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Factor out Cadillacs, F-Series trucks, Corvettes and Mustangs, and Detroit is handing us uninteresting vehicles. What could make their cars more interesting? More horsepower? No, almost every car today has an ample amount. Swoopier sheet metal? Nope. Regulations, litigation and fuel efficiency demands have put an end to really gorgeous cars. No, the way to inject excitement and fascination back into American cars is to return them to their leadership in technology innovation, a position they once gripped tightly.
It was the American carmakers who brought us waves of new tech over the last century--automatic transmissions, air conditioning, self-dimming high beams, hemispherical combustion chambers, sequential tail lights, the WonderBar radio and, yes, even the hoary old V-8-6-4 engine. (Hey, I at least applaud the attempt.)
But mention the phrase "technologically advanced car" today and I believe most consumers will imagine a Japanese or German product.
Listen up
Charles Cooper chats with CNET car watchers Brian Cooley and Wayne Cunningham about Detroit's uneasy relationship with Silicon Valley.
Listen now...
Detroit needs to get back in front of the parade. Their potential customers spend many hours and many dollars shopping for technology products. On weekends they stroll the aisles of Best Buy for sport. They wear a Sam Browne's worth of gadgets around their plump waistlines. They can tell you the specs on their iPod, digital camera, HDTV, broadband connection, smart phone and TiVo. Ask about their American car and they mostly recall the rebate it came with.
To realign themselves with our love for innovation, here are some right-now technologies (all home-grown in America, by the way) U.S. carmakers can and should get in front of:
HD Radio
Developed by U.S. firm Ibiquity (which itself was formed by the merger of two homegrown U.S. predecessors), HD Radio takes our current broadcast radio stations from analog to digital, retaining their existing dial position. It delivers digital clarity that makes FM sound like a CD and AM sound like FM. It also creates a secondary channel for each station to offer a "version B" of itself. The radio industry--a medium with higher penetration than TV or the Internet-?is all over it.
Navigation with traffic
In-dash nav systems are a dud. But add live traffic information and they become the antidote to America's favorite water cooler bitch session topic: traffic jams. Just a few carmakers currently offer in-dash nav with live traffic; Ford and GM could yet steal the thunder if they move fast and use their considerable weight to encourage improvements in the data sensor infrastructure. Check out Pioneer's new AVIC Z-1 for a glimpse of a live traffic nav unit that also has important learning ability.
A great control surface
I've driven BMW's iDrive, Audi's MMI and the Infiniti Controller. Let me tell you there is still plenty of fertile ground to capture in the area of the definitive vehicle interface. Just like American companies standardized the PRNDL column-mounted gear lever, we can sort out this new control surface mess. Note to Ford: Your spin-off Visteon has a very interesting control surface in its TACNET line for cop cars. Check it out.
A new OnStar
Instead of positioning OnStar as the system that helps the feckless when they lock their keys in the car or drive off the road for no apparent reason, GM could reposition it as a source of useful daily information and assistance. Use its network and brand equity to create a really comprehensive drivers' information service that doesn't require a tedious call to a live adviser. Drivers could get restaurant reviews and reservations, store promotions, movie reviews, schedules and ticketing--all powered by audio content and geotargeting-?and without the cumbersome chat with an OnStar operator unless necessary. I'm not versed in the network technology that underlies OnStar, but I suspect it can do things that are sexy, not just prudent. As it is, having OnStar just makes you feel like a dork who needs adult supervision, not a technology adopter.
In-car TV
I'm going out on a limb with this one, but I think there is a significant market for in-car TV (for rear-seat passengers, of course.) Rear-seat DVD systems are nice, but having to shuttle DVDs back and forth from the car is archaic. There is great traction to be found in live TV on the road. KVH and RaySat currently offer antennas that tune DirecTV and DISH. And both are developing low-profile antennas that don't look like they belong on a bus, perhaps even hiding inside a vehicle's headliner, which then opens the door to becoming factory options. They're probably pounding on doors in Detroit right now; take their meetings.
Car entertainment hub
I dreamed of a wireless, smart entertainment hub for cars in a previous column, and immediately heard veiled references from several manufacturers that they're working on it. Get in front of the introduction of such a system. It will create a new state of seamless integration between our personal portables and our cars, two classes of products that people are avid about.
No one of these is going to reposition Detroit overnight, but a consistent and persistent pursuit of such high-touch, in-car tech will over time restore to American car brands something they offered when I was a kid: the latest and the greatest.
Biography
Brian Cooley is an editor at large at CNET.
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Spare me more initial cost and repair opportunities by adding needless technology.
I stopped buying American cars because they're unreliable from new and uneconomical to (frequently) repair beyond 50,000 miles. The sole exception that I know of was the Saturn SL Series. They were as bulletproof and fun to drive as any Corolla or Civic. Unfortunately GM/Saturn terminated the successful experiment of building a Japanese-style car and returned to the generic GM parts bin.
Detroit needs to skip the quality marketing jargon (and the extra toys) and learn to deliver the real thing! Toyota and Honda didn't beat them with toys, they beat them with quality and reliability.
Boring comes in many flavors?
What's the most important thing about buying a new car in a certain price point? Some would argue reliability and would most likely turn to a Japanese car. I have owned a few American cars and despite my somewhat bad experience the basic problem regarding reliability is that it is in the stone age compared to other foreign cars. The problem is the basic design (what's under the skin). The Japanese car designing philosophy is for consistency in manufacturing and minimizing failures (no returns to the dealer). German car designs are more about over design which may or may not be reliable.
Another key ingredient to purchasing a car is the easiness on the eyes. Lets face it sheet metal does go along way. Honestly why would anyone want a stale looking Ford 500 or Pontiac G6. These cars have no real innovation in styling. Don't all Pontiacs look the same? How have they fooled everyone for so long?
And if that isn't enough how about driving experience. No one ever complained about the driving dynamics of a BMW. It just feels right like the extension of the senses. How do they get it consistently right and US car manufacturers stuggle to copy and never succeed.
In all it is technology which drives the fundamental part of a product not the icing. Brian just has it plain wrong.
- Detroit's Problems
- by peedycat December 14, 2005 11:38 PM PST
- The items you list are not technology, but just frills like tail fins, chrome strips, and body portholes. Real improvements are available from Toyota: full hybrid engines, continuously variable transmissions, and efficient high compression engines using regular gasoline.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(4 Comments)The plug in hybrid was the suggested future automobile in the Spring 2005 Tau Beta Pi journal. With this feature, my Prius with my driving might average 100 mpg! The automobile is a necessity, but it is also one of the major contributors to the greenhouse effect. This negative effect can be significantly reduced.
Where possible, we should be using electric power. That is the cleanest form of energy at the point of use. It can also be produced in massive amounts by nuclear reactors. They represent the safest, cleanest and least polluting of the large energy sources available today. Producing hydrogen, because it uses 2 to 5 times the energy input as it can produce, is a politically correct stupidity. The use of nuclear power, hybrid vehicles, oil shale, and tar sand can make the US totally independent of foreign energy supplies. If energy costs are equalized for energy content for all high energy content sources, all home heating and industrial energy needs will convert to electric power, further reducing hydrocarbon consumption. With all this in mind, the Arabs might have to learn to eat sand and drink oil.
I could add a fair amount of additional comment, but I really do not like to type. Reasonable responses are always appreciated by me.