Why the US auto industry deserves to be saved

I'm sick of hearing how the US Automakers somehow don't deserve a bailout, while banks and insurance companies, that were so poorly run they literally self-destructed, have been bailed out, paid off, propped up, despite the poor management, and without berating them or asking them for a plan to make it all better.

The government simply threw money at the white collar companies that produce nothing. Yes, it's important to have banks and insurance companies, it's vital that the money continues to flow.

But the US economy is built on more than shuffling money around--it's built on making things--or at least it used to be. There are fewer and fewer companies that actually make things now, and more that are either about ideas (that's fine), or just making money from money (is that really productive, or just exploitative?)

GM and Ford are building better cars today than they ever have--even in their golden age of tail fins.

US car quality is every bit as good as rivals from Japan and Germany.

And yet they're being treated as if "nobody buys them" and "everything they make it crap." Yet they sell over half the cars in this country. That's a majority of the market share, and a larger percentage than Presidents have gotten in elections in years.

What the automakers have yet to do is change the PERCEPTION of their brands and vehicles.

True, the Big Three put out some bad cars for a number of years, they wrecked their own brands and reputations--but now they have fixed their products--it takes longer to repair their images.

I went to the San Francisco auto show and in looking at car designs and interior quality, GM absolutely had some of the best looking, most well-designed and put together cars. The Chevy Malibu's interior is beautiful and more customizable than just about anything under $150K--I thought it was better designed and built than the Maserati Quattroporte, which cost five times as much.

The Cadillac interiors with their leather-wrapped everything, including dash, are more attractive and better made than more expensive European cars, including Mercedes (and head and shoulders above Lexus, which somehow manages to create truly ugly car interiors with atrocious Maraschino cherry red "wood" accents).

At the low end--the Chevy HHR is less expensive than the Scion xB, gets better gas mileage, is more attractive, and clearly has a better interior design and quality. The Scion's interior is hideous, it looks like a cheap boombox made of hard black plastic.

As for Ford, the Edge is thoroughly and thoughtfully designed inside and out. The Mustang is cool and desirable, even to my European friends. The new Flex, a "mini on steroids" is a wonderful design, practical and attractive. And while I feel the entire Lincoln and Mercury lines could go and not be missed, the main Ford product line is strong. Except for Jeep and the mini-vans, Chrysler is weak, but it still sells a lot of cars and employs a lot of people. It could be pared down to its strongest assets and continue--even as Jeep alone. Jeep minivans anyone?

As for the bailout--Washington was happy to give 120 BILLION to AIG, a company that did so much wrong, and literally played with money. Yet somehow they could be trusted "without a plan."

Yet when it comes to automakers who actually CREATE and PRODUCE something, who actually CREATE JOBS, they are scolded like bad children and told to go home and do their homework before they can be given 1/10th of what went to profligate AIG, a mere 12 billion. It makes no sense.

It's time for the feds to help bail out companies that actually create jobs, rather than just playing with money.

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Here's a great article that compares the US automakers market share with Apple's. Apple's is much smaller, yet is considered more successful. This piece helps put things in perspective.
http://www.motorobilia.com/2008/11/of-apples-and-automobiles.html

And this is another excellent piece about the bailout by the same author.