Lending Detroit a Helping Hand

Detroit Calling Washington for Help Again: Both candidates for president are actively suggesting that they will lend a helping hand to Detroit-- from something less than a "classic bailout" to a fed investment of $150 B in green technology ideas. One candidate has suggested "some bridges" to help produce flex fuel vehicles and the other would make R&D tax credits permenant and keep the fed subsidies flowing to have midwest farmers produce more corn for ethanol.

GM officials who attended the sessions and panels held by the two candidates seemed "encouraged", welcomed a national debate on a solution, and talked about how GM and the Detroit manufacturers were engaged in a technology race with foriegn based rivals.

At this time, it does not look like Detroit can expect or will receive much relief from Washington, Congress, or the American consumer who is struggling to fill gas tanks each week. Meantime, we keep hearing a lot of talk about gaining a "level playing field" rather resolve to take action by getting on the market "field" with vehicles, solutions, and leadership that will provide the solutions to the problems Detroit brought on themselves and will NOT be solved in Washington --no matter who is the next president.

Stop Watching Women & Start Following

Top 50 Women Executives To "Follow" : Every once in a while a major business magazine publishes a 'list" of extraordinary women executives that we are all supposed to "watch".

The latest is an inhouse print ad in the Wall Street Journal this past week, asking for nominations by July 7th, The ad copy talks all about "women poised to play important roles in business in the years ahead." The car-guy, male dominated Automotive News does the same thing once a year, focusing on female executives in the automotive business that have somehow come to their attention.

It is time that we started putting more women into leadership roles at the automotive manufacturers, dealers, and the suppliers--not just in marketing, administration, and the legal department. We can "watch" them but really we should be listening to them and taking action on what they are saying-- following their leadership. What we would have happened or would be happening if a woman were now running Chrysler or GM -- or even more startlingly--Toyota-- or even AutoNation or Delphi?

The white, male car guys seem to be really struggling to figure out what vehicles to make, how to sell them, and how to adjust to a whole new market paradigm. It is time to mobilize & empower the people who can solve the current industry problems-- Women -- They buy or influence 85% of car purchase decisions -- why not have them make at least 85% of the "major decisions" about what vehicles (cars) get made and sold?

Role of Oil Futures Speculators Finally Under Scrutiny

A probe by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission & the UK's Financial Services Authority is finally underway to look into how oil trades are being made in at least two exchanges around the globe: the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and the New York Mercantile Exchange. Both ICE and NYMERC have agreed to provide "enhancements to energy market data reporting" or give out some more information about who and how these oil futures are made by and with energy traders.

If you want to get a sense of what is really going on with the major derivative contracts being bought and sold by your pension fund or insurance company, or your bank, read "RIGGED" The True Story of an Ivy League kid who changed the world of oil from Wall Street to Dubai".

You begin to understand that the bad guys in all of this gas price fiasco is not necessarily OPEC, the oil companies, or even an incompetent president, but rather a bunch of institutional investors buying and selling oil futures at the "MERC" in New York and make big gains on the back to U.S. economy and American drivers.---and no one is talking about how their speculation is driving up the price of a barrel of oil and thus of a gallon of gas---and making the American people pay for it.

Hyundai Genesis Vision is a Tower of Babel

Hyundai is about to spend $80M to promote and advertise a car that they believe will provide a "brand halo" for the company's vehicle line. They believe that they actually need a so-called luxury car to reach new customers and deal with what seems to be some kind of a complex about their historic lack of quality or at least the perception thereof.

Joel Ewanick, the cheer leading VP Marketing, was really hyping the car this past week at the annual Automotive News Marketing Seminar in downtown LA. He wholeheartedly seems to have staked his tenure at Hyundai on the success of selling this car to economically depressed American consumer. The term of office for a CMO at Hyundai and KIA is less than the national average of 18 months.

What Hyundai and the Koreans ought to be doing is NOT trying to compete with Mercedes, Lexus, and BMW by building bigger, less efficient luxury cars at a lesser price, but rather building a series of small "green" cars with 4 cylinder engines and hybrid power plants. This is what the Koreans have done well for their own brands, for GM, and other manufacturers who did not have the interest, the plants, or the capability to build small cars. What do you suppose America and the World wants right now? -- Small, fuel efficient vehicles that that are safe and built with quality and versatility.

What is Hyundai doing ? Squandering an opportunity to really make a name for themselves by building quality small vehicles and instead chasing after a idea sold to them by a bunch of car guys from Detroit who are living, thinking, and marketing in the past. This not going to work and some how Mr. Ewanick seems to telegraph his doubts in the press and on the podium. Maybe he should really have made his Korean bosses "test drive" the idea of going into this market segment for at least another block before pouring all their precious marketing dollars into advertising and Ride and Drives this summer.