Forbes Take On Car Of The Year

Jerry Flint on Forbes.com gave the world his take on awards:

It's time for the Car of the Year. Although the honorific is owned by Motor Trend, other publications now have similar awards. Note that in this context, "year" means the coming year, 2002. So some of these vehicles have just gone into production.

These are awards for cars, not trucks. The top truck listings come in another month. But the car listings are significant because they do show company strengths and weaknesses.

The two big magazines, Motor Trend and Car and Driver, have already announced their winners in the automobile segment. For Detroit, there's a bit of good news and lots of bad news.

Motor Trend's winner was the Ford Thunderbird, a true-blue-made-in-the-U.S.A. automobile.

I agree 100%. If I could own any car, the T-Bird would be it on looks alone. And that's why it won: looks alone. It is a two-seater, not too practical and expensive (a $40,000 sticker if you can find a dealer who won't run it up). Performance is good, but not in the league of a $45,000 Porsche. But when I drive the new Bird, I feel about 20 years younger, and girls scream when they see it drive by.

Building the car has been a problem for Ford , but the manufacturing problems now appear to be solved. About 100 a day are now rolling off the assembly line in Wixom, Mich., outside Detroit. This fits Ford's previously stated goal of selling 25,000 a year, but I believe that Ford will try its hardest to sell and make a few thousand more next year.

The problem is that the Thunderbird was the only "domestic" out of the 27 contenders for the latest Motor Trend award. That magazine, which only allows brand new or significantly restyled models, did not consider a single vehicle from General Motors or Chrysler.

The Volkswagen and Audi group had five entries; Mercedes had four, as did Toyotas/Lexus, while Nissan/Infiniti had three. Of the 27 finalists, only three of the cars were even built in the U.S.

It is a similar story with Car and Driver, which does an annual list of the "10Best Cars." The 43 nominees in the C&D evaluation didn't have to be brand spanking new, but VW/Audi again leads with the most entries: eight vehicles. Several other European, as well as Japanese, makers fielded multiple entries, and even Hyundai of Korea had two contestants. But General Motors, Ford and Chrysler had a total of only five domestic nameplates in the running.

OK, the important thing is who won. Again, it was a dismal showing for the homefront. Car and Driver's top ten included three Honda/Acura cars, two BMWs, a Porsche, Audi and Subaru. Of the domestics, only the Corvette from GM and the Ford Focus made the final cut.

Again, not much American representation.

What's worth noting is how strong Volkswagen/Audi ran in nominations. I agree. VW/Audi builds great cars. But Detroit's showing is pitiful. I think what we're seeing today is the end result of decisions made by American executives in the late 1990s to put the bulk of their new product development dollars into sports utility vehicles, pickups and minivans. Cars have been largely ignored.

It is true that trucks have grown to half the market, there's less foreign competition in trucks, and they are most profitable. But ignoring vehicles like traditional sedans and allowing the foreign brands to outshine Detroit have been terrible mistakes. Although most Toyota Camrys, Nissan Altimas and Honda Accords are built in the United States, half the cars sold in this country are now foreign brands. Foreign companies make good money on their top-selling automobiles.

Now Detroit is losing market share and profit margins in trucks. The foreigners won't decimate Detroit's truck sales as they've done with cars because they don't have the capacity for that many vehicles. But they will make gains.

Do the local boys and girls still have time to save themselves? I'm optimistic. General Motors, under the new leadership of Robert Lutz, the former Chrysler president, is out to regain its place in the car market. It will take a few years, but GM has momentum. Inside and outside of GM, people believe that Lutz and GM will come back. I even saw a letter to Lutz from the widow of GM's greatest car guy, Ed Cole, creator of the great 1955 Chevy and the famous small-block Chevy engine, saying how her husband would have been with him. It's as if the Ghosts of GM's Past are joining the fight.

Ford has troubles, but also one of the finest car designers in the world in J Mays. Now Mays has to get his show cars onto production lines. I've seen what J Mays can do, and I say Ford will be back. We hear Chrysler has a series of rear-wheel-drive sedans in the future.

Our guys just have to figure out a way to hold out for two or three years until they can get their new stuff on the road.

Car and Driver 10Best of 2002 Acura RSX Audi A4 BMW 3-series/M3 BMW 5-series Chevrolet Corvette Ford Focus Honda Accord Honda S2000 Porsche Boxster Subaru Impreza WRX

Car and Driver 10Best of 1997 Acura Integra Audi A4 BMW 328i/M3 BMW 5-series Chrysler Cirrus, Dodge Stratus, Plymouth Breeze (tie) Chrysler Town & Country, Dodge Caravan, Plymouth Voyager (tie) Ford Contour, Mercury Mystique (tie) Honda Prelude SH Mercedes SLK Toyota Camry V-6