Fortune: What would CEO Carlos Ghosn�do? - Jul. 10, 2006
If Ghosn takes over GM and stages a turn-around by advancing smaller cars and trucks, eliminating duplicate brands and ignoring high cost alternative power, it may achieve a short term solution but with a long term loss.
Smaller cars yes but do not ignore technology. Lagging technology in favor of cosmetic gain has been GM’s chronic problem and the reason for lost market share. The culture is so intramural at GM that dramatic moves are internal without regard to the advancement of product or the customer’s benefit. One sees this with the persistence of 2W drive, acid batteries, drum brakes on the back wheels, sloppy steering and poor shock absorbers.
If one were to simplify the GM product, look to the engineers to give the customer what’s needed in technology, not through encounter groups but through engineering. For example engineer the common elements with: all 4w drive, all on the same undercarriage, all turbo-electric, all Ni-Cad batteries or what evolves to be the most effective (hydrogen is really a kind of battery), interchangeable brand cosmetics. (the public is fixed on the brand names) Such will offer a better functioning product. Develop a polar gear electric transmission similar to Toyota’s Synergy Drive. Race the vehicle to develop and prove both its speed and endurance.
Turbo-electric, long proven on diesel powered train engines, yields the best of both worlds. The obvious shift to electric drive is implicit in order to recapture the lost energy of braking and the energy otherwise wasted from the gasoline engine’s backpressure while descending a long steep hill. The electric engine has fewer moving parts. It should be arguably cheaper, longer life, and faster given the energy source. Both response and torque are greater now. Great strides are presently made in low resistance super-conductors at ambient temperatures. Certainly, electrics start easier in cold weather. The auxiliary power unit may be NG, hydrogen or diesel. Plug-in your vehicle over-night to the electric grid during times of low demand. Long life batteries are here now. Mass production will lower the cost. The brand names should be snap-on labels and cosmetics. Don’t abandon the dealers like with Oldsmobile.
GM must re-invent itself to compete with more agile, technological competitors. Quality will dominate long term choises.
If Ghosn takes over GM and stages a turn-around by advancing smaller cars and trucks, eliminating duplicate brands and ignoring high cost alternative power, it may achieve a short term solution but with a long term loss.
Smaller cars yes but do not ignore technology. Lagging technology in favor of cosmetic gain has been GM’s chronic problem and the reason for lost market share. The culture is so intramural at GM that dramatic moves are internal without regard to the advancement of product or the customer’s benefit. One sees this with the persistence of 2W drive, acid batteries, drum brakes on the back wheels, sloppy steering and poor shock absorbers.
If one were to simplify the GM product, look to the engineers to give the customer what’s needed in technology, not through encounter groups but through engineering. For example engineer the common elements with: all 4w drive, all on the same undercarriage, all turbo-electric, all Ni-Cad batteries or what evolves to be the most effective (hydrogen is really a kind of battery), interchangeable brand cosmetics. (the public is fixed on the brand names) Such will offer a better functioning product. Develop a polar gear electric transmission similar to Toyota’s Synergy Drive. Race the vehicle to develop and prove both its speed and endurance.
Turbo-electric, long proven on diesel powered train engines, yields the best of both worlds. The obvious shift to electric drive is implicit in order to recapture the lost energy of braking and the energy otherwise wasted from the gasoline engine’s backpressure while descending a long steep hill. The electric engine has fewer moving parts. It should be arguably cheaper, longer life, and faster given the energy source. Both response and torque are greater now. Great strides are presently made in low resistance super-conductors at ambient temperatures. Certainly, electrics start easier in cold weather. The auxiliary power unit may be NG, hydrogen or diesel. Plug-in your vehicle over-night to the electric grid during times of low demand. Long life batteries are here now. Mass production will lower the cost. The brand names should be snap-on labels and cosmetics. Don’t abandon the dealers like with Oldsmobile.
GM must re-invent itself to compete with more agile, technological competitors. Quality will dominate long term choises.
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