Letter to Obama: What the Car Industry Needs Is A Steve Jobs
1–10 of 28 posts
Re: Letter to Obama: What the Car Industry Needs Is A Steve Jobs
#2I would like to see Steve Jobs deal with CAFE standards and union contracts.
GM doesn't need help creating high-end products either (see ZR-1, G8, CTS-V, etc. the marketing needs improvement though), so can jobs design and market the car equivalent of a Netbook?
Re: Letter to Obama: What the Car Industry Needs Is A Steve Jobs
#3The article suggests Jobs himself be in charge of these companies. But it would be a step in the right direction for a manager to simply observe what Jobs did when he first returned to Apple.
In particular, Jobs axed all the different Mac models being developed, and made a single compelling product: the iMac. This focused the business, and created a market.
It wouldn't take Jobs himself to do this with automakers. In fact, it hasn't; just look at something like the redesigned VW Beetle, or the Mini Cooper, both the iMacs of their markets.
Re: Letter to Obama: What the Car Industry Needs Is A Steve Jobs
#4The article suggests Jobs himself be in charge of these companies. But it would be a step in the right direction for a manager to simply observe what Jobs did when he first returned to Apple. In particular, Jobs axed all the different Mac models being developed, and made a single compelling product: the iMac. This focused the business, and created a market. It wouldn't take Jobs himself to do this with automakers. In…
The other thing Automakers haven't got yet is that like 80% of people want a cheap fuel efficient vehicle. I would rather pay $4000 for a vehicle and have nothing except a 4* safety rating than pay $20,000 have a 4* average safety rating with a bajillion gadgets all priced at like $500 for something that costs $5 max to make.
Everybody on the fucking planet knows a 5 disc CD player with a line-in doesn't cost $500 to install because they're on sale for anywhere between 30 and 60 at any store selling anything remotely vehicular.
Re: Letter to Obama: What the Car Industry Needs Is A Steve Jobs
#5What the car industry needs is a reboot.
The 1908 Ford Model T had a 4-cylinder engine, ran on 4 wheels, used gasoline, with a mileage of 20mpg. A hundred years later, the basics are still the same. Why put billions more in a dead-end industry?
The government should instead invest in new ways of building cars. Like the Aptera 2e (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptera_hybrid_car) which is fundamentally changing the way a car is built. Or Tesla. Or Zap.
Forget the Big 3. Create the Small 300.
Re: Letter to Obama: What the Car Industry Needs Is A Steve Jobs
#6The article suggests Jobs himself be in charge of these companies. But it would be a step in the right direction for a manager to simply observe what Jobs did when he first returned to Apple. In particular, Jobs axed all the different Mac models being developed, and made a single compelling product: the iMac. This focused the business, and created a market. It wouldn't take Jobs himself to do this with automakers. In…
The other thing Automakers haven't got yet is that like 80% of people want a cheap fuel efficient vehicle. I would rather pay $4000 for a vehicle and have nothing except a 4* safety rating than pay $20,000 have a 4* average safety rating with a bajillion gadgets all priced at like $500 for something that costs $5 max to make. Everybody on the fucking planet knows a 5 disc CD player with a line-in doesn't cost $500 to…
The numbers say otherwise. 51% of all vehicles sold in the US in December 2008 were pickups or SUVs. [1] Average vehicle sales price is $25,000 [2], despite the existence of nice cheap fuel-efficient cars like the Yaris at $12,000.
Dagres' suggestion that cars should be more about electronic gadgets is wrongheaded. Cars last 10 years, gadgets are obsolete after 3. You want a car + an iPhone, the second of which you'll upgrade several times.
[1] http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/stories/2009/01/12/story1....
[2] http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2008/09/04/2008-09-04__anal...
Re: Letter to Obama: What the Car Industry Needs Is A Steve Jobs
#7What the car industry needs is a reboot. The 1908 Ford Model T had a 4-cylinder engine, ran on 4 wheels, used gasoline, with a mileage of 20mpg. A hundred years later, the basics are still the same. Why put billions more in a dead-end industry? The government should instead invest in new ways of building cars. Like the Aptera 2e ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptera_hybrid_car ) which is fundamentally changing the wa…
I'm #1607 on the waiting list for an Aptera. I signed up because I had complained so often that there was no electric car you could actually buy, and people kept telling me I just didn't try hard enough. So far I'm right, and I predict I'll never actually get mine. When the CEO brags that they have 45 circuit boards [1], I can already read the company's obituary. But maybe they'll pull it off, and I'll have a really snazzy car.
I'm more excited about Mission Motors electric motorcycle. http://www.ridemission.com/. (I'm an investor.) It's breathtakingly fast and fun to ride.
[1] http://earth2tech.com/2008/10/01/aptera-tweaking-electric-ve...
Re: Letter to Obama: What the Car Industry Needs Is A Steve Jobs
#8What the car industry needs is a reboot. The 1908 Ford Model T had a 4-cylinder engine, ran on 4 wheels, used gasoline, with a mileage of 20mpg. A hundred years later, the basics are still the same. Why put billions more in a dead-end industry? The government should instead invest in new ways of building cars. Like the Aptera 2e ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptera_hybrid_car ) which is fundamentally changing the wa…
Why do you think there should be 300 car companies? Can you point to another manufacturing industry where hundreds of players collectively have significant market share?
Re: Letter to Obama: What the Car Industry Needs Is A Steve Jobs
#9I would like to see Steve Jobs deal with CAFE standards and union contracts. GM doesn't need help creating high-end products either (see ZR-1, G8, CTS-V, etc. the marketing needs improvement though), so can jobs design and market the car equivalent of a Netbook?
Here in Germany we have very strong unions. The system we have here would be called communism by right-wing american standards. In Europe we call it social capitalism.
With this system, we are building the best cars in the world for decades. I am sure Steve Jobs could manage a Porsche successful, within the european system.
Re: Letter to Obama: What the Car Industry Needs Is A Steve Jobs
#10What the car industry needs is a reboot. The 1908 Ford Model T had a 4-cylinder engine, ran on 4 wheels, used gasoline, with a mileage of 20mpg. A hundred years later, the basics are still the same. Why put billions more in a dead-end industry? The government should instead invest in new ways of building cars. Like the Aptera 2e ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptera_hybrid_car ) which is fundamentally changing the wa…
Why do you think there should be 300 car companies? Can you point to another manufacturing industry where hundreds of players collectively have significant market share?
Isn't it the startup model?
By investing in 300 small companies, you get better chances to reinvent the market and create better big ones.