The kick-off discussion here at Eco:nomics was with Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally. (Which you’d know if you were following my tweeteriffic tweets!)
Last year’s kick-off session was with GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt, who was 50 percent drunk and 100 percent entertaining—frank, blunt, and occasionally profane. The contrast this time around could not have been more stark. Mulally, looking like Mr. Rogers in his sleeveless red sweater vest, murmured the corporate line in soothing tones, assuring us all that Ford is great, its new goal is to make great cars that get greater every year, and that the future is great, also filled with greatness.
He’s got that lilting PR voice that releases your endorphins, but afterwards you can’t remember a thing he said, except about how everything is great. For instance, he answered a question about California’s fuel efficiency waiver with a torrent of won’t-you-be-my-neighbor filler that you had to concentrate on really hard to realize that he, just like the other Big Auto executives, opposes granting it. The answer, basically, was "we don’t want to have to make make cars to meet two standards, even though we’re already making our cars more fuel efficient every year." Well, why not make them fuel efficient enough to meet the stronger standard? Then you only have to meet one.
Nothing Mulally said would begin to explain why Ford’s valuation is tanking.
Talking about the future, it was clear that although Mulally sees some ethanol and electric cars in the mix, his true love and focus is the internal combustion engine, which he said Ford engineers could improve by 20-30 percent efficiency. He said ICEs will be the dominant vehicle technology for at least the next 10-15 years. Compact disc manufacturers are probably saying the same thing.
A couple of notable moments from the audience Q&A:
T. Boone Pickens got up and asked him about making cars that run on natural gas—for "energy independence," you know. Mulally was polite, but basically said, um, no. That’s dumb fracking idea and nobody wants those cars. It was pretty hilarious.
Another man got up and said that Ford had basically lost his whole generation. Mulally said, "I want to come up to your room later." I know the car companies are desperate, but I didn’t know their executive were literally prostituting themselves!
Anyway, it was largely a nothingburger with happy talk sauce. Pretty much what you’d expect from an American auto company. Meanwhile, later in the evening I ran into Bill Gross of IdeaLab, who took me out to the parking lot to show me this:
That’s the Aptera, a safety tested, super streamlined, fully electric two-seater, made entirely of carbon fiber, with a 100-mile range. (Tons more pictures here.) It will soon be available in California for $30,000. It’s what car companies make when they’re innovating instead of lobbying.
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Comments
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amazingdrx Posted 1:19 am
06 Mar 2009
Salesmen are running them. Instead of managers, engineers, and accountants. The scammers have taken over the board rooms and executive jets.
Retirement time for the old guard. We don't need no steenkeen salesmen!
We need an employee that manages a GM assembley line, day to say, promoted to CEO. Then we'll see some progress.
http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin
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biodiversivist Posted 2:05 am
06 Mar 2009
Is it as wide as it looks and if so, where do you park it?
In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world
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amazingdrx Posted 1:57 pm
06 Mar 2009
The homebuilt aircraft people have blazed a trail plugin car conversion could follow.
http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin
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Bob Wallace Posted 3:46 pm
06 Mar 2009
Boutique companies can build unusual products on a comparatively minuscule scale and make money.
We have a 100 year history with the internal combustion engine. It's going to take some time for people to accept the fact that we could use electricity to power our vehicles.
Cars like the Tesla and the Aptera can show the way, but for Ford and GM to make those sorts of rapid shifts in their product lines would essentially be suicide for their corporations.
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amazingdrx Posted 4:30 pm
06 Mar 2009
Maybe after chapter 11 eyyh?
http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin
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Bob Wallace Posted 4:40 pm
06 Mar 2009
Anyone betting that Ford and GM won't survive is taking a very big risk with their dollars.
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biodiversivist Posted 3:30 am
09 Mar 2009
http://www.hightechscience.org/Purple_Sparrow_1.jpg
http://www.myersmotors.com/
...and talk about wings. Tell me this does not look just like a ladybug about to take flight:
http://metaefficient.com/wp-content/uploads/aptera-electric-car.jpg
In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world
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