Should Detroit Follow The Google Model Of Business?

Should Detroit Follow The Google Model Of Business?

If Google ran a car company, what would it look like? What lessons of Google's singular success in the Internet age might apply to remaking this, among other failing industries? Would the Googlemobile be the product of stealth and secrecy or openness and collaboration? Could Detroit release cars in beta? Could cars be ad-supported and free? Is there any hope for an industry that traffics in atoms instead of digits? Would a Googley car company even make cars?

A few years ago, it might have been absurd to look to Google for ideas about the auto industry. But not now. American automakers are in crisis. General Motors and Chrysler needed a $13 billion bailout from the federal government in December to keep them out of bankruptcy, and, with a new Administration in Washington, the Big Three are likely to head back to the well for billions more. They're suffering from more than the economic crisis. The huge declines in sales reflect a fundamental disconnect between drivers and Detroit. It's time for a radical rethinking of the way U.S. automakers do business.

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veyron1001veyron1001 - 2/5/2009 5:19:37 PM
0 Boost
Detroit simple cant. Also they would need billions more bailout money.


neutralneutral - 2/5/2009 7:02:57 PM
+1 Boost
veyron1001, the economist.... aka Bernie Madoff.


neutralneutral - 2/5/2009 6:27:46 PM
+5 Boost
This is an older Businessweek article that made me laugh when I read it. What a dumbass, the author obviously has no f**king idea about what he's talking about.... ahh the pitfalls of the internet, every dumbass becomes an expert. That'd be like me commenting on how to run a dance studio or art school.


neutralneutral - 2/5/2009 7:14:14 PM
+5 Boost
Oh yea, I forgot, a google-esq company that thought it could do it better than detroit using silicon valley ideas.... its called Tesla. Oh yea, they dont have a F**king clue about what they are doing. They were better than detroit.... then they source their chassis from Lotus and hire a tons of ex-Detroit people.... and they still can't do shit. Fisker on the other hand aknowledged they arent better than Detroit (or ToyotaCity or Stuttgart) and saddled up with GM and conventional suppliers.


chewychewy - 2/5/2009 8:49:54 PM
+3 Boost
No reset button on the highway.


neutralneutral - 2/6/2009 6:05:31 PM
+1 Boost
No on is disregarding Silicon Valley or Google, Google is awesome at what it does. The whole fact of the matter is, now that there is turmoil in the industry, everyone has become an expert. The fact that the Big3 were almost allowed to go under due to a stupid financial situation (brought on by Washington DC incompetance & Wall St Greed) was a result of idiots like this writer. We got every moron from every corner of the "I hate Detroit even though I have no clue what Im talking about" world, put them on capitol hill, put them on every talk show and America said they wanted Detroit to die (at least those of us who have smaller brains that are easily swayed by the media). I just get sick & tired of everybody thinking theyre an expert in every field but their own, especially the auto industry. Now there's going to be tree hugging, anti-auto, whimsidaisical environmentalists commanding their robot (Komrade Pelosi & Komrade Waxman) to set bills thru congress (which are going to pass regardless of their stupidity) and Obama is going to sign it, mostly b/c it looks good on paper. Great, we're going to disregard logic, reasoning, free will, free markets, and American tradition b/c a bunch of un-educated, technically inept, un-business savvy idiots can get online (or on TV) and spew their stupidity.


wooodwoood - 2/5/2009 11:10:40 PM
+4 Boost
First of all, how can you compare Google to GM??????? There is no comparison whatsoever. Totally different industries.


neutralneutral - 2/6/2009 6:07:06 PM
+1 Boost
Your (correct) logic is lost on most people in our country, sad to say.
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