Chevy Classics magazine reprinted the Confessions column I posted in November in their February 2009 issue. Since then the editor, Joe Whitaker, has received a number of responses whe he answered and e-mailed to me. That feedback follows:
Sent: Monday, January 12, 2009 11:54 PM Subject: Response to February 2009 Editorial
Mr. Joe Whitaker, Chevy Classics Magazine.
I was shocked to read the boat load of misinformation in Mr. Anderson’s editorial published in the February, 2009 issue. A Toyota the best selling car since 1966? Not even close. What it actually is the “nameplate” that that has the highest total Number of units sold due to it’s being in continuous production Since 1966. That took nine generations of a car that Toyota put the “Corolla” name on. Not the best selling car in every year since 1966. Also by his accounts the Corolla was “closely followed” By a Volkswagen! Wrong again, Mr. Anderson. The air cooled Beetle was produced from 1947-2003 or 56 YEARS to become The second largest automobile ever produced. It took until 1972 to Surpass the previous record holder, the Ford Model T. That does not make it the second best selling car since 1966.
Then Mr. Anderson calls the full size American pick up a “niche vehicle, At best”? Is he serious? GM and Ford sell almost half a million units a Year. EACH! Even Mr. Anderson’s beloved Toyota would kill for that Kind of niche. And oh, by the way, check and see how GM, Ford, and Dodge have been kicking the Toyota’s Tundra,s butt! The Ford F150 was the top selling name for 23 years in a row and the Best selling truck for 28 years in a row. Check Wiki Answers and you’ll see the information Mr. Anderson Has skewed to fit his editorial.
Think of it like this: Bel Air was a new nameplate in 1950. Chevrolet produced 1,520,577 cars that year. Say GM decided not to change that name since then, calling all full size Chevrolets Bel Air. Multiply that times 58 years of production and you’d have 88,193,466 Chevrolets called Bel Air. Would that make it the best selling car since 1950? No. It’s only the car bearing that name since 1950.
This is not to say that GM doesn’t have it’s problems. Far from it. I work for a GM dealer’s parts department. It’s difficult to keep the Customer’s happy, while dealing with GM’s convoluted systems. Over the Christmas holidays there were 12 days GM shipped no parts. How’s that for customer service! What is not needed is to distort information to make things worse. Please check this stuff out before it’s printed, OK?
David R. Robinson, 24249
Joe replied:
David,
Thanks for your viewpoint. As you admit, the facts can be interpreted however you wish to make your case. The fact remains that American new car buyers think that import cars are better cars than the US brands 2:1. The US automakers still have to fight that uphill battle of the perception established in the 1960’ that foreign cars are good quality and US cars are junk. Unfortunately, with the horrible cars we (the US) built in the 1970’s and 1980’s; we did nothing but reinforce the beliefs established in the previous decade.
The US manufacturers have a huge task ahead of them. Introducing to the world a car or cars that you are going to build (i.e.: the 2010? Camaro and the Volt) and then waiting 5+ years to do so takes credibility away from the manufacturers. By the time these cars are produced, the designs and ideas will appear older than a well worn shoe.
And price. GM brags about the Chevy Traverse starting at “only” $30K. Thirty grand for a middle of the road SUV? Good grief. What happened to our low priced three?
Joe Whitaker, Eckler's Classic Chevy
Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2009 6:08 PM Subject: Response to editorial
I must say I'm absolutely furious after reading you article on pg 4 of the feb 09 issue about GM. I am so tired of ignorant people who have no clue as to the facts, running off at the mouth. I have worked for GM for 32 years I hired in when I was 18 years old.( I now live with chronic back pain 24 hours a day and have problems with both of my shoulders, i have had many dangerous jobs over the years and was exposed to many dangerous chemicals) so it pisses me off when people say you make too much money! oh by the way, we have lost so much of our health care benefits that a person on Medicaid has better healthcare!, .The article makes mention that the B3 union wages are 50% higher than the transplants, (Bullshit!!, our wages are within $ 4.00 of what they pay and some cases they make more than we do. The new hires at the B3 are hired in at $14.00 an hour with very little benefits.Yes there have been problems, but our quality is as good as and most cases is better than the foreign transplants! We have become alot leaner company in the last few years.The article goes on to say we are on the brink of collapse, yes things are bad but we still sold more cars than the transplants., but when the economy tanked and people stopped buying cars money got tight, take a look at the sales numbers for the transplants they were worse than GM's. Please go out to the UAW website and get the straight facts. I have been a member of classic chevy for 20 years and i was about to cancel my subscription after reading this bullshit! I will also be emailing this idiot Carroll G Anderson and setting her ignorant ass straight!
Rick Hammons, #10083831
Joe replied:
Rick,
Thanks for your viewpoint. I am sure that as a GM employee, your view of things is far different from those of us that are consumers. It may interest you to know that I am an avid GM buyer, and have only ever bought GM (Chevrolet) products new. I can personally say there are 10+ individuals that I have converted from “transplants” by convincing them of the quality of Gm products and being able to offer them GMS pricing thru the friends I have made at The Tech Center. My parents, who used to be Volkswagen and Mercedes buyers, were converted to Chevy in 1986 by me. They have purchased nothing but Chevrolet since and just recently bought a 2009 Impala. Just this week they drove that car from KY to FL and were excited to report that they got 31 miles per gallon on the trip.
However, the fact remains that American new car buyers think that import cars are better cars than the US brands 2:1. The US automakers still have to fight that uphill battle of the perception established in the 1960’s that foreign cars are good quality and US cars are junk. Unfortunately, with the horrible cars we (the US) built in the 1970’s and 1980’s; we did nothing but reinforce the beliefs established in the previous decade.
The US manufacturers have a huge task ahead of them. Introducing to the world a car or cars that you are going to build (i.e.: the 2010? Camaro and the Volt) and then waiting 5+ years to do so takes credibility away from the manufacturers. By the time these cars are produced, the designs and ideas will appear older than a well worn shoe.
And price. GM brags about the Chevy Traverse starting at “only” $30K. Thirty grand for a middle of the road SUV? Good grief. What happened to our low priced three?
Joe Whitaker, Eckler's Classic Chevy
Joe wrote to me on1/19/09:
I'm glad we have people cranked up! It is interesting that of the 10 or so calls and emails I have received, 100% are either auto workers or union employees of some other large manufacturer. Drinking that Kool Aid I guess..... Joe Whitaker, Eckler's Classic Chevy
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2009 10:19 PM Subject: From the Driver's Seat column, February 2009
Please make sure this letter gets to Mr Joe Whitaker. Thank you very much.
Letter to the Editor, Mr Joe Whitaker
Joe,
I was a bit disturbed and disappointed in your column in the February 2009 issue. You stated, "...that''s exactly how I would have written it", but as I read the article all I could think of is, "that's exactly the opposite of how I would have written it and exactly the opposite of what we need to do to help America at this time".
I am an absolute car nut and live and breath cars in every aspect of my life. I work in Detroit for one of the Big Three, restore Chevrolet's as a hobby, and make some side fun-money doing automotive repairs and restorations for other local enthusiasts. I appreciate the comments of Carroll G. Anderson but a few facts do need to be corrected. He states, "Since 1966, the best selling car has been a Toyota followed closely by Volkswagon." Nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, a Toyota has held the top spot for a few years, but the Taurus, and even an Oldsmobile held the spot as recent as 1987. Volkswagon sales in the US are nowhere near the top of the ladder and surely they have never been even close to the best selling car in the US. I won't bore anyone with the exact details of every year since 1966, but that info is readily available on the Internet with a few key punches by anyone interested. The top selling VEHICLE has been the Ford F150 which outsells the Toyota contingent by far! That spot has been held by the F150 for many decades!
Instead of the article reflecting on the poor management decisions or the poor product offerings of the PAST, I would have applauded one that had a flavor like this... We all have heard the story of that diesel Oldsmobile, or that rusty Chrysler or that Fixed or Repaired Daily Ford, but isn't it about time to give the Big 3 the chance that they need to prove their current worth. As car enthusiasts from a time when American cars truly ruled the road, can't we start the trend and show the world how great the new Malibu is, or how smooth the new Impala is, or how innovative a rear wheel drive sedan like the Chrysler 300M with the legendary Hemi is? Have you seen the offerings from Buick lately? Have you driven any of the new Saturns? Have you smoked the tires in a new Challenger or Charger? How about the Supercharged Mustangs? Do you know that Ford has better quality than Toyota? Do you know Chrysler had the least number of recalls last year of ANY automaker?
Personally I will put any of the Big 3's vehicles up against anything offered from Japan, Korea, Germany, or Bavaria. The facts will show you that we compete in Quality, Fuel Economy, Safety, and Cost. It's about time that some of our media outlets, including car clubs like this one, support the Big 3 and show the positive side of the story. I welcome anyone reading this to the motor city to tour our engineering facility, engine plant, and vehicle assembly plants. I'll convert you back to American Iron one person at a time.
Jeff Betz
Joe Replied:
Thanks Jeff, this is exactly the kind of dialouge we hoped to encourage. With your permission, I will print this in "Letters To The Editor". Take care!
Joe Whitaker, Eckler's Classic Chevy
Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2009 11:18 PM Subject: February 2009 Driver's Seat
Dear Joe:
As a CCI member for many years I was very surprised and disappointed to read your February Driver's Seat Column. I realize that you didn't write the piece but your forword indicated agreement with the author. As a car guy I would expect you to have a little better perspective on the request of the big three for bridge loan financing. You notice I said bridge loan and not bailout. The auto companies have only asked Congress for guaranteed bridge loans. It may have escaped your notice but the foreign car manufacturers are experiencing a radical drop in new car sales as well.
I believe that two factors are primarily to blame for this slowdown. The first was the rapidly escalating price of gasoline in the U.S. Having gone from a dollar a gallon to nearly five dollars a gallon inside of a couple of years has put a huge strain on the average household budget in this country. This enormous increase in fuel cost left little money for discretionary spending for new cars and trucks.
The second cause I believe was the collapsing economy and loss of jobs in this country. I am always fascinated by those who, when a business gets in trouble, immediately want to blame the employees if they have a Union contract. We pay lip service in this country to wanting our citizens to get good jobs with good pay and benfit packages for their family. But when it comes down to it what we mean is we want those things for us not for them.
By them I mean people other than ourselves. Well, here's the problem, they are us and we are them. The auto industry has some of the few good manufacturing jobs left in this country. But we want to blame the problems of the big three on the workers because the foreign auto manufacturers are paying less. Why? Because they have carefully selected areas of this country to build their plants where jobs were scarce and the state and local governments would give them tax breaks and huge incentives to locate there.
It is easy to say that the big three have built big cars that guzzle gas and ignored the economy cars. Well that's not exactly true either. They built the economy cars but we found them uninspiring. When I say we I mean especially we the classic car enthusiasts. We wanted the big SUVs, the full sized trucks and they delivered. They delivered so well that they had Toyota and Nissan falling all over themselves to build bigger tougher trucks to compete with GM, Ford and Dodge. But guess what? The Chevy trucks got better gas milage than the Toyota and Nissan full sized trucks. The trouble is that when gas get up over four dollars per gallon and you pull your truck in to fill up and a hundred dollar bill doesn't fill the tank you got trouble. I don't know about you but I am just as guilty of this as anyone.
I should also mention that while these evil auto workers were earning fair wages and benefits states like Alabama were giving huge money to foreign competition to locate their plants there, non-union of course. In fact Motor Trend Magazine reported that State governments have given $3.2 billion in incentives and subsidies to foreign auto makers. Factor in the tarriffs imposed upon U.S. auto imports to foreign countries while the U.S. removes import tarriffs in the name of free trade and you have a situation guaranteed to have the big three wringing their hands. Our corporations have been so busy exporting our jobs to other countries that it's a wonder that anyone has a job other than making hamburgers. Simple logic tells me that we can't just be consumers, we must also be workers. If we are going to buy foreign products someone needs to buy our products. So let's lighten up a little on the big three and their work force.
Rich Zell,Novato, California
Joe Replied:
Rich,
Thanks for your viewpoint. There are many different ways to interpret the facts about U.S. built vs. import new car sales. To address your specific issues; I think we Americans have had about enough taxpayer subsidies of businesses in trouble, don't you? I am a free-market guy at heart and firmly believe that the free market should be allowed to determine which businesses survive and which do not. Granted all may not be 100% fair with foreign government subsidies of their carmakers and incentives by states and cities to encourage foreign car makers to come here and build their cars, but what are those states and cities to do?
There are not too many U.S. car makers offering to build plants in states other than those where they have been for years. This is obviously a function of sales. U.S. cars have not been in increaseddemand, so no need for new plants. The foreign cars are in increased demand so the makers realize the need for quality labor and reduced transportation costs.
However, the fact remains that American new car buyers think that import cars are better cars than the US brands 2:1. The US automakers still have to fight that uphill battle of the perception established in the 1960's that foreign cars are good quality and US cars are junk. Unfortunately, with the horrible cars we (the US) built in the 1970's and 1980's; we did nothing but reinforce the beliefs established in the previous decade.
It may interest you to know that I am an avid GM buyer, and have only ever bought GM (Chevrolet) products new. I can personally say there are 10+ individuals that I have converted from foreign cars by convincing them of the quality of GM products and being able to offer them GMS pricing thru the friends I have made at The Tech Center. My parents, who used to be Volkswagen and Mercedes buyers, were converted to Chevy in 1986 by me. They have purchased nothing but Chevrolet since and just recently bought a 2009 Impala. Just this week they drove that car from KY to FL and were excited to report that they got 31 miles per gallon on the trip. Carroll's editorial in no way attacks the autoworker. If you read it carefully, he correctly blames the manufacturer and the unions for continuing to negotiate unrealistic contracts in a time of globalcompetition. The US manufacturers have a huge task ahead of them. Introducing to the world a car or cars that you are going to build (i.e.: the 2010? Camaro and the Volt) and then waiting 5+ years to do so takes credibility away from the manufacturers. By the time these cars are produced, the designsand ideas will appear older than a well worn shoe.Joe Whitaker, Eckler's Classic Chevy
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