Wow. Talk about one news headline that I never expected, realistically, to see in my lifetime, let alone from an auto executive at the 2008 Detroit International Auto Show.From Fortune magazine...
Nissan exec: Car culture is fading Worldwide, people are losing interest in automobiles, one executive says.
By Alex Taylor, Fortune senior editor
2008 Detroit auto show
January 14 2008:
DETROIT (Fortune) -- If you are looking for some insight into what the automobile of the future will look like you could do worse than talk with Tom Lane. An American, he runs all of Nissan's Product Strategy anad Product Planning from his office in Tokyo.
Unlike most executives, he welcomes the imposition of new U.S. fuel regulations that mandate 35 miles per gallon by 2020.
"It is not an issue" for Nissan (NSANY) he says.
He expects the new regs to drive more small cars, improved technoloy, and a broader variety of shapes and sizes, as designers try to get more variety out of similarly-sized vehicles.
But he points to some discouraging global trends that don't bode well for the industry.
He notes that consumers in Japan are losing their mojo when it comes to cars. The population is aging, and younger drivers would rather spend their money on new cellphones and Internet access.
"Japan is increasingly not interested in new cars," he says.
The population in Europe is aging too, and Lane sees similar ennui spreading there. As car ownership becomes more expensive and cities increasingly impose congestion pricing on car usage in center cities, he sees car owners switching to mass transit for their daily commute, and then renting cars for longer trips.
"The U.S. is headed that way," he says. "The challenge for us, going forward, is a more interesting offer. Doing a better Sentra or an Altima isn't going to do it."
The image in the fortune teller's crystal ball is getting clearer with each passing day. Windsor cannot continue to put all of its eggs in the basket of the automotive industry.
2 comments:
LISTEN carefully to Reinert... his job on this programme is for American ears and he sounds very thoughtful and calm -- he doesn't directly defend the car industry. He wants to sound like a friend to greens. It reminds me that Toyota HQ in Japan told their employees to not drive to work, knowing that certain mouths would repeat this all over, and the result could be a softening of their image.
This also reminds me of something Lee Schipper of the Shell and
Caterpillar-funded EMBARQ told me, which was that at the recent Michelin Challenge Bibendum in Shanghai, Niel Golightly, VP of Shell for Sustainability, stood up before the group, and said "buy less of our product".
(insert reference from "1984") It is bunch of spin.... VERY carefully packaged words. In regards to Toyota providing "mobility services",
I'll believe it when I see it.
Politicians, automakers, and environmentalists themselves spend a great deal promoting the idea of "green cars" and "green motor fuels".
In other words they can't face up the idea or don't want to admit that automobility itself presents great problems. They tout technology and/or "enlightened" pro-driving policies as the answer to the problem with cars.
It seems that promoting gasohol usually sufficed to earn one environmental credentials with much of the US population.
fact:
American automakers, particularly, promote the idea that the US's automobile centered lifestyle results from pure choice on the part of consumers. American automakers lobby against every proposed environmental, health, and safety regulation.
fact:
I hear someone on the radio say,
"Maybe that there's a case that you don't want to drive cars in the built environment"
fact:
A lead manager from Toyota said that.
I don't measure the significance simply as "Mr. Reinert wants to sound green". He's saying something I don't hear from car companies or national politicians. I've only recently seen many environmentalists
seriously focusing on a need to reduce the growth in driving. Few get as visionary as to talk of car-free cities. On the program, the car expert said the city without cars was a very long way off. We want it to happen sooner. How does sitting around questioning the motives behind a true statement achieve that?
I'm grateful that Mr. Reinert mentioned the case against driving in cities. Nothing implies that the statement absolves Toyota of any corporate sins.
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