I bought a used one and thought that I cut a good deal. The next thing I find out that I am being sued and they wanted me to bring the car back.
Talked with my friend, an attorney and he said that there was this thing called a scriveners error and that the salesman made a mistake so I had to pay more for the car. I ended up with it at around 160/mo but also never went back to get another.
I had the first Prelude in Detroit before it showed up in the Mags, Papers, or anywhere. It was a very nice car but it didn't last all that long. Enjoyed my Fiat 124 coupe better, it was a beauty in a gorgeous medium Metallic gray, but it started rusting at the end of the first year.
But that is also my point... with the Cruze you can carry 4 passengers in comfort and it is much nicer than either of the others. It's the real deal and that tail light motive is on a BMW, The Chrysler 200, and some Oriental vehicles but the one on the Cruze is the best executed aesthetically. Nice and bold and large.
Bob Lutz had a slightly different slant on your point... cheap gas in America has affected an awful lot of things. Blunderbusses, Suburban Sprawl, Boondockers, etc.
If we had been forced to pay much more the course of things would have been very different.
At any rate parity is coming and we see the results of it now. The engineering is far better, astonishingly so. Powertrains are achieving economies thought impossible just a short while ago.
I was all in love with the Fords, especially the Fiesta and couldn't wait for it to show up here but then they "Americanized" it ruining a beautiful design and making it look like a Chrysler Concord. Ugh! No Way!
And my daughter fell in love with the Cruze and I began to see what she was looking at and a test drive showed me that she was right.
You are aware that they have low rolling resistance tires and special light allowy wheels aren't you? Well they took it to that extent and more. That vehicle is absolutely beautifully engineered and designed.
Don't you dare underestimate an American Engineer. Lutz unleashed them and you get to see what happened.
And he gets to see the new bosses smiling and waiving and gladhanding on his accomplishements, sitting on the sideline.
One of the tenets of free market theory is that the freer the market, the more accurate the price. The problem is that free markets aren't controlled by the assumptions made by economists and so greed overpowers the mechanism that is supposed to provide negative feedback required to control prices. Therefore, greed and excessive optimism takes over and prices rise until collapse, which directly refutes free market theory.
Now that is in no way implying that a market must be heavily regulated, only to the point that it provides the required negative feedback to control what Greenspan defined as irrational exuberance. So, we need rational, good sense regulation in every market.
In line with the auto market, regulating that safety and efficiency be design considerations is good. Also, forcing manufacturers to correct design flaws is good too. the problem is doing it correctly to not stifle beneficial innovation.
You couldn't have had a CRX as they were a two person vehicle. I'm sure that engineers can produce a powerplant/vehicle combo that can get far better than what we see now. the problem is the American public. Most people see cheap oil as their birthright and so auto makers are sort of coerced into producing poor mileage vehicles. Sort of because the bigger the vehicle, the greater the profit.
I agree that we have failed policies in regulating the auto and energy industries but disagree with it being called a failure of the "free market". I call it the failed policies of greedy politicians making backroom deals with greedy industrialists with the "regulations" being used to squeeze out inovative competition.
One particularly key statement, as the article concludes, is copied and re-pasted here:
"In contrast, North American companies tend to appease stockholders who want short-term profits -- often at the expense of long-term reliability, he said. As a result, the focus shifts to cost-cutting, instead of to engineering and quality."
This statement applies to a bigger picture than automotive only.It is the absolutely a myopic American view of the dollar. When, oh when, will the American Corporation ever learn TRUE value-? The article speaks for itself. Systems Engineering, for example.
My 84 CRX rusted out and looked like hell and never carried 4 passengers in comfort. And it certainly never got 45 MPG except for one trip back from Chicago on old Michigan Avenue.
You must have a family of dwarfs.
The US governmet also posted a Rating for the ECO of close to 50 MPG.
GM Advertises only 42 to be safe.
They obvously care and they obviously perform.
In fact, I think the Cruze actually looks better than the old CRX.
I really wanted to respond to the main question...
Are Automakers' Managers Hurting Engineering? and also ask why you were not interested in whether or not they hurt Design since that word exists in your masthead.
The answer is yes in both cases. Ever hear of an Azteck?
I see that I made a lot of typos.
I'd submit that as a design, this site needs some help.
Trying to respond to the Main topic is impossible so you have to go in and respond to something that someone else said.
The word Comment in red shows up a number of places yet clicking on them does not get you into responding to the topic, in most cases it draws a blank and you waste time trying to figure out how to respond.
Obviously a spell and gramar check should be included.
I really wanted to respond to the main question...
Are Automakers' Managers Hurting Engineering? and also ask why you were not interested in whether or not they hurt Design since that word exists in your masthead.
The answer is yes in both cases. Ever hear of an Azteck?
I see that I made a lot of typos.
I'd submit that as a design, this site needs some help.
Trying to respond to the Main topic is impossible so you have to go in and respond to something that someone else said.
The word Comment in red shows up a number of places yet clicking on them does not get you into responding to the topic, in most cases it draws a blank and you waste time trying to figure out how to respond.
Obviously a spell and gramar check should be included.
Regulation is a double-edged sword, but when applied correctly produces better results than a free market, as the market is people and they don't care about consequences, until it's too late.
The fact is that free market theory is a failed theory is proven by the existence of financial crises and bubbles. This is simply fact. Then there's your point that free markets really don't and can't exist, except in small arenas, precisely because people use their clout to improve their situation. Real human nature refutes ideology about human nature.
From what I've heard there are designs for power plants providing far higher mileage, but they are not produced for a number of reasons, including the fact that the market is more concerned about power and speed and having the government supply them with cheap fuel. Ah, the delusion and ignorance of the market! Therefore, there's little impetus for manufacturers to produce high mileage vehicles, which results in pressures to extract more of a finite resource at ever increasing financial and environmental costs.
Using almost 200 light-emitting diodes in the front and back of the new 2014 CTS, Cadillac designers are showing how LEDs can change the character of a vehicle.
We looked at a number of sources to determine this year's greenest cars, from KBB to automotive trade magazines to environmental organizations. These 14 cars emerged as being great at either stretching fuel or reducing carbon footprint.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 3
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A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
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