What Would Happen If Steve Jobs Was In Charge Of The US Automotive Industry?

What Would Happen If Steve Jobs Was In Charge Of The US Automotive Industry?
Last September, I was in a hotel room watching CNBC early one morning. They were interviewing Bob Nardelli, the C.E.O. of Chrysler, and he was explaining why the auto industry, at that time, needed $25 billion in loan guarantees.

It wasn’t a bailout, he said. It was a way to enable the car companies to retool for innovation.

I could not help but shout back at the TV screen: “We have to subsidize Detroit so that it will innovate? What business were you people in other than innovation?” If we give you another $25 billion, will you also do accounting?

Somebody ought to call Steve Jobs, who doesn’t need to be bribed to do innovation, and ask him if he’d like to do national service and run a car company for a year. I’d bet it wouldn’t take him much longer than that to come up with the G.M. iCar.



 


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chewychewy - 11/13/2008 1:56:41 PM
+4 Boost
the volt is quite innovative

and the thing about cars is that what people "want" and what is possible is very different.

people want really big cars that get good fuel economy and have good performance. but some pretend and whine that they actually want a small and cheap car


chewychewy - 11/13/2008 2:02:29 PM
+2 Boost
not to mention cars also have to pass a bunch of regulations, one which includes safety. so this "innovative" iCar thing would fail instantly


tkindredtkindred - 11/13/2008 3:32:37 PM
+1 Boost
Not every one wants big cars. I sure don't. Regardless of gas prices.


DieselRulesDieselRules - 11/15/2008 2:54:22 PM
+1 Boost
Not everybody, but LOTS of people would like a relatively big, roomy car that gets excellent mileage.
I'd love an Audi A6 or A8 with a V6 TDI that gets 50 MPG highway, but that car is too logical for VW/Audi's management to bring over here.
Or a Cadillac CTS with a 5 or 6 cyl. turbo-diesel.
You'd have the torque of a V8 and the mileage of a 4-cylinder.

I guess they're coming, but Europe has had cars like this for years.


Agent009Agent009 - 11/13/2008 2:38:03 PM
0 Boost
Well you have to admit. Detroit in general for the last 30 years has not moved from the same basic strategy.

A case in point could easily be Toyota. They at least invested heavily in Hybrid technology at great expense, and now it is paying off.

The Detroit 3 simply paid dividends to shareholders and sacrificed their future.



jvasquez8jvasquez8 - 11/13/2008 2:55:37 PM
+6 Boost
uhhh...jobs also needed a bailout to rescue Apple. $150M from Microsoft in 1997.

http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-202143.html



Sarcastic1Sarcastic1 - 11/13/2008 3:50:53 PM
+1 Boost
relative fiscal stability (even in time of crisis) and an ever evolving product....just a guess


henstahensta - 11/13/2008 10:11:48 PM
+3 Boost
You took the words right out of my mouth.


DieselRulesDieselRules - 11/15/2008 3:00:21 PM
+1 Boost
Agreed. Apple makes money because a small but substantial percentage of the population will pay an extra $100 for the style of the product. But scale that from consumer electronics to cars (at 100x the price) and you'll find that the percentage of folks who will pay $10k more for a car that looks better, but doesn't perform as well, is extremely small.


mercuryguymercuryguy - 11/13/2008 4:42:32 PM
+1 Boost
He would put a 20" flatpanel computer on every dash so you can load real compterized maps with waypoints into your navigational routes. not this psedo nav system we get now.


rockerrocker - 11/13/2008 4:52:38 PM
+1 Boost
Mulally is from Boeing and look at what a wonderful job he is doing. An accountant runs GM and Nardelli has been at GE and Home Depot. That does not sound like "Car Guys" to me. People who should run the Big 3 in no specific order: Roger Penske, Bob Lutz & Rick Hendrick.


mercuryguymercuryguy - 11/13/2008 5:33:35 PM
+2 Boost
Jack Welch from GE would have been good for the Auto Industry 10 years ago.


SteveSteve - 11/13/2008 5:47:28 PM
+4 Boost
I can hardly wait for the follow-up article: What would happen if Jesus ran Harley-Davidson?


DieselRulesDieselRules - 11/15/2008 3:03:03 PM
+1 Boost
I now have an image of Jesus on a chopper that I can't get out of my head.


SteveSteve - 11/17/2008 9:40:38 AM
+1 Boost
> I now have an image of Jesus on a chopper that I can't get out of my head.

With a T-shirt that read "Loud Pipes Save Lives ... And *I* Should Know!"


mplsmpls - 11/13/2008 7:09:47 PM
+4 Boost
Nothing good would happen .. he'd run it to the ground.. He's not God.. Consumer electronics is nothing compared with Cars.. He'd have no clue how to run even one car company. Simply put, it's not his forte.


cbro980cbro980 - 11/13/2008 8:09:51 PM
+5 Boost
Just like Apple computers, there would be no after market products not produced by Jobs allowed.


mercuryguymercuryguy - 11/14/2008 12:19:28 AM
+2 Boost
I think we are all led to believe that some savoir will come along and save our economy and the Autos.

CEOs get paid huge sums of money to play this role yet they fail miserably.

Ford Motor recruited Robert McNamera from the Ivy league to be an Auto Executive, The US Government then appointed McNamera to run the VietNam war. They thought he was a brilliant “wiz kid”, perfect for a leadership role. We all know that worked out.

Perhaps what we really need is more common sensed people as opposed to Ivy leagues grads that play it safe with PowerPoint Presentations and Conference Calls.

Building a car for the sole purpose of profit per unit to impress Wall Street isn't the answer.

Building inspiring products at great prices is what makes people want to buy.



Designer1Designer1 - 11/14/2008 2:00:22 AM
+1 Boost
See people, this is the reason I say let the garbage 3 to go to hell. All of this is a lie, the greedy can only grow greedier, they ruined our American car reputation, and then let them go to hell and let the government keep our tax money for our future and kids’ future.


RupertRupert - 11/14/2008 6:04:49 AM
+4 Boost
I think the real question is what kind of retard thought up such a stupid brown-nosing question.
Probably we'd have a load of unreliable, expensive cars.


mplsmpls - 11/15/2008 3:05:17 AM
+1 Boost
and fall apart later


DieselRulesDieselRules - 11/15/2008 3:15:42 PM
+1 Boost
From WW-2 till a quarter century ago, North American manufacturing dominated the world. And the majority of Fortune 500 companies were run by engineers. Engineers generally take a long-term vision and use that to drive the company.
But over the last few decades there has been a transition to accountants running the companies. CFOs are looking at quarterly results and this year's shareholder dividends.
Is it any wonder that North America in general is no longer able to compete globally?
Jobs is arguably an engineer of consumer products.

We need car-guys at the top ... whether they have engineering degrees or not, Detroit needs to be run by men and women with a passion for making it go faster, farther, safer, smoother, slicker, etc. than the other guys.


DieselRulesDieselRules - 11/15/2008 3:17:02 PM
+1 Boost
BTW: Japanese auto-makers are run by engineers.
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