Consumer Affairs
WHAT'S NEW?
by Bob Hagin
The auto industry is always in a constant state of flux and not
necessarily just in the area of model changes. It's an enormous business
(one American in eight directly or indirectly relies on the auto for a
job) but we often overlook its "business" side of the business to
concentrate on its "fun" aspect, the cars and trucks themselves.
So once every three or four months I like to cover the recent
goings-on in the auto trade that are interesting or have some impact on
our vehicular lives. These are the recent happenings that have caught my
attention:
- WORKER SHORTAGE
- Who would have thought that in this pessimistic
employment era any industry would be facing a labor shortage? But it's
happening, and in the supposedly archaic automotive "smokestack"
industry. Since the early '70s, all of the Big 3 auto makers have been
downsizing their number of both blue and white collar workers but now
nearly a third of those that are left are reaching the age where they
can enter The Realm of Perpetual Sundays and retire. Many plants are
currently on 12 hour days or double shifts which points out the need for
a larger work force but, alas, there's not enough experienced folks to
come on line. "Skating" engineers and assembly line workers away from
lower-paid parts producing companies in Michigan is thought to be the
logical next step for Ford, Chrysler and General Motors.
- AUTO MAKERS GO ON THE NET
- Next time you go surfin' on the net
(that means using a computer to access information on the internet to
you non-technophiles), check out the auto section. There are more than a
dozen official new car and truck "sites" out there and the only thing
missing is the ability to electronically kick the tires on a new Honda,
Ford or BMW. General Motors is there and even has a separate site
available for GMAC, its financing section. Last year, my son Matt,
piqued by his interest in the Toyota Land Cruiser, called it up by name
and was amazed to get a graphic display of a Hummer-like Land Cruiser
that is just now being shown in American auto "buff" magazines. But the
really amazing part was that the text was in Japanese characters. Matt
had tapped into the factory site in Japan without even knowing it.
- ANTI-LOCK BRAKES NOT WHAT THEY'RE CRACKED UP TO BE
- Please excuse
the play on words there, but it may be true. One of the plusses to
owning a car or truck with an anti-skid brake system (ABS) is that
insurance companies have taken to giving a five to 10 percent premium
discount on vehicles so equipped. But now the Insurance Institute for
Highway Safety says that statics prove that ABS doesn't significantly
decrease accidents and as a result, so some insurance companies are
doing away with those discounts. To counter the anti-ABS bad press, the
companies that have developed ABS (and put millions into its
development) have countered by forming the ABS Education Alliance to
"educate" the public as to its virtues. I received their fancy press kit
last week and my head is still swimming with statistics. But I don't
worry; I'm just now at the point where I'm comfortable driving with
hydraulic brakes, and they came into common use around 1936.
- JAPANESE CARS BEING "DECONTENTED"
- The Japanese yen is very strong
and you don't have to be an economics professor to know that it means
the prices of Japanese products will be higher in the U.S. In the case
of the Japanese auto industry, it means that the cars made there will
have to be trimmed of fancy or unseen stuff in order to keep the MSRP
(Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price) within reason. We've noticed
that some of '96 models that had disc brakes in the rear last year now
utilize drums, leather upholstery is less in evidence and sophisticated
suspension systems have been superseded by more plebeian designs. Not
being a leather upholstery fan (it sticks to my legs when I wear shorts)
or a driver who drives on the limit of tire adhesion, I haven't really
noticed the differences.
- GMC AND PONTIAC MERGE
- Well, it probably won't result in a Pontiac
Suburban or a GMC Trans Am and in truth, the merger seems to be more in
the line of administrative cost reduction and the "downsizing" of the
whole GM corporate structure. GM light-duty trucks and SUVs already
utilize running gear found in front-engine, rear-drive Pontiacs and
according to the press kit I just received, 60 percent of the Pontiac
dealers in this country already have GMC franchises. So now these
dealers have only one "division" to deal with. The unanswered question I
have is what happens in areas where GMC trucks handled by other-than
Pontiac dealers (Oldsmobile and Buick, for instance) and now find that
Pontiac dealers in their areas are now GMC dealers, too.
The auto industry is in a constant state of flux and has been that
way since it all began exactly 100 years ago. I can't even imagine what
it will be like in the next 100 years.
Want more information? Search the web!
Search The Auto Channel!