Though the focus has been on General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM) and Chrysler LLC's need to reduce their costs, the automakers also face a separate and equally vexing problem: bringing customers -- and in particular affluent customers -- into their showrooms. Though domestic quality has improved dramatically in recent years, the Big Three for decades trained consumers to believe that mostly clunkers came out of Detroit, and created countless loyal buyers of Toyotas and Hondas.
Case in point, Politico
took a look at the rides of the people who are now in control of the destinies of GM and Chrysler. While the Obamas have a Ford Escape Hybrid sitting in the garage back in Chicago (and before that they drove a Chrysler), many key administration officials park imports in the White House employee lot every day.
According to Politico, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner drives an Acura, Larry Summers drives a Mazda, Obama economic adviser Austan Goolsbee has a Toyota, and OMB director Peter R. Orszag and vice presidential economic adviser Jaret Bernstein both have Honda Odyssey minivans. (Car czar Steve Rattner, for the record, was not mentioned in the Politico piece. But
according to the Detroit News, he has three imports and one domestic vehicle.)
Obviously this matters little compared to the bigger issues facing the industry and its new benefactors. But there is a lesson to be learned.
Detroit insiders are fond of saying that the auto business is one part science, one part art. The administration team now plotting strategies for keeping the U.S. auto industry afloat will spend a lot of time looking at financial projections in the coming weeks, and with good reason. But they might be well served to also look into their own garages, and think about why they drive the vehicles they do, when contemplating what is needed to save GM and Chrysler. -
Lou Whiteman
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