&D
• Allow features exclusive to each brand to be incorporated into the others per customer request
• Bring the final assembly to the dealerships, thus allowing final customization at the point of sale, and avoiding the waste of unwanted vehicles sitting on the lot

Second if the first part of the plan is not effective enough after 1 or 2 years they should merge, which would be easier since they would have effectively merged their infrastructure for manufacturing and supply chain. Merger is one of the only ways to retain the viability of supporting the smaller industries that support the automotive industries.

Third in the effort to support a truly sustainable vehicle industry the three little piglets need to look at decentralizing their assembly even further like I said about leaving final assembly to the dealerships. They should source the assembly of the individual modules to local plants that build on demand.

Forth, this maybe a stretch but it should be investigated. Build a lifetime vehicle that customizes as the owners lifestyle changes. Let's say I love the look and utility of a Ford Expedition but I'm single, I don't need all that room. So the future cars will be modular in expansion, I order a two seater Expedition. Later I get married and have kids, it order the expansion module go to the dealer and they install it. I have more kids or I need to car pool, so we add modules. Later the kids grow up move out, so I go to the dealership and have the modules removed.

One final note, if we do bail out these porkers, I think every move they make should be voted on by us, the same for the banking industry, but I'll save that for another rant.

I'd like to acknowledge The Zeitgeist Movement, Jacques Fresco - Future by Design and The Tellus Institute for contributing to many of my ideas in this blog.

Seth