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"To
design cars, one has to be a Renaissance man. A car designer has to
master a multitude of commercial arts; incorporate marketing and
research; create two- and three-dimensional models; coordinate
intuition with computer, ergonomic, and engineering skills; and, at
the highest level, manage hundreds of artists and convince business
leaders that the ideas embodied in clay will actually sell.
"It would be hard to imagine a more complex and challenging
activity, and yet no one writes about it at any length. Documenting
the process can be difficult because car design is a highly
competitive, and therefore secretive, business. You can't just walk
into the locked Ford studios to talk with the vice president of
design about his background, motivation, and philosophy."
- Dr. C. Edison
Armi,
author & professor of Art History at the University of
California, Santa-Barbara
Retrofuturism: The Car Design of J Mays,
Armi & Brooke
(Universe, 2002)
"We don't do
styling, but this car actually looks pretty good."
- Acura executive
(anonymous), commenting on the 2005 RL flagship
'Extreme Makeover: the new RL is more of a
driver's car,' Autoweek,
September
13th, 2004
"We're just building
what people want. Look at the
RS6. Bosses in
Germany can't believe that we sell any in the UK, what with the 70
mph limit and congestion problems. As it is, we have to constantly
beg for more, such is the demand."
- Audi executive
(anonymous), asked if the horsepower war was getting out of
hand
'Art Nuvo,' evo,
August 2003
"... this week, a
major conversational topic here has been the uncanny consistency of
scent among different models from the same manufacturer, even though
they might be built on different continents."
- Autocar,
July 20th,
2004
"If I had my way,
I would make it a crime to use automobiles on the public highways...
perhaps the time will come when horses will be educated to the point
where they will not be afraid of automobiles; but I doubt that, for
I have not yet seen the time that I was not afraid of them myself."
- Senator Joseph W Bailey of Texas,
speaking in 1909
Drive On: A Social History of the
Motor Car, LJK Setright (Palawan Press Ltd., 2002)
"As we got closer to
the launch communication of the car, it was heading into that famous
year 2000 wall [Y2K], which was the peak of retro. You never heard
the word emotion coming from designers like you do now. There was a
fear of technology, a fear of change. A fear of moving forward is
naturally a part of a century change. Don't forget, we were all
afraid our toasters were going in league with our refrigerators."
- Chris E. Bangle,
head of BMW
Group Design (on the environment
in which the E65 7 series was launched)
'Bangle
gladly takes heat, remains committed to design direction,'
Automotive News, June 14th, 2004
"Retro is like
'Hamlet.' You know what it is, you know how it ends, but you want to
see it again. The problem is, if all you have in town to watch is
'Hamlet,' you begin to ask yourself where the playwrights of the
world are. Retro isn't an issue; it's the absence of an alternative
that's an issue.
"The temptation to write a cheque on history is there. Today's
environmental risks are huge. If anything will change the
relationship among design, progress, and fear, it's changing the
formula of how much money gets you how much stuff. When every new
feature is not a major swallow, when it becomes normal, then
you'll see moves of boldness come back to design. How you make cars
is fundamental to how they look.
"I
get the feeling when I look at these cars that while they're not
retro, they're so classic and understood. You hear such easy praise.
I feel I'm at a Chopin competition where everyone knows the music is
going to sound good and you're going to enjoy hearing someone
playing it really well. But it's not a new composition. The
responsibility that comes with attempting to look forward is that
you also have to research, to bring your research into the world and
show people and generate discussion. That's something a lot of
companies don't want to do.
"I
appreciate old cars and their restoration. But we have an obligation
in the future to provide cars that owners will be proud to restore
and proud to bring back, so that at Pebble Beach in fifty years,
they'll be showing a fifty-year-old car instead of a
hundred-and-fifty-year-old car."
-
Chris E. Bangle,
head of BMW Group Design
'Designers
have their say,' Jean Jennings, Automobile, May 2004
"You have to look twenty years ahead at the engineering, and make
sure you can evolve the styling to use the same tooling. The styling
is dictated by changes to the engineering. To re-tool with every
re-style would be simply too expensive."
- Chris E.
Bangle,
head of BMW Group Design
'Chris Bangle interview,'
Toby Richards-Carpenter, Top Gear, March 8th, 2004
"Hybrids don't
sell magazines. Gorgeous new sports cars, preferably British ones,
do."
- Jason Barlow,
editor, CAR
CAR,
March 2005
"No matter what
technology is available, unless a car is carrying a load of
effective imagery it is unlikely to enjoy genuine popular success."
- Stephen Bayley, columnist
Concept Car Design: Driving the Dream, Jonathan Bell, (RotoVision, 2003)
"Even though
Pandas
remain familiar sights in rural Italy where they have assumed the
role once played by donkeys, its roadworthiness was not in the class
of an ass. Old
Pandas
crashed and lurched and shimmied and squealed uncertainly."
- Stephen Bayley,
columnist, CAR, February 2004
"In every respect - artistic, technical, commercial - the first
Golf
was one of the most significant cars ever. So much so that it took them an age
to decide how to replace it. In fact, they hardly did.
"But what they had done - either
through ingenuity or timidity - was establish an evolutionary design language.
"VW's insistence on making only
gradual changes gave a happy impression of the absolute rightness of the
Golf.
Just as back in '74 they were brave enough to say the Beetle was wrong, we need
another solution, the overwhelming success of the
Golf
concept forced a
conservatism in VW small car design. At first, this continuity brought benefits.
No customer wants to be told, 'Sorry, chum, you made a dud choice buying
Golf IV
because for the past few years we have had some much better ideas: just look at
the radical new design and technology we have saved up for
Golf V.'
But one of the only certainties
about consumer psychology is that taste changes unpredictably. Confidence can
become complacency and evolution can begin to look like a tragic lack of
imagination. Today, no-one wants to be told, 'Thanks, sucker, for making a
really boring choice.'
"Sticking with the knitting is one
thing. Staying in the game too long is another. Being too scared to replace the
Beetle
almost bust Volkswagen in the early '70s. Maybe the
Golf
will do the same today."
- Stephen Bayley,
columnist, CAR,
May 2004
"We
don't wish to be naive. This is the second-most incentivized segment
in the industry after full-size pickups."
-
Jeff Bell, vice president of Chrysler and Jeep marketing, explaining the choice to launch the 2005 Jeep Grand
Cherokee with cash on the hood from the outset
'Grand
Cherokee gets spiffs,' Automotive News, August 9th,
2004
"The car market is
built on brands, making the upper layers of an automobile - of
metal, plastic and chrome - the place for defining presence."
- Jonathan Bell, author
Concept Car Design: Driving the Dream, (RotoVision, 2003)
"Just
as classicism provided an order within which architects could
compose a vast array of building types, so the car's essential
components can be rearranged and reinterpreted, the difference being
that technology is continually re-defining how materials can be made
to perform.
"Just as fashion, architecture, music, literature, and design have
all learned to quote liberally from the past, so car design has
generated its own visual language, a semiotic wonderland of signs
and signals that defines each and every brand with an image and an
expectation. To master this language is the car designer's ultimate
goal, and every manufacturer strives to present a range of cars that
demonstrates a cohesive expression of this elusive automotive
alphabet, a cultural by-product of the automobile century."
- Jonathan Bell, author
Concept Car Design: Driving the Dream, (RotoVision, 2003)
"Concept car design
is not car design at its purest - however elegant, no engineer would
concur that freehand sketches represent the pinnacle of automotive
art.
"Yet free from the considerations that might constrain artistic
expression, concept cars allow for the creation of forms that might
otherwise never see the light of day.
"Creating cars specifically for motor shows as opposed to for
internal design development purposes also imposes an entirely
different discipline, with tighter deadlines and higher pressure.
"Regardless of the ultimate purpose, the rapid nature of concept car
design generates working methodologies that ultimately benefit and
improve the integration between the design and manufacturing
process."
- Jonathan Bell, author
Concept Car Design: Driving the Dream, (RotoVision, 2003)
"(Standard-Triumph USA's 1960 distributor acquisitions) are
primarily designed to bring us closer to our dealers and to the
buyers of our cars, and to broaden present sales and service
facilities."
- Alan Bethell, head of
Standard-Triumph, USA, on the company's 1960
purchasing of its distributors
Triumph Cars in America,
Michael Cook
(MBI, 2001)
"Any plan to
help the American economy by curtailing the import of British cars would
probably have the reverse effect. It would reduce demand for American-made
materials and components for cars.
"Few Americans
will buy products from abroad that duplicate American products. Many cars from
Britain, for example, have met needs not otherwise satisfied by United States
manufacturers. British automotive sales in this country are mostly sports cars
and economy cars of types not directly competitive with domestic vehicles."
- Alan Bethell, head of
Standard-Triumph, USA, on the growing,
union-inspired political movement to Buy American in 1961
Triumph Cars in America,
Michael Cook
(MBI, 2001)
"What
was so great about the assembly line, where you do the same job
every day? Was that paradise?
"The opportunity to rotate jobs and learn new skills has been
liberating."
- Owen Bieber, UAW president, speaking to auto executives after participating in
the Toyota City visitor program
Jump Start: Japan Comes to the Heartland,
David Gelsanliter
(Harper & Collins, 1990)
"The Audi
A2's origins will always make it a favorite of mine. It was a
research vehicle that ended up being produced, and that doesn't
happen very often. As a project, it was a real challenge to work
on."
- Chris Bird,
Design Director,
Ford of Europe (and, formerly, designer of the Audi A2)
'Early Draws,' Autocar,
July 27th, 2004
"It has very cleverly done one thing:
people don't think of it as a Golf coupe, which is what it of course
is. It has created its own identity: it has done with the Golf what
the Frogeye Sprite did for the Austin A35."
- Neil Birtley, Design Lecturer, on the Audi TT
'Design Round
Table,' How to: Design Cars Like a Pro, Tony Lewin
"People are reacting against the homogenization of the automobile.
They're tired of the bland sameness of the automotive landscape and
are looking for a way to express their individuality.
"A car can be
whatever you want it to be. It doesn't have to be what the industry says it
should be."
- Harrod Blank,
filmmaker (and producer of Wild Wheels,
1992), on the 1999 ArtCar Fest
Automobile,
February 1999
"When I came to
Subaru, they asked me how (they could) make Subaru a European-like
car? I said, no way - we would make a Japanese car [laughs].
"And when I left
Japan to go back to Germany, I sometimes wondered if I'd done all
the things I wanted to do in Japan. Because I think it's possible to
use a lot more from their culture. And, as you know, the Japanese
have this tendency to make pseudo-European, pseudo-American design.
So, historically they question if they can really develop their own
brand.
"It's not like there
is an American or European version of a Sony digital camera. It's
the same one everywhere. Why not the same with cars? And that's what
we're doing with the designs. There's nothing wrong with deciding to
cultivate your own roots.
"I did (Mitsubishi's
new design theme) in April 2001 on a serviette. Basically just one
design concept."
"... I had a chance to
visit the Mitsubishi museum, and in the museum I saw two cars that
inspired me with their design elements. One was a
Mitsubishi Leo
three-wheel-truck, the other the
Mitsubishi 500
- the company's first post-war car. The influence - or maybe the
better word is inspiration - is quite abstract, so you might not
notice it. But it's better that way."
"When strong
designers are in the European, American, Australian studios, it's
often because they are remote and this detachment lets them see
things that the Japanese don't see themselves. So we are really here
trying to help them identify all the things and it's very efficient
- very, very efficient.
"When we showed some
of the cars to the Japanese sales department, they all wondered if
the emblem could be made smaller. It was as though they were
embarrassed and thought it shouldn't be so big."
-
Olivier Boulay, head of Mitsubishi design
(formerly of Mercedes-Benz advanced design, and of Subaru)
'DiamondCutter,'
Wheels,
January 2004
"(on retro): In
Japanese culture, there is no desire to hang on to the past. It's
maybe related to the religion - you're born, you live, you die."
-
Olivier Boulay, head of Mitsubishi design
(formerly of Mercedes-Benz advanced design; creator of the Maybach)
'Designers
have their say,' Automobile, Jean Jennings, May 2004
"Political
polling tends to be done by telephone, partly to produce results quickly. The
auto industry, in less of a hurry, relies on mailing surveys to randomly
selected samples of buyers of each model.
"The
industry's pollsters say the initial response rate to surveys is 30 to 40%,
somewhat higher than the response rate to random telephone polling. Many
Americans would rather give their opinions about their new cars on a
questionnaire than discuss their political views on the phone with a stranger,
it seems."
- Keith Bradsher,
author and New York Times, Hong Kong bureau chief,
on industry research
High and Mighty (PublicAffairsTM,
2002)
"Until
recently, market researchers did not even ask customers how high they wanted to
sit in a vehicle. Now, surveys by companies like AutoPacific show that
visibility from the driver's seat ranks even with a vehicle's driving
performance and interior comfort as the most important attributes that buyers
seek."
- Keith Bradsher,
author and New York Times, Hong Kong bureau chief,
on industry research
High and Mighty (PublicAffairsTM,
2002)
"(Bob) Lutz's
penchant for taking risks often made fellow executives nervous. Auto
companies ban their executives from racing cars and motorcycles for
safety reasons, but Lutz did both.
"He sneaked into a
race in southern France under the pseudonym, 'Big One,' which the
announcer pronounced with an Italian accent, 'Bi-GO-nay,' and Lutz
was soon nicknamed Umberto Bigone.
"But for all his
tough-guy image, Lutz is actually a cosmopolitan man of
sophisticated tastes.
"He is the only
executive in recent years to play such a prominent role at all three
Detroit automakers. He has succeeded in almost every job because he
is an extremely gifted marketer who understands consumers from all
walks of life.
"Overseeing the
development of a new Pontiac car after recently becoming vice
chairman of GM, Lutz initially wanted to name it the
Antibes,
after a favorite resort town on the French Riviera. Marketers at
Pontiac, a brand catering to young, often blue-collar families,
persuaded him that it should be the
Pontiac Solstice
instead."
- Keith Bradsher,
author and New York Times, Hong Kong bureau chief,
on GM Vice Chairman of Product Development Robert A. Lutz
High and Mighty (PublicAffairsTM,
2002)
"Relying on the
work of Carl Jung, the Swiss psychologist who founded analytic
psychology, (Clotaire) Rapaille divides people's reactions to a
commercial product into three levels of brain activity.
-
There is
the cortex, for intellectual assessments of a product;
-
There is
the limbic, for emotional responses,
-
And there
is the reptilian, which he defines as reactions based on 'survival and
reproduction.'
"Rapaille
focuses his attention on the deepest, most reptilian instincts that people have
about consumer products. He seeks to identify people's archetype of a product,
the deepest emotional identity that the product holds for them based on their
earliest encounter with it.
"His research
has led him to some disturbing conclusions about how to sell sport utility
vehicles, which he sees as the most reptilian vehicles of all because their
imposing, even menacing appearance appeals to people's deep-seated desires for
'survival and reproduction.'"
- Keith Bradsher,
author and New York Times, Hong Kong bureau chief,
on Chrysler marketer Clotaire Rapaille
High and Mighty (PublicAffairsTM,
2002)
"This
economic concept (network externalities) holds that if enough people
start using a certain product, everybody else will start buying the
same product just for the advantages of being able to work with
people who already have the product. Consumers will do this even if
the product chosen is technologically inferior to the alternatives.
"The best example of
network externalities lies in the computer industry. Once enough
people started using Microsoft DOS, and later Microsoft Windows,
then practically everybody had to use it, even though Apple arguably
had a much better product in its Macintoshes.
"Another good example
of network externalities lies in VHS video recorders. They represent
a less sophisticated technology than the Beta machines with which
they initially competed. But once enough people owned VHS video
recorders, most movie rentals became available in a VHS format and
then everybody had to buy VHS machines.
"SUVs are inferior to
cars in safety, pollution, comfort, and driving performance. Yet
their sales have benefited from network externalities.
"It is becoming
harder and harder to see down the road while sitting in a car,
because of the impossibility of seeing through the tall SUVs,
minivans, and pickups ahead in traffic. At night, the glare from SUV
headlights is blinding for car drivers. Backing a car out of a
parking place between two taller vehicles has become an exercise in
hope that no one is about to come barreling by.
"The sheer size and
menacing appearance of SUVs inevitable make car owners feel less
safe. The result has been a highway arms race."
- Keith Bradsher,
author and New York Times, Hong Kong bureau chief,
on SUVs and network externalities
High and Mighty (PublicAffairsTM,
2002)
"Peugeots lope.
Ancient Minis jerk and bounce; modern Minis do the same if they're
Coopers. Citroëns
proceed in a state of well-controlled float, while Jaguars pad with
quiet serenity. Porsches steer brilliantly despite carrying the
burden of power aft of the driver, while Lotuses advance with their
own brand of darting suppleness. But, after this, it's hard to think
of makers whose cars move with a particular gait - and a motion
that's been consistent over the decades. These manufacturers - even
BMW with its adopted Mini
- have tried to be true to dynamic philosophies established 40 years
ago or more.
"Of course, there are
always exceptions and it's a fact that, today, not every Peugeot
lopes.
"But over the past 20
years, Peugeot has successfully blended the gently cushioned gait
from the admired saloons of the past - the
403, 404,
and 504
- with dynamics so deftly entertaining that the company came to be
regarded as the king of front-wheel-drive chassis development. The
405 Mi16, 306 GTi-6,
and 106 GTi, for instance, are amongst the most
accomplished and entertaining mass-produced cars of their
generation."
- Richard Bremner,
Executive Editor, Autocar
'Turning the Corner,' Autocar, April 6th, 2004
"... MG generally seems a poor brand
to want to rejuvenate.
"... I still have a recurring bad
dream of waking up in MGB world.
"In the nightmare I'm allocated a
bright red rubber bumper (MG) roadster with chrome-over sills, fake
wooden dash, a private number plate (that spells something like
'TO55ER') and equipped with a sound system that plays Chris
DeBurgh's greatest hits on a constant loop. The nightmare always
ends the same way; unable to take another rendition of 'Lady in
Red,' I die in a molten fireball of burning rubber having crashed
the car into a barbecue at an MG club meeting. I'm just about to be
given mouth-to-mouth resuscitation by a woman with a beard... and
then I wake up."
- Martin Buckley,
columnist
'Hard Shoulder,' evo, August 2003
"We learned a lot.
Of course we learned that four-wheel-drive is much better in sand
and conditions like this than two-wheel-driven cars.
"Because, with
four-wheel-drive, the car handling was perfect. You could exactly
drive between the dunes. Left and right, allowing only 15
centimeters clearance. And then, when it became the rear-driven car,
we had to allow 2 meters left and right. The center of gravity moved
around all the time on the sand; to correct the car was very
difficult. A good driver could do it, but..."
- Helmuth Bott,
Porsche Chief Engineer, on lessons learned from the 1984
Paris-Dakar Rally
Porsche Legends, Randy Leffingwell (MBI,
2002)
"With Porsche, we
cannot walk above the ground, always looking twenty, thirty years
ahead. Things change so quickly, so completely. We are small, we
must keep our feet on the ground, thinking over things that we
can fulfill. Instead, we look ten years ahead. What's possible
in ten years we fulfill in two years and end up eight years ahead of
the others."
- Helmuth Bott,
Porsche Chief Engineer (and with the
company since 1952), on Porsche strategy
Porsche Legends, Randy Leffingwell (MBI,
2002)
"If you have a lot
of people with the best knowledge in theoretical things, and you
bring all the best components together, it will not be the best car.
A car always is a compromise, and to decide the right compromise,
you should have the feeling in the seat of your pants.
"And you should know
how the compromise should be. You cannot get the best handling if
you can't compromise the comfort. You cannot get the best surface
for the car if you can't, perhaps, compromise the ease of entry into
the car.
"To make that decision
is very important, especially for Porsche. One should see in a
car the handwriting of the man who decides the compromise."
- Helmuth Bott,
Porsche Chief Engineer (and with the
company since 1952), on Porsche strategy
Porsche Legends, Randy Leffingwell (MBI,
2002)
"The (Ferrari 612)
Scaglietti... looks imperious. It's a big car. Huge, in fact. And
it's not one of Pininfarina's retina-searing beauties. Even so, it
has enormous road presence and a quiet grace. It whispers old money
where an F430 screams of a lottery win."
- Jethro Bovingdon,
Road Test Editor, evo
magazine
'612 Scaglietti & 575 Superamerica,' evo,
September 2005
"I'd love to have
been a songwriter. It's creative and expressive and is probably more
straightforward than the car industry - who ever asked Paul
McCartney to justify his work? Something I have to do daily."
- Ian Callum,
Design Director, Jaguar Cars
'20
Questions,'
Autocar,
December 30th, 2003
"...
stance. The way the wheels sit relative to the body, and the body
relative to the ground. If you get that right, you're halfway there,
and doing that is what I pursue above everything else.
"With a passion."
- Ian Callum, Design Director,
Jaguar Cars
'Early Draws,' Autocar, July 27th, 2004
"To
be honest, (the Mazda Ibuki Concept) doesn't really say that much
about Mazda's future design direction. It's all about MX-5 and MX-5
has always had an arms-length relationship with the rest of Mazda.
The MX-5 was the first 'retro' car and blatantly aped the original
Lotus Elan. The thing is that it's been so successful now that it's
completely consumed the Elan's identity if you know what I mean;
there's a lot of MX-5 in the Ibuki, but there's absolutely no Elan.
"We're just
trying to say that we haven't forgotten about MX-5. It's a
reaffirmation of faith in the car, if you like. A completely 21st
century interpretation of a classic motor car.
"A lot of
people are telling me we can't do a hood like (the Mazda Ibuki
Concept's), but I'm telling you we can... the argument is that the
new rules on pedestrian protection (which demand a lot of clearance
between the bonnet and wings and the hard components they cover)
spell the end for low slung sports cars. Well, not at Mazda. We've
already got a clever system in the RX-8 that gets us around the
problem and there's no reason why we can't use the same system here.
"Again,
everyone tells me that LED is still only usable at the rear, but the
suppliers are telling me something different, that they are only
three to four years away. Which would make them possible on a car
like this.
'"(The aircon
unit behind the seats) makes perfect sense if you see a modern
dashboard sub-assembly. It's just a whole network of tubes with an
airbag attached to it. It's just a big piece of plumbing really...
this system's really neat because it allows you to get the cool air
exits as close to the driver as you could possibly want, which makes
perfect sense for an open top car. It's just stupid otherwise when
you think about it. In the Ibuki, we can pump cool air directly to
the necks, backs, and thighs of driver or passenger or both -
they're the bits of your body that most feel the heat or the cold."
- Moray Callum, Head of
Mazda Design (and brother of Jaguar Director of Design Ian Callum), on the Ibuki Concept
'Breathing new life into an old favorite,' Top Gear,
January 2004
"In a sporting car
it's crucial that you senses align with what the car is doing if
you're to enjoy it fully."
- Jost Capito,
Director of Ford TeamRS, and formerly E30
BMW M3 and Porsche 964 RS project leader
'Refocusing,' evo, September 2005
"You have to spend
proper time in a car. You can gain an impression in 30 minutes, but
it might not be the right one. If you're in a car for eight hours,
then you know what it's about.
"I think I have
personally done 10,000 miles of testing, split between test
facilities and public roads. We do a lot of our driving around the
Essex backroads close to Dunton, but we also take cars to a 12-mile
test route that Richard Parry-Jones found in Wales, where we can
drive all the rivals back-to-back."
- Jost Capito,
Director of Ford TeamRS, and formerly E30
BMW M3 and Porsche 964 RS project leader
'Refocusing,' evo, September 2005
"It has its own
identity. We didn't want to build a copy of a (Golf) GTi, we wanted
to build a car that we think is right."
- Jost Capito,
Director of Ford TeamRS, on the 2006 Ford
Focus ST
'Refocusing,' evo, September 2005
"I think it's more
important to get wide wheels in that getting big wheels in. We
started with a 7-inch wide, 18-inch diameter rim, then a 7.5, but I
still didn't think the handling was good enough, so we tried to get
the 8-inch in.
"There's a lot of
benefit from tire width over tire diameter, which is why we didn't
try to go with a 19-inch wheel. You want grip, but you have to
balance the torque steer and steering feel. That's the main task
with a front-drive car.
"Not having a
limited-slip diff has helped contain torque steer, but that puts
more emphasis on having a good ESP system so that you don't lose too
much traction or corner exit speed. You want to get the feeling of
the road but without the distractions or intrusions."
- Jost Capito,
Director of Ford TeamRS, on the 2006 Ford
Focus ST
'Refocusing,' evo, September 2005
"I think, with
this new (Focus) ST, a new RS would be much more accepted than the
(unruly) last model. You don't need any more than the ST, but if you
offer it, people will want it.
"Financially, to spend
money on a very low volume model such as an RS is a very difficult
decision at the moment. When you've achieved the volume in sales,
then you can do a car for enthusiasts, a car that really respects
your motorsport activity.
"Things very much
depend on the success of the ST, but if it goes well, then an RS
would be possible."
- Jost Capito,
Director of Ford TeamRS, on the 2006 Ford
Focus ST
'Refocusing,' evo, September 2005
"Meet this immensely charismatic and
persuasive American, and it's easy to assume he single-handedly
cajoled or bullied BMW's board into seeing things his way.
"Quietly, but inexorably, Bangle -
like a Bond villain - was formulating his plan for utter domination.
He began giving us more cues. He said that a BMW need no longer be
'a stack of wedges.' He said he wanted more differentiation between
the different ranges. For a time, he always swung interviews around
to the need to simplify highly specified interiors: that was his way
of softening us up for iDrive."
-
CAR on Chris Bangle (somewhat
tongue-in-cheek), June 2003
"Isolate the three
main constituents of cool and you get these: authenticity;
innovation; and unique style."
-
CAR, May 2004
(explaining its selection of the Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing as the
'Coolest Car of all time')
"I was raised with
this view of the world that gasoline was rare and to be conserved,
and that small cars were great.
"We could not sell
big cars, so we turned it into a truck.
"The culprits are not
frankly the trucks themselves - they are the American customers who
don't want to drive small cars with four-cylinder engines.
"All the media were
banging on the Big Three, saying that you don't produce what the
country wants. We never had a Machiavellian plan, but we offered
something people wanted to buy."
-
François Castaing, Lead Chrysler Engineer (and formerly of
Renault F1),
speaking about the SUV trend
High and Mighty, Keith Bradsher (PublicAffairsTM,
2002)
"Farmers' vehicles
don't need to be facelifted. After all, when did you last think,
hmm, that combine harvester could do with a touch more emphasis
around the grille?"
- Henry Catchpole,
evo staff writer, on the nuances of
Subaru design
evo,
September 2005
"Because the Russian
car market only opened up a relatively short time ago, there is a
distinct lack of car culture, product awareness and badge snobbery
here."
-
Alexey Chernyshev, head of Russian Importer Sportmobil
'Rocket to Russia,'
CAR, May 2004
"An American, a
German, and a Swede walk into an auto design studio..."
-
Chevrolet Print Advertising for the Vectra/ 9-3-based '04 Malibu
Maxx.
"Fine or unusual foreign or domestic motor cars built between,
and including the years 1925 and 1948, and distinguished for their respective
fine design, high engineering standards, and superior workmanship."
- The Classic
Car Club of America's definition of a Classic Car
Classic Cars, Rob L. Wagner (Barnes & Noble, 2004)
"I actually had second thoughts about introducing this new RX right
now. Part of me was tempted to put the new
RX330 in my back pocket
and keep selling the current model until people got tired of it. But
I couldn't do that."
- Denny Clements, Lexus
Group vice president and general manager
'Prescription for success,' Ward's Auto World,
January 2003
"Modern cars are so
close to par with respect to performance, drivability, reliability,
durability, creature comforts and safety that most people can't
perceive the differences. It doesn't matter what shape a car comes
in - whether conservative run of the mill, forward-looking
avantgarde, or nostalgic throwback - unless aerodynamic factors are
important.
"After narrowing the
field on practical and economic grounds, design might stand out as
the only viable way to distinguish among them. Indeed, today's
shopper feels reasonably content buying a car on its visual merits
alone.
"So the industry has
arrived at an ironic junction: a car's design matters hardly at all
in any practical sense, but is crucial to marketing success."
- Del Coates,
columnist and professor of industrial design at San Jose State
University
'Design Matters' Sports Car International,
July 2004
"... design is so
cheap that it delivers the biggest bang for the buck.
"As BMW's Bangle
pointed out, the money spent on designing a car, whether a Mini or a
7 series, represents only a fraction of one percent of its price.
Considerably more is spent on ads.
"What matters most to
the bottom line is a design unusual enough to bring emotional juices
to a boil and, simultaneously, seems appropriate. The first baits
the hook; the second sets it."
- Del Coates,
columnist and professor of industrial design at San Jose State
University
'Design Matters' Sports Car International,
July 2004
"The most laudable
task for a designer - but the rarest and the riskiest - leads to
what the industry calls epochal innovation: an unusual design that
makes sense by enabling such profound practical improvement (such as
packaging utility or aerodynamics) that it initiates a design trend
by compelling competitors to follow suit."
- Del Coates,
columnist and professor of industrial design at San Jose State
University
'Design Matters' Sports Car International,
July 2004
"I
think he has made permanent changes... I don't know how GM could go
back to the old way it was doing things.
"“I'd give him
an ‘A'... he has been extremely influential in redefining the business process
at GM.”
- David Cole, director of
the Center for Automotive Research, Ann Arbor, MI.
Cole credits Lutz with toppling GM's slow-moving
bureaucracies, setting its talented product people free and spreading enthusiasm
among the ranks.
'Three Years and Counting,' Ward's Auto World,
August 1st,
2004
"Let me draw you a picture.
"One afternoon, Gloria Steinem goes out and buys a
Toyota Camry.
That night, she dreams that not a single female hand touched that
car as it was being built."
- David Cole, head of the
Automotive Research Institute, Ann Arbor, MI,
theorizing in the late '80s on whether the Big Three
could stop losing market share to the Japanese
Jump Start: Japan Comes to the Heartland,
David Gelsanliter
(Harper & Collins, 1990)
"The name 'Standard' (of the company which acquired Triumph to
become Standard-Triumph in October 1944) had been chosen by the
company's founder, R.W. Maudslay, to indicate that his products had
interchangeable parts, a rare quality in the early days of car
manufacturing."
- Michael Cook,
author and former Standard-Triumph USA Advertising and Public
Relations Manager
Triumph Cars in America,
(MBI,
2001)
"British firms had learned immediately after World War II that
they had to 'export or die.' The British government restricted supplies of
things like sheet steel, unless most of the finished products were going on
board ships to earn dollars.
"With the
British Isles still devastated from the war, the potential sales volume for any
new sports car was very small at home anyway, but vast in the lucrative U.S.
market.
"The
Mayflower
(approximately the size of a Volkswagen
Beetle) was supposed to open
up North America for Standard-Triumph, but this was merely (Standard-Triumph
head) Sir John Black's opinion, unsupported by market research.
"Fergus Motors
imported them into the United States but they did not catch on, for several
reasons. One was timing. The American driver wasn't ready for economy cars in
1949 any more than in 1954, especially when the
Mayflower
cost nearly equaled a much-larger
Plymouth or Ford.
"For North
America... its major contributions to Triumph history were the suspension and
rear axle it bequeathed to the TR2.
"MG had the
edge in history and a humpy little two-door from Wolfsburg was setting new sales
records, but Triumph was the fastest-growing make in the sports car field.
TRs
weren't pretty but they were solid, reliable, roomy for a two-seater, and had
the gutsy 0-60 acceleration that Americans loved. They qualified very well as
'cute little sports cars' and that's what the country was buying.
"As 1959 came
to an end, sales figures shows that the TR3
had passed MG for the lead in
U.S. sports car sales for the first six months of 1959. The competition between
the two for top honors in this sales battle was always fierce. Triumph had no
trouble outdoing MG in overall marque sales - the MG sedans usually did not sell
as well as the Triumphs, but the MG people made certain that sports car volume
was reported separately and they nearly always won that battle.
"This rivalry
was deeply rooted and continued even after the two marques were both being sold
under the British Leyland banner."
- Michael Cook,
author and former Standard-Triumph USA Advertising and Public
Relations Manager
Triumph Cars in America
(MBI, 2001)
"As a
TR2
owner back in Cincinnati, I had partaken of the sheer joy generated
by sports car ownership in those days. At driving events, on
rallies, or crowding some bar on wintry evenings, sports car club
people got more fun out of life than anyone else.
"Whether any
company is a nice place to work or a dismal environment is determined by the
attitude of top management.
"It was
delightful to find that the sports car camaraderie existed in full measure at
Standard-Triumph in New York. Indeed, the entire imported car industry was like
that - people selling products they liked, driving the cars on weekends,
attending car events, racing, and enjoying life on four wheels."
- Michael Cook,
author and former Standard-Triumph USA Advertising and Public
Relations Manager
Triumph Cars in America
(MBI, 2001)
"The American
car manufacturers had managed, over the years, to create full product lines
under every nameplate. You could get a Chevrolet badge on anything from a pickup
truck to a snazzy convertible.
"Not the
imports. Most of the early imported cars, especially the British, made their
mark through a fad for a single model. MG became a household word via servicemen
returning home with TC
sports cars purchased in Europe.
"With Triumph,
it was 'TR.'
The name became so pervasive that
one major corporation, TRW, Inc., ran a national ad campaign announcing, 'We Are
Not A Small British Sports Car!' "
- Michael Cook,
author and former Standard-Triumph USA Advertising and Public
Relations Manager
Triumph Cars in America
(MBI, 2001)
"TR2s
and TR3s
had 'fly-off' handbrakes that
operated backward. To set the brake, you pulled up on the lever and pressed in a
button on the top. To release, you pulled hard enough for the button to pop up
and then released the lever. Anyone trying to release the brake by pushing down
on the button wasn't going to drive away any time soon.
"Importers
trying to break into the American market had problems educating their customers,
but overseas management also had an attitude. The fly-off brake was confusing to
most Americans, but management didn't change it until the 1960s. Other anomalies
like the manual choke, side curtains, and button-on tops would also have to be
dealt with sooner or later."
- Michael Cook,
author and former Standard-Triumph USA Advertising and Public
Relations Manager
Triumph Cars in America
(MBI, 2001)
"By the end of
the 1950s, the American consumer knew there were things like sports cars and
economy sedans, but not much more than that. The designation 'imports' was not
yet common. They were all 'foreign cars.'
"For many
consumers, any sedan smaller than a Ford was an Austin or Volkswagen and any
two-seater was an MG. The various importers had to battle for recognition. In
doing so, they used some familiar methods and some not so familiar.
"Normal print
advertising in newspapers and magazines was a major segment. Importers
frequently relied on radio, using television when they could afford it. Auto
shows were swamped with requests for exhibit space from 15 or 20 importers at a
time, and it was sometimes difficult to get space because so much of any show's
floor area was allocated to the domestic manufacturers. The imports were tucked
into corners, lower floors, and hallways, but they often attracted more of the
crowd than Detroit's cars.
"One show that
did not slight imports was the New York International Automobile Show.
"In those
days, when import buyers were out of the mainstream and ad dollars were short,
it was vitally important to target potential customers accurately. The
advertising sales staffs of magazines like Time fully realized this, and
named import market specialists who worked very closely with the advertising
managers to develop rifle-approach campaigns aimed directly at real-prospective
buyers.
"As time went
on, Newsweek, US News & World Report, Fortune, and other
news and business magazines joined the import media roster.
"Nobody was
yet using the word 'lifestyle,' but our target consumer's preference was for
possessions that would contribute to enjoying life, and a sports car was the
central acquisition in the list."
- Michael Cook,
author and former Standard-Triumph USA Advertising and Public
Relations Manager
Triumph Cars in America
(MBI, 2001)
"Going back
through the files, I found internal memos complaining of lack of agency
attention, lack of creativity on certain cars, and excessive costs.
"Hindsight
says that we were probably getting our money's worth. The agency's performance
reflected its client's attitude. Its poorest work was on cars in which we, the
company people, had the least confidence. The
TR3, TR4,
and Spitfire
always had good, hard-hitting ads. The
Triumph 2000 and the Herald
campaigns were well-executed but missing some of the enthusiasm that made the
TR
ads shine.
"All of us
knew that the TRs
made the most money and were market
leaders, while the economy cars and the mid-priced sedan lacked the
TR's
established reputation and had tough competition."
- Michael Cook,
author and former Standard-Triumph USA Advertising and Public
Relations Manager
Triumph Cars in America
(MBI, 2001)
"During 1959,
Alick Dick, Standard-Triumph's managing director, engineered the sale of the
Ferguson Tractor manufacturing business to Massey-Ferguson. In New York, any of
us who actually were aware of the transaction found it interesting but not
significant.
"It was known
that cash would be needed to develop and market new models like the Herald, so
the elimination of the Ferguson business looked like a good source of funds.
Cars, not tractors, were the company's future.
"It was
unthinkable that the loss of the tractor income might be the start of problems
for the company from which it would never recover. Yet, so swift was the decline
that, only a year later, Standard-Triumph would willingly give up its
independence in an acquisition by the Leyland Group.
"In 1959,
leaning heavily on the TR3,
Triumph sales had been right on
23,000, a figure they would not match for another 15 years. In 1960, for the
first time since the TR2
arrived, sales turned down, dropping to around 18,000
"The
Herald's
(the car on which Alick Dick had bet the company's future) performance was
especially disappointing. Although it had features, room, and looks, it didn't
catch the consumer's fancy the way the VW
Beetle had. Part of the
problem was the American compacts - Corvair,
Falcon, and
Valiant -
which had more room and power for a price very close to the Herald's. Another
part was a drop in enthusiasm for sports cars and imports in general."
- Michael Cook,
author and former Standard-Triumph USA Advertising and Public
Relations Manager
Triumph Cars in America
(MBI, 2001)
"(The early
'60s were) an era of one-car ownership, with only 18.1% of American households
owning more than one car. There were 'domestic buyers' and 'import buyers,' but
few who crossed over."
- Michael Cook,
author and former Standard-Triumph USA Advertising and Public
Relations Manager
Triumph Cars in America
(MBI, 2001)
"According to
a Triumph buyer survey, 58% of new Triumph buyers traded in an import. Product
loyalty was strong - 40% of TR4
buyers traded in a
TR2
or
TR3."
- Michael Cook,
author and former Standard-Triumph USA Advertising and Public
Relations Manager, on owner
loyalty in the early '60s
Triumph Cars in America
(MBI, 2001)
"A concept vehicle
should have some dream-like qualities but it shouldn't be so far
away from reality that it is just a dream. It should project a
future that's reachable."
- Simon Cox, Director, GM Advanced Design
Concept Car Design: Driving the Dream, Jonathan Bell (RotoVision, 2003)
"(The Lotus
Elan) was Lotus'
attempt to switch to mass production. Peter (Stevens, the
Elan's
designer) wasn't interested in interiors, so the job fell to me. It
was obviously a steep learning curve for me, and at the time it
seemed Lotus' engineers didn't know what they wanted, either.
"In hindsight, I don't think mass production was the right step for
Lotus then: low volume would have given us more freedom to be
radical but the intentions were clear. The
Elan's
styling wasn't brilliant but, considering it was done in 1986, I
don't think it looks 20 years old, either."
- Simon Cox, Director, GM
Advanced Design (and largely responsible for Art & Science)
'Early Draws,' Autocar,
July 27th, 2004
"If you look back (to the '80s), there was a
common theme among those (30,000 unit vehicles) that became, financially, a
burden, and that was unique platforms driving low volumes. And that doesn't
work. The secret to success is to have flexible architectures that are
integrated into flexible manufacturing systems and then drive lots of variants
where you have absolutely no clue that the underlying platform is shared by
anything else."
- Gary Cowger, President, GM North America
'At GM, the secret to success is flexibility,'
Automotive News,
May 5th, 2003
"I can't think
of another industry that enjoys the affection of so many people for
the business and its products.
"Aviation may have a lot of followers. But nothing comes close to
the automobile industry for the widespread passion of the people."
- Keith Crain, Publisher and
Editor-in-Chief, Automotive News, July 12th,
2004
"The name has positives and negatives... we think the positives
dominate."
- Trevor Creed,
Chrysler Group design vice president,
on the upcoming 300C-based Charger
revival
Car and Driver,
October 2004
"News that
mighty Toyota has signed a new research agreement with tiny,
Wiltshire-based Moulton Developments (proprietor Dr. Alex Moulton,
84 years old, life-long suspension innovator and friend of the
legendary Alec Issigonis) again highlights the unquenchable
influence on today's cars of a bold group of young Britons who
dared, half a century ago, to conceive a tiny, transverse-engined
saloon: the Mini.
"Now it seems Alex
Moulton's 40-year-old advocacy of inter-connected, fluid-based
suspension systems - another Mini tour de force - could also bear
new fruit. Neither Moulton nor Toyota will specify the direction of
their forthcoming research, but it is well known that Moulton has
continued to develop his suspensions at full speed, and that his
prototypes astonished BMW's engineers with their smooth
sophistication during the Germans' tenure at Rover.
"Contemporary car
design, it seems, keeps moving Moulton's way. Small cars, with small
wheels and wheelbases, naturally pitch more than bigger cars. Put a
wheel at each corner, as you must to accommodate today's ever-larger
adults, and you make it worse. Interconnected suspensions can negate
the problem, says Moulton, and his prototypes prove it.
"Thus is may be that
the baby Toyotas of tomorrow will be made comfortable (and popular
and viable) by a series of far-sighted innovations espoused and
refined over half a century by one of Britain's greatest engineers,
working more or less on his own. It would be the fitting result of a
wonderful life's work."
-
Steve Cropley, Editor-in-Chief, on Toyota's new research
agreement with Dr. Alex Moulton
Autocar,
August 10th,
2004
"Moulton's
reputation as one of the world's greatest suspension designers was
secured many decades ago: he put millions of BL Hydragas and
Hydrolastic cars on the road from the '60s to the later '90s.
"What's amazing now
is that at 84, Moulton seems busier than ever. His inner strength
and unquenchable appetite for making progress shine like beacons.
The small-wheeled bicycle factory is at full capacity, yet he's also
found time to produce several more Mini
prototypes with interconnected suspensions.
"I've recently driven
the latest, a 2000 model, and it seems as flat-riding and refined as
a very good family car, yet its characteristic Mini agility is undimmed."
-
Steve Cropley, Editor-in-Chief, on Toyota's new research
agreement with Dr. Alex Moulton
Autocar,
August 10th,
2004
"In
today's market in which it is increasingly difficult to achieve and
sustain a significant advantage in performance, styling, or
technology, manufacturers should be more cautious about introducing
control systems with obstructions to easy operation.
"Controls should only be introduced
if they are clearly superior, because when it comes to automotive
controls, change without improvement is a step backward.
"In this market, no brand can afford
that."
-
Csaba Csere, Editor-in-Chief
'The Steering Column,'
Car and Driver, September 2004
"Toyota eventually
will get the design aspects of its cars completely right. There are
many exquisite objects in Japan, carefully thought-out and superbly
executed designs of all sorts; it is inevitable that Japanese
designers will grasp the way to express their national character in
automotive terms.
"Today, there are such a number of foreign influences - cars made in
countries that have made them much longer, designers brought in from
other cultures - that even the best Japanese cars are too
'international' and not Japanese enough. That will change, and this
car
(2006 Lexus GS) is a harbinger of that change."
-
Robert Cumberford, columnist
'Not There Yet, but Getting Closer,'
Automobile,
May 2004
"We
loved Chrysler Corporation during those few short years between Lee
Iacocca and Daimler-Benz. We loved Bob Lutz and Tom Gale and
François Castaing and Tom Denomme because we'd see them in one of
those amazing Chrysler press conferences on Thursday, and on
Saturday we'd run into them at some automotive event.
"The were
real car guys. They drove them, and when something went wrong they knew
where to look to find the source of the problem. They never quite solved
Chrysler's quality problems, but in marketing savvy, car design, perceived
value, and pure automotive showmanship, they showed the automotive universe how
to do it, for a little while. They suddenly created excitement when the domestic
car industry seemed to be drifting off into a coma.
"There'll be
other great teams, and no doubt many of the things we have long admired about
the Mercedes-Benz approach to the business will show up at Chrysler, but
Chrysler was the American contender, Detroit's own Rocky Balboa. They'll be
missed."
- David E. Davis, Jr.,
Editor Emeritus
Automobile,
February 1999
"The BMW M Coupé
is basically a Z3 roadster with a roof... when necessary considerations like
headroom and luggage space were factored in.
"BMW calls it
eigenwillig, with means determinedly going its own way. Only the
German language would have a word for that.
"L.J.K. Setright
once wrote that he didn't care what his cars looked like, since he was generally
inside where he couldn't see them. If you have a problem with the M Coupé's
appearance, think about that."
- David E. Davis, Jr.,
Editor Emeritus
Automobile,
February 1999
"Volkswagen's New Beetle is our 1999 Automobile of the Year.
By a landslide. Nothing else came close, even though the list of nominees was
impressive. The truth is that we probably made up our minds the first time we
saw a prototype.
"Nothing else
has so captured the imagination of the car-buying public, and nothing else has
so effectively pointed out the current bankruptcy of ideas in new car design.
"In our June
1998 issue, we published sixteen profile views of contemporary sedans,
challenging our readers to identify the individual makes and models. It was
virtually impossible to do so. I can promise you that if the New Beetle had been
included in that presentation, it would have stood out like a lighthouse.
"The New Beetle
is a landmark car. It will encourage other manufacturers to look for unusual
answers to new-model dilemmas. It will raise the expectations of people in the
marketplace, because it is a vividly tangy alternative to plain vanilla."
- David E. Davis, Jr.,
Editor Emeritus
Automobile,
February 1999
"Brought in (to GM) by ex-P&G chairman John Smale... Zarella thought
that cars could be sold like soap, toasters, brooms, and other
household products. A car was just another commodity, and if car
designers would just listen to customers, the manufacturing might of
GM could make a car for every purpose and every lifestyle.
"The voice of the car guy was gone, and committees designed cars
according to what consumer polls and focus groups indicated
customers wanted. The ultimate manifestation of this philosophy was
the Pontiac Aztek.
It was a General Motors camel, a horse created by a committee. Not
just any committee, mind you: a committee without any sense of
automotive style, history, or intelligence."
- Eric Davison,
author
Snake Bit (Motorbooks,
2004)
"One
of the most interesting cars I worked on was the last Lamborghini Diablo GT.
It was a transitional time for the company. It didn't want people to
know there was an Audi designer in charge, and I had to link the
marque's past to the future as I saw it, without arousing too much
suspicion.
"I
wasn't even allowed near the show stand."
- Luc Donckerwolke,
chief
designer, Lamborghini
'Early Draws,' Autocar,
July 27th, 2004
"I have managed to write a
complete column about BMW without mentioning the styling of the new
5 series in particular or Chris 'There's Methodism in my madness'
Bangle and his celebrated Flamethrower School of Design in general."
- Peter Dron
'Leftfield,' evo,
August 2003
“Contrary to what you might believe, it is universally recognized in
the automobile industry that nothing is more difficult to design
than a small car.
“For a
long time, Honda has been developing its young engineers in the Formula 1 arena
and then assigning them to the far more complex and difficult task of designing
the next Civic.”
-
Denis Duquet, Marc LaChapelle, and Jacques Duval
The 1994 New Car Report (Contemporary
Books Inc., 1993)
"Without a doubt
it is in the motorcycle business that the Japanese met their first
Waterloo. They tried absolutely everything and invested fabulous
sums attempting to capture and reproduce the spirit and essence of a
Harley-Davidson. But a few years ago, the Japanese must have
realized that they would never be able to equal Harley-Davidson on
its own turf. The American firm, however, is booming and has never
done so well.
"The same thing could
be likened to Jeep, which always seems to have the magic touch of
creating 4x4s that are unequalled... small dimensions, agility,
simplicity."
-
Denis Duquet, Marc LaChapelle, and Jacques Duval
The 1994 New Car Report (Contemporary
Books Inc., 1993)
"Never forget, a
warning is a warning. Even if you are as rich as Rockefeller, or
you've just won the biggest lottery in America, please don't commit
the error of thinking that buying the most expensive car in the
world will guarantee you the best built car on the planet."
-
Denis Duquet, Marc LaChapelle, and Jacques Duval
(remarking on the Lamborghini Diablo)
The 1994 New Car Report (Contemporary
Books Inc., 1993)
"The great success of
the Lexus sedan in the United States flabbergasted the world
automotive industry. According to some, Lexus redefined the luxury
segment of the market.
"But this is not
entirely so. Lexus perhaps transformed the approach and the
marketing, but its cars are not really very revolutionary."
-
Denis Duquet, Marc LaChapelle, and Jacques Duval
The 1994 New Car Report (Contemporary
Books Inc., 1993)
"When a Toyota
engineer begins to sell you on the merits of a
Corolla,
he doesn't talk about performance or handling. He stresses
reliability, assembly, quality, and a very quiet ride.
"He will enumerate
for you the numerous mechanical improvements, but he won't point out
that perfection can be boring to drive."
-
Denis Duquet, Marc LaChapelle, and Jacques Duval
The 1994 New Car Report (Contemporary
Books Inc., 1993)
"My primary purpose for 28 years has been to
lengthen and lower the American automobile."
- Harley J. Earl,
former GM Styling Head
"This is a
business of smoke and mirrors. Above all, never forget that. Why do you need a
Lincoln when a Hyundai will get you to your office? This is a business that
appeals to us for emotion."
- Paul Eisenstein, Editor, The Car
Connection
'CAR:
A Drama of The American Workplace, Mary Walton (W. W. Norton & Company,
1997)
"Arbitrary, but
nonetheless compelling."
- evo magazine,
September 2005, on the 0-60mph
sprint
"The Griffin's
tried and tested recipe: mating a gutsy engine to a stable but
essentially straight-laced chassis."
- evo magazine,
September 2005, on
Vauxhall
"The (2004) XJ is where the company is headed
as a brand. Jaguar will never be the largest luxury brand, but we are among the
purest of the brands."
- Mark Fields, CEO, Ford Motor Co.'s
Premier Automotive Group (Jaguar/ Aston Martin/ Land Rover/ Volvo)
'Jaguar pays $40 million to promote new XJ,'
Automotive News,
April 28th, 2003
"We could have sold the entire run (of Ford GTs) - around 4500 over
three years - three times over in the States alone... but we wanted
to reward European interest."
- Ford spokesman (anonymous)
'Ford GT - will you make the shortlist,'
CAR, February 2004
"(on the
Bentley Continental GT)... the graphics and the
detailing are very well done, though I don't think the proportions are quite
right. I think the bonnet is too short and the front wheels are in the wrong
place. The cabin is way too big. In my opinion, these are not the proportions of
a Bentley - but maybe the Bentley people are convinced it is. It is probably
more to do with the VW/ Audi platform that was most likely required by
engineering."
- Henrik Fisker, Design Director, Aston
Martin
'Design Defined,' How to: Design Cars Like a
Pro, Tony Lewin
"They wanted to control
the handling! What the handling had to be like going down the road!
"You have the rules as
they were in people's minds. These were, for certain, rules
for the American car. But the 911 was absolutely not an American
car.
"There was talk of
tests, of procedures. There was quite a bit of
nervousness here. Whatever rule they wrote, we could not
guess what the handling was to be. They would define it, but
they surely would not forbid American cars! They can make all the
rules as they want, but somehow, American cars would meet their
rules.
"By then we clearly
knew rear-engine, air-cooled cars already did not meet their
rules... a rear-engine car just has different handling. We knew if
these ne rules came to life, we would have no car we could sell in
the United States!"
- Helmut Flegl,
Porsche 907 Project Engineer, discussing
the late-70s regulations that would lead to the Porsche 924/ 944/
928
Porsche Legends, Randy Leffingwell (MBI, 2002)
"The
Z07 Concept
fathered the (BMW) Z8,
so that would have been my first production car.
"Both it and the (Aston Martin)
AMV8 had a side
vent - in fact, there's been one on every car I've designed. I think
the Aston's works better, though: it grows out of the side of the
car. It's very dramatic."
- Henrik Fisker, Executive
Director of Global Advanced Design, Ford
'Early Draws,' Autocar,
July 27th, 2004
"... motoring journalism must not be, or seen
to be, a part of the motor industry. I was always under the impression that
one's journalistic responsibilities must be with the readers, yet the real
threat, which is far greater than anything conjured by industry PR people, is
the influence of media advertisement directors who, because they can associate
themselves with money coming in the door, can wield excessive indirect power
over journalistic objectivity and criticism. Editors have always to be on their
guard."
- Ian Fraser, columnist and former Editor
of CAR Magazine
'Broadside,'
evo, July 2003
"(It
is) hardly fair to pick on this poor little country which has such a
task to feed hundreds of thousands of inhabitants."
- The French Government,
responding to Renault in the '50s over a complaint that Japanese
company Hino had not been paying royalties on 4CVs built under
license
Lexus: The challenge to create the
finest automobile, Brian Long (Veloce,
2000)
"By
focusing on what was happening in the automobile industry, the GERPISA Group's
work was able to demonstrate the great diversity, and divergence, of the
trajectories that firms have been following in recent times.
"At the time of writing, there is no 'one best way' - there never
has been, and there probably never will be.
"In fact, the first GERPISA research project made it possible to
identify and characterize not one, but three industrial models, all
of which have been in operation since the 1970s:
- Michael Freyssenet and
Yannick Lung,
scientific co-ordinators of the GERPISA
program entitled, The Automobile Industry between Globalization &
Regionalization
Globalization or
Regionalization of the American and Asian Car Industry, Freyssenet, Shimizu
& Volpato (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003)
"Each
(of Honda's Marysville and Jeep's Toledo plant) builds roughly the
same number of vehicles, but Jeep has twice as many workers... both
use enormous stamping machines to bend thin sheets of steel into
side panels, hoods, and trunk lids.
"But while at Honda the machines can change dies in minutes, that
changeover at Jeep takes several hours...
"Honda spends 4% of its sales dollars on research and development;
American Motors, only 1% ."
- Forbes, January 1986,
comparing Honda and American Motors' (now Chrysler's) Ohio plants
Jump Start: Japan Comes to the Heartland,
David Gelsanliter (Harper & Collins, 1990)
"(GM Vice Chairman Bob
Lutz is) a real game changer. I'm worried about all the good people
Lutz is attracting to GM. The real impact of Lutz isn't felt today,
it will be felt years from now."
- Ford executive (anonymous)
Six Men Who Built the Modern Auto Industry,
Richard A. Johnson, (Motorbooks, 2005)
"(It) would be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to
be hired, (and) offer the simplest designs that modern engineering
can devise.
"But it will
be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one,
and enjoy with his family the blessings of hours of pleasure in God's great open
spaces."
- Henry Ford,
founder, Ford Motor Company,
outlining the Model T. The car debuted in Oct 1908, priced at $825
Taurus: The Making of
the Car that Saved Ford, Eric Taub (Dutton, 1991)
"They
had been fed the rhetoric that Japan was ahead because of low wages
and unfair labor practices. We wanted them to see for themselves. We
wanted them to understand that the Japanese supervisor is an older
brother, a part of the team, a truly hands-on kind of person.
"Not at all like the American supervisor, who doesn't know half what
the worker knows about his machine, who just stands off to one side
and says, 'do it.' "
- Kiyoshi "Nate" Furata, Toyota's lead
trainer at NUMMI (and later in Kentucky)
Jump Start: Japan Comes to the Heartland,
David Gelsanliter
(Harper & Collins, 1990)
"I admired (GM design) because the designers had absolute power... they
always had absolute influence over package and architecture. At Chrysler, we had
always been, as an office, reactive. Someone would come to us and give us an
assignment and tell us what to do. We never really had a chance to say, 'Well
have you considered this?' They'd say, 'No, we're out of time and we're out of
money and we have to do this.' Basically, design was reactive instead of
proactive. We were never in a position to go for it. If we didn't change
radically, we would never get out in front."
- Tom Gale, Chrysler Product Design Head
Modern Chrysler Concept Cars, Matt DeLorenzo
"You have to deliver on a few things so that
people can't dismiss the car out of hand... I've always said, we may not do many
concept cars, but the ones I do, I'm going to make them so I can drive them.
That's why we make them out of metal."
- Tom Gale, Chrysler Product Design Head
Modern Chrysler Concept Cars, Matt DeLorenzo
"We respond to
the enthusiast press. You don't see us do a lot of black concept cars that they
can't photograph. Instead you'll see red and yellows. We do things that we hope
will get magazine covers. With the Viper,
we got more third-party endorsements and credible reporting that did more for
our image than all the advertising we could ever do. It's worth its weight in
gold. If we went out and had to buy all the exposure the
Viper
got, we couldn't do it - at least not for the relative pittance that the concept
car cost us."
- Tom Gale, Chrysler Product Design Head
Modern Chrysler Concept Cars, Matt DeLorenzo
"You go through a lot of money fast in racing.
I could do 10 years' worth of concept cars for one year of racing money."
- Tom Gale, Chrysler Product Design Head
Modern Chrysler Concept Cars, Matt DeLorenzo
"The quickest
way for American automakers to convince consumers that they were
coming down from the clouds and offering efficient, functional
machines was to append this functionalist look to the surface of
their cars ... the square, stern lines of the cars of the late 1970s
to early 1980s assured Americans that they could consume themselves
out of the indulgent excesses without altering the structure of
Fordist production that gave rise to the notion of salvation through
consumption to begin with.
"Beginning in the
mid-1980s, the American automobile industry experienced a comeback
based on the bifurcated marketplace. Relenting to their foreign
competitors, the Big Three largely gave up on the domestic
production of small economy cars... (and) began to focus their
efforts on the growing and more profitable market of upscale autos
for the class of overconsumers.
"But in order to do
so, they had to change aesthetic directions from the severe,
downsized functionalism of the 1970s and early 1980s.
"American automakers
found two solutions to this dilemma - one pirated from Europe, and
the other more authentically homegrown. The borrowed solution was
actually a refurbished automotive ideology from the 1930s -
streamlining - that entered America through its European incarnation
of aerodynamics.
"In the mid- to late
1980s there was, however, another trend in automotive design that
appealed to the upscale demands for functionality and distinction,
one more authentically American than the European import of
aerodynamics. It emerged in the exploding market for what the
industry called sports/ utility vehicles, which included pickup
trucks, vans, jeeps, and other automotive hybrids.
"There was nothing
particularly new about these types of autos - all had been around
for decades... what was new to the 1980s was the entrance of these
vehicles into the mainstream automobile market."
- David Gartman, author and
Associate Professor of Sociology, University of South Alabama
Auto Opium: A Social History of American
Automobile Design
(Routledge, 1994)
"In order to compete in an automobile market in which demand for
basic transportation was becoming saturated, Sloan decided in the
mid-1920s to offer customers ‘style,’ cars with superficially
distinctive and diversified ornamentation. The style changed
annually to aesthetically depreciate models with years of functional
service remaining, and to whet consumer appetites for the new."
- David Gartman, author and
Associate Professor of Sociology, University of South Alabama
Auto Opium: A Social History of American
Automobile Design
(Routledge, 1994)
"The
American approach to auto making has been to narrowly define the job
and then fill it with a low-skilled worker. U.S. plants have carried
large parts inventories so that disruptions caused by worker error
or defective supplies could quickly be remedied. Auto workers were
and are hired or (more commonly) laid off in response to
fluctuations in market demand.
"The Japanese approach seems to be just the opposite. Jobs are
rotated and the emphasis is on training and long-term employment.
The worker on the assembly line has real authority. Frequent
meetings, the absence of worker reserves, and an emphasis on
teamwork generate peer pressure which, while stressful, reinforces a
sense of common purpose. Just-in-time delivery and smaller buffer
stocks save money and force suppliers to get it right the first
time. Emphasis is on market-share gains rather than quarterly
profits improvement. When times are bad, layoffs are a last, not
first, resort."
- David Gelsanliter, author
Jump Start: Japan Comes to the Heartland
(Harper & Collins, 1990)
"Honda
nurtures its image as a rebel willing to set trends in a society
more comfortable with following them. Because it has few friends at
home and less money to spend than its rivals, it has had to run
faster and learn to do almost everything well.
"Not until 1963... did it build its first car, and then over the
opposition of the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and
Industry (MITI). MITI wanted to restrict automobile production to
companies already in the field, primarily Toyota and Nissan. Had
MITI had its way, Honda would not be making cars today.
"Nimble and gutsy, this youngest of the Japanese car companies
gambled that it could do better in the United States (and Canada)
than back home in Japan. There, land prices had skyrocketed, the
government was still unfriendly, and Toyota and Nissan had a
monopoly on the best sales outlets.
"Soichiro
Honda has said that the ideal place for Honda to have its world
headquarters would be on a satellite circling the globe.
"In its collective subconscious, Japan still seems to see itself as
a poor island nation, defeated in war, short on natural resources,
with a lingering feeling of vulnerability. This may be what makes
the Japanese run so hard to catch up with (or stay ahead of)
everyone else.
"If this is true, then Honda - never truly welcome at home - must
feel twice as vulnerable, and believe it must run twice as hard."
- David Gelsanliter, author and journalist
Jump Start: Japan Comes to the Heartland
(Harper & Collins, 1990)
"There
were similarities between the way Nissan and Honda began
manufacturing vehicles in the United States.
"Both started simply: Nissan with trucks, Honda with motorcycles.
Both were careful not to ask too much of state or local governments.
Both were skillful in creating an early favorable image of
themselves.
"But the differences are far more striking.
"Honda came in quietly; Nissan, with a splash.
"Honda was medium-tech; Nissan, robotics.
"Honda seemed unsure of how to deal with the UAW and in perhaps
typical Japanese fashion kept its options open; Nissan announced
itself anti-union from the start.
"Honda brought along scores of Japanese managers and technicians
(and has since added more); Nissan soon sent all but a few of its
Japanese home.
"Honda's president is Japanese, as are the key decision makers in
every department. Nissan portrays itself as an American company and,
in most respects, is.
"The key difference, however, is that Honda's future as an automaker
depends on what it does in Ohio; Nissan's future does not depend as
much on what it does in Tennessee."
- David Gelsanliter, author and journalist
Jump Start: Japan Comes to the Heartland
(Harper & Collins, 1990)
"Toyota's
announcement in December 1985 dwarfed all the other Japanese auto
plant announcements and triggered the most controversy, then or
since.
"Toyota is Japan's General Motors, after all; Kentucky, the most
turbulent of the states to which the Japanese auto makers have
come."
- David Gelsanliter, author and journalist
Jump Start: Japan Comes to the Heartland
(Harper & Collins, 1990)
"The
parent company changed its name from Toyoda to Toyota because in
written Japanese 'Toyota' looked aesthetically superior and because
now the number of strokes needed was eight, a lucky number."
- David Gelsanliter, author and journalist
Jump Start: Japan Comes to the Heartland
(Harper & Collins, 1990)
"The
plans that Nissan had worked up in the past were essentially
qualitative. I had trouble figuring out what they were trying to do.
There were no priorities, no coordination, or timing. They didn't
put a name or a team in front of each goal. There was no internal
communication and no financial closure. It's not enough to announce,
'I want to make a quality product' and let it go at that. If you
don't define quality and assess its current level, if you don't set
timetables and deadlines and assign groups to do the work, if the
plan isn't articulated, divided into sequences clear enough for
people in the company to grasp - well then, nothing's going to
happen.
"Was Nissan
paying for higher quality or for specifications more demanding than those
Renault required? No. And the prices bore no relation to brand image or
performance. In fact, Nissan had too many suppliers, each of whom received
volume orders that were too small to allow the economies of scale to work in
their favor. Nissan's engineers were imposing specifications that didn't take
into account the current industry standards and weren't necessarily a response
to any specific customer demand. Engineering didn't listen to what the suppliers
were saying. The company had no real vision of the business it was in."
- Carlos Ghosn, Nissan CEO
Turnaround: How Carlos Ghosn rescued Nissan,
David Magee (HarperBusiness, 2004)
"A lot of
things characterize the Japanese people. We can debate them. But one
characteristic we cannot debate is that they are very pragmatic. They are also
very sensitive to reality. And the reality of Nissan was not hidden. It was
crystal clear. Something had to be done."
- Carlos Ghosn, Nissan CEO
Turnaround: How Carlos Ghosn rescued Nissan,
David Magee (HarperBusiness, 2004)
"Honda...
was a very technologically oriented company. They were quick to
adopt Michelin tires... Honda brought us a prototype, and we had to
identify suitable tires for it. A debate arose between Honda's
engineers, and Michelin's. Honda had an industry analyst come over
from Japan, who acted as an arbitrator. He drove the prototype with
several different kinds of tires, and then he said, without even
looking, 'this is the set of tires I want.' The discussion was over.
"Honda relied
on pragmatism, technical excellence, and expertise.
"Toyota was a
different world. A mighty force in Japan, where it owned 40% of the domestic
market, Toyota was imperious and sure of itself. Toyota was slow to venture
abroad - Honda and Nissan moved beyond the shores of the archipelago first - but
once it did, it advanced like a steamroller.
"Dealing with
Toyota meant dealing with people who were very aloof. They exuded a sense of
power. They had a binary vision: on one side, there was their system, and on the
other side, the rest of the world.
"Toyota was a
master at this game, following its competitors like a shadow, shamelessly
duplicating successful formulas, multiplying platforms and engines, bringing out
a new model every month to supply five distribution networks, while ready to
pull that model off the market at once if it was a flop.
"Compared to
Honda and Toyota, Nissan's image was a little hazy. It was a company capable of
operating at a high technical level. I'd driven the Infiniti Q45 in the United
States and the car had made a big impression on me. I also tried the 300ZX,
which was a wonderful automobile.
"But alongside
those, we saw some things come off the line that we couldn't make heads or tails
of. Nissan's corporate personality was confused. It gave the impression of an
amalgamation of elements piled up on top of one another without anything
resembling a strategy."
- Carlos Ghosn, Nissan CEO
SHIFT: Inside Nissan's Historic Revival,
Carlos Ghosn and Philippe Ries
(Doubleday, 2005)
"It was
plain to me that our choice should be Nissan. I'd had some rather discouraging
experiences with Korean carmakers while I was in the United States. They seemed
very sure of themselves, drawing up highly ambitious plans that were never
realized. The Japanese seemed much more reliable."
- Carlos Ghosn, Nissan CEO
SHIFT: Inside Nissan's Historic Revival,
Carlos Ghosn and Philippe Ries
(Doubleday, 2005)
"Economic
life consists of destruction and creation, of change. It's all part of the
normal functioning of an economy. To consider employment as an immutable good is
profoundly contrary to the way an economy evolves. When you try to save a job
that's been condemned by market evolution or technological progress, all you
succeed in doing is weakening the business as a whole."
- Carlos Ghosn, Nissan CEO
SHIFT: Inside Nissan's Historic Revival,
Carlos Ghosn and Philippe Ries
(Doubleday, 2005)
"Suppliers
are a little like pupils in a classroom. They don't think about issues any less
than their professor, but they don't dare say so.
"If an
exercise consists solely in demanding more and more from the supplier, without
modifying your relationship with him, that's not going to last long."
- Carlos Ghosn, Nissan CEO
SHIFT: Inside Nissan's Historic Revival,
Carlos Ghosn and Philippe Ries
(Doubleday, 2005)
"Renault
is a company where people talk things through a great deal. I sat
through some interminable meetings where we had discussions about
everything and nothing, about tiny details, without any sense of
priorities or of what action to take.
"But once the
problem was debated to death and a solution agreed on, the execution, the actual
application of the remedy, was often glossed over in a few minutes.
"A sort of
premium was given to fine phrases and arcane knowledge, as opposed to action and
implementation. But execution is everything in our industry.
"Renault is a
company capable of mobilizing very quickly. At bottom, it's a very generous
company, with typical French generosity and typically Gallic traits, generous
and cynical at the same time. It's bureaucratic, but capable of showing great
passion for great causes. It doesn't do so well at everyday routine.
"It's a
company that dares to do things. It's got boldness, creativity, and
innovativeness. It's shown more than once that it's capable of passion and
conquest. Renault's got all these traits, all these good qualities, helping to
protect it."
- Carlos Ghosn, Nissan CEO
SHIFT: Inside Nissan's Historic Revival,
Carlos Ghosn and Philippe Ries
(Doubleday, 2005)
"What's
fascinating about the automobile industry is that it doesn't produce an ordinary
product. An automobile is the object of both reason and emotion.
"You choose a
car according to certain standards - having to do with quality, of course, and
price, and availability - but also according to its image, its design, and the
sensation it produces. You make a purchase that's rational and emotional at the
same time."
- Carlos Ghosn, Nissan CEO
SHIFT: Inside Nissan's Historic Revival,
Carlos Ghosn and Philippe Ries
(Doubleday, 2005)
"What
counted the most in (Michelin CEO) Francois Michelin's eyes was the long term.
"At that time,
it was the Japanese who were particularly invested in long-term planning. They
were capable of going into new markets and losing money there for years, all the
while putting down roots. Only after that had been accomplished would they start
trying to optimize their results.
"Francois
Michelin was convinced that only a long-term strategy could beat the Japanese, a
strategy based on products and quality.
"As long as
I've known him - since 1981 - he's always considered Bridgestone his most
formidable competitor. From the beginning, he's believed that the Japanese tire
industry is Michelin's real rival."
- Carlos Ghosn, Nissan CEO (and former
Head of Michelin USA), on Michelin's
business ethic
SHIFT: Inside Nissan's Historic Revival,
Carlos Ghosn and Philippe Ries
(Doubleday, 2005)
"The fact
that Michelin has become a multinational company is due in large part to
Francois Michelin's personality. His business is made in his image. His personal
priorities have become those of the corporation, and they've shaped its culture.
"That
insistence on paying attention to individual people; the importance of product
quality; the long-term vision, the devotion to the customer, particularly the
big automakers - all that comes from him.
"He lives
them; they are the foundations of his enterprise."
- Carlos Ghosn, Nissan CEO (and former
Head of Michelin USA), on Michelin's
business ethic
SHIFT: Inside Nissan's Historic Revival,
Carlos Ghosn and Philippe Ries
(Doubleday, 2005)
Speaking on the
Michelin acquisition of Uniroyal-Goodrich: "One important lesson remains with
me to this day. Neither the French nor the American management style was
absolutely superior to the other. They both contributed something important and
positive to the company. There was a lot of cross-fertilization of the companies
and today Michelin North America is much stronger.
"The fact of
my being not typically French and not American helped... people never see your
decision linked to cultural shortsightedness. When you have a lot of changes to
make, [being an outsider] is more of an asset."
As vice-president
of Renault: "A newspaper headline depicted me as a Martian. I was completely
foreign, coming from a supplier to work as the number-two person at an
automaker... I was really the Martian. It was quite a bet by (Renault CEO) Louis
Schweitzer."
- Carlos Ghosn, Nissan CEO
Turnaround: How Carlos Ghosn rescued Nissan,
David Magee (HarperBusiness, 2004)
"The automobile has
become a mobile living space... the car designer is now comparable
to an architect."
- Dante Giacosa, Fiat Chief
Engineer and Designer,
writing at the end of his official
career in 1970
Car Wars,
Jonathan Mantle (Arcade 1995)
"The world of auto racing has known for years that the key to
safety success is keeping a person in the seat, but automakers have
had considerable trouble placing restraints in passenger vehicles.
"I
honestly hope new technology (such as Ford's under-development V4
four-point safety belt design) proves viable in passenger vehicles
because it will represent a breakthrough technology that will
certainly save lives.
"These types of inventions will transcend one automaker and affect
the entire industry as a whole."
- Nancy Lee Gioia,
Vehicle Line Director, Ford Lifestyle Vehicles
Inside the Minds: The Automotive Industry
(Aspatore, 2002)
"(Our) time frames of a product life cycle are certainly not
unique to (our) automotive industry, but the mating of many
different products - audio/ entertainment, tracking/ communication
systems, vehicle controls, etc. - into one product is.
"The industry must be constantly vigilant for these opportunities
and must strike a good balance between what the customer would like
to have immediately and whether or not the technology will endure
for the time that many of our customers would like to keep their
vehicles."
- Nancy Lee Gioia,
Vehicle Line Director, Ford Lifestyle Vehicles
Inside the Minds: The Automotive Industry
(Aspatore, 2002)
"Should a vote be held to select a national scent, that new-car
smell would rank right up there with a freshly baked apple pie
for a lot of Americans."
- Jeffrey Godshall, author
Designing America's Cars: The '50s (Publications International, 2005)
"We're
expanding our model range and that means you also have to expand your design
language. We want to give the different car lines a different design approach.
But it should be a BMW, that's clear. We showed it first with the Z9,
the first side of the bookend, and the X
Coupé was the other side of
the bookend.
"You see, the Z4
has the design language of the X Coupé,
which is the 'sporty' end, and the 7 series has that of the Z9,
which is about 'presence.'
"In our opinion... every two generations at
least, in a car line, there should be a big step. It's theoretical maybe, but
there should be evolution then revolution. You can see it in some of our
competitors: they need a big step now in their design language, they have to do
something. It's interesting to see what they will do. It's not easy for a car
company... it's a little bit risky to make a design step without losing the
brand values."
- Burkhard Goeschel,
BMW R&D Chief
'Is this the last great looking BMW,' CAR
Magazine, June 2003
"Unfortunately,
driving the (Mercedes-Benz) SLR turned out to be an anti-climax. The
SLR is exceedingly quick because even a hefty 1,725kg GT stonks
along a bit when there's 627bhp in its nose.
"1400kg... was Gordon
Murray's target weight for the SLR until Mercedes loaded it with
telephones and a jacuzzi.
"Trouble is, it's far
too big and wide and therefore very difficult to place accurately on
anything narrower than a runway. Also its carbon discs are very
effective at stopping the car but lack feel not just when you're
applying the stoppers but also when you come back off them.
"In the wet, traction
control should be left on unless you're a Finnish rally hero because
the auto 'box will occasionally kick-down when you're not expecting
it, causing all sorts of worry.
"The SLR has pedigree
and raw power but, that said, it's disappointing to the brink of
pointlessness."
- Colin Goodwin,
Contributing Writer, evo
magazine
'Special K,' evo, September 2005
"The
company obviously needs some investment, but it can't go on forever building
cars that squeeze past all the safety rules and ignore stuff like anti-lock
brakes and airbags.
"I'm more interested in what
Mr. Smolenski will be like. Peter Wheeler is entertaining and will be a hard act
to follow. He's driven us mad - usually when he chucks his toys out of the pram
because we've criticized something - but usually he's great company.
"My generation didn't get to
meet Colin Chapman. Wheeler is a different sort of bloke with different skills,
but he's our equivalent."
- Colin Goodwin, Special Correspondent, on
the recently-announced sale of TVR
'Ask Goodwin,' Autocar, August 10th,
2004
"I'm not quite
at the stage of loving the Five,
but I'm getting used to it. I think soon the whole 'what have they done to the
Five?'
debate will fizzle out.
"And I stick
to my theory that BMW design chief Chris Bangle will one day be seen as a great
influence in car design."
- Colin Goodwin, Special Correspondent
'Ask Goodwin,' Autocar, July 20th,
2004
"I
suppose my biggest disappointment would have to be the
Avantime.
It was always a strong design, like the
Mégane,
and it deserved to do much better. Too challenging, I guess.
"Why do people have to be so boring sometimes?"
- Anthony Grade, Vice
President of Car Design, Renault
'Early Draws,' Autocar, July 27th,
2004
"The lest enviro-conscious
people in the world are the world's biggest buyers of hybrids."
- Gavin Green,
Contributing Writer
CAR, March 2005
"Despite its success, Acura never quite attained the prestige
of the traditional luxury brands - J.D. Power usually ranked its
cars in a near-luxury category - nor did it produce any iconic
models, with the exception of its world-class sports car, the
NSX.
"The fault did not lie in what Acura submitted - its cars were
always well built and fitted with the requisite allotment of polished wood, soft
leather, and other luxury accouterments - but in what it omitted. There was no
Acura to match a
Mercedes S-Class,
or a
BMW 7 series,
or a
Lexus LS
sedan.
"Forget a V12
option - Acura didn't even offer a V8. Nor was there a rear-drive model, save
for the NSX.
"It's a
perception thing, to be sure, but in the luxury-goods business, perception is
everything - it's the difference between a Timex and a Rolex, each of which
serves the same function equally well."
- Fred M. H.
Gregory, journalist
Car and Driver,
October 2004
"So today's cars are better than ever, more capable at their
job than the pioneering engineers of yesteryear could ever have
dreamed of.
"So why is there still such an interest in classic cars? Why do
millions of motoring enthusiasts worldwide still choose to restore
and drive cars which are now technologically obsolete?
"The answer lies in nostalgia. Cars may have improved, but they have
done so at the loss of their character and individuality.
"Once upon a time, vehicles were designed by just a few people,
experts in their field who injected their creations with passion and
inspiration, even a soul. Now they're put together on a computer,
worked on by a committee, and then costed by men in suits to see if
they're financially feasible."
- Richard Gunn,
author
Classic Cars: The
World's Greatest Marques, Richard Gunn (Chartwell, 2003)
"But what exactly is a classic car? It's not an easy thing to
pin down... there's a general acceptance now that any car over 20
years old is a classic.
"Others will cite past vehicles built by premier marques... as the
only true classics, dismissing anything more mainstream and
affordable as simply old wrecks.
"Many will define a classic as just a superb, distinctive car of any
age...
"... and there are more still who bestow classic standing just on
looks alone. Looks are often more prized than performance; it's that
initial visual impact that always counts the most. Love at first
sight is a reality with many classics.
"Last, but by no means least, there are those pioneering vehicles
which introduced new concepts or advancements into the motoring
world.
"Perhaps the best explanation of a classic car is that it is any
vehicle, of any age and in any condition, admired by somebody.
Different people find different things to appreciate in a car. For
some, it's the sheer power of a vehicle, for others it's all about
styling and appearance. Some esteem luxury and splendor, while
others celebrate the failures of the auto world, those oddball
vehicles which tried to pioneer new features or were simply so
incompetent at what they did that they earned a good-natured
following just because of it."
- Richard Gunn,
author
Classic Cars: The
World's Greatest Marques, Richard Gunn (Chartwell, 2003)
"Many companies maintain their own classic car fleets, either for
publicity purposes, or simply out of a need to occasionally revel in
past glories. Others - like BMW and Volvo - have even started
manufacturing parts for their older vehicles again."
- Richard Gunn,
author
Classic Cars: The
World's Greatest Marques, Richard Gunn (Chartwell, 2003)
"Just
leave it in third."
- Dan Gurney, giving advice to Jay Leno on driving the new Ford GT40 in view of the torque
available
'GT
may be Detroit's best-ever prod. sports car,' John McCormick, Detroit
Autos Insider, Oct 6th, 2003
"The Cayenne is still an SUV,
however, and as such won't be featured in this magazine.
"... even more convincing than
the drive was hearing Porsche's honest explanation of the Cayenne's true reason
for existence: to keep the company in business so that it can keep building
sports cars like the 911. You can sell more SUVs than you can sell sports cars,
and the demand for SUVs is less dependent on the health of the economy than is
the demand for sports cars. In other words, Porsche wants to flatten the demand
curve for its products.
"While this strategy doesn't
sound altogether sexy, it has already helped give the green light to such pure
sports cars as the 911 GT3 and Carrera GT. And Porsche assures us that more
enthusiast-oriented cars are in the works. Who would complain about that? But
whether or not high school kids will be drawing Porsche Cayennes on their
folders is another question entirely."
- Eric Gustafson, 'From the Editor,'
Sports Car International, September 2003
"This
was not a well-liked project - there were those in the company who thought it
was an utter waste of money. In fact, we had to avoid some people deliberately.
"The best
reward I get is when I see someone driving one with a big grin on their face."
- Bob Hall, father of the Mazda Miata
You & Your Mazda MX-5/ Miata, Liz Turner (Haynes,
2002)
"One of the challenges was to convince the
current E-Class customer that (W211) is a new car, but make it familiar enough
so they will feel comfortable in it."
- Bernd Harloff, Mercedes-Benz director of
E-Class development
'New for 2003: Mercedes-Benz E-Class,' Car and
Driver, New Car '03 Guide
"... there was no
denying that on-road (the Land Rover Defender) was a pig. Not a pig
by Defender standards, but by conventional car standards.
"... I'm still not
sure I could live with the noise. Or the horrible feeling of waste
you feel every time you gun the 221lb-ft donkey and realize that so
little of the energy released in combustion ever becomes kinetic.
Drive a Defender on the road and you literally feel energy seeping
away through all of the obvious points of inertia and friction."
- Chris Harris,
Writer-at-large, Autocar
'When you live on-road, off-roading's a bumpy
ride,' Autocar, April 6th, 2004
"Designers are now
being credited with the product. We're in an interesting period
where the personality of designers is being used as a way of
supplementing and supporting the brand and the vehicle.
"Designers are
getting to board level positions, and they're also leading the
profession."
- Dale Harrow,
director of automotive design department, Royal College of Art in
London
'Designers become car stars,' Automotive
News,
June 21st, 2004
"American
workers are stronger. They can pick things up faster. If the
Japanese run into a problem, they go back to the cookbook or hold a
committee meeting. Our people were able to learn the Japanese way of
doing things a lot faster than the Japanese thought they could."
- Emil Hassan, vice-president of
engineering, Nissan Motor Manufacturing (Smyrna, Tennessee)
Jump Start: Japan Comes to the Heartland,
David Gelsanliter (Harper & Collins, 1990)
"Buying a car is an emotional thing. It's even more emotional than
buying a watch. The secret of success behind the Swatch can to a
certain extent be transferred to the motor car. In both cases, it is
our aim to offer high quality at a reasonable price."
- Nicolas G. Hayek,
Swatch Group CEO, speaking to CAR in 1992.
Hayek's late '80s ideas for what he
termed the Swatchmobile eventually became the smart
smart thinking.... the little car that made
it big, Tony Lewin
(Motorbooks
International, 2004)
"Looking back, on
my work, I feel that I have made nothing but mistakes, a series of
failures, a series of regrets. But I am proud of an accomplishment.
Although I made one mistake after another, my mistakes of failures
were never due to the same reason. I never made the same mistake
twice and I always tried my hardest and succeeded in improving my
efforts."
- Soichiro Honda,
founder, Honda Motor Company
Six Men Who Built the Modern Auto Industry,
Richard A. Johnson (Motorbooks, 2005)
"Are
the bureaucrats trying to block our plans to build cars? Democracy
is meant to make individuals happy. I have fostered my own business,
made profits, and paid taxes. Why is it that a private enterprise
such as mine has to be sacrificed for the sake of the nation?"
- Soichiro Honda,
founder, Honda Motor
Company, fighting back through the media over
the 1963 Japanese Government attempts to restrict automotive production solely
to companies already in the field (Toyota and Nissan)
Jump Start: Japan Comes to the Heartland,
David Gelsanliter (Harper & Collins, 1990)
"What is it about the automobile that
gives it such a special place in our hearts compared with all those
other products that form our everyday lives? We do not share that
special relationship with the cooker, the fridge, or the lawn mower
that we do with our cars. Why the difference?
It is, I believe, simply because, as
our personal means of transport, the car has become the substitute
for the horse which, for thousands of years, was the only
alternative to walking - and, as it was a living creature, the horse
required certain commitments from us. We fed it, cleaned it, and
gave it somewhere to sleep at night - which is exactly what we do
with our cars. We feed them at the gas station, we wash them on a
Sunday and, if we can, we put them away in a warm garage at night.
What is more, just like a horse, the
car needs oxygen and water as well as food for its 'heart' to
function. But the greatest difference between the car and most of
those other products with which we surround ourselves is that it
does not remain static: it is not inanimate - it displays
animal-like behavior."
- Peter Horbury,
Executive
Director of Design, Premier Auto Group, Ford Motor Company
'Foreword,' How to: Design Cars Like
a Pro, Tony Lewin
"It doesn't
take a degree in physics to figure out that burning cars is a silly way to
protest air pollution.
"The idea that
anybody has the right to tell anybody else what they should or shouldn't buy is
not only wrong, but dangerous. In the end, it's not the vehicles you hate, but
the people driving them."
- Mike Hudson, LA-based
freelance writer
'Anti-SUV antics must stop before drivers replace vehicles
as targets,' Mike Hudson, Detroit Free Press,
March 31st, 2004
"We ship them food
and chemicals and raw materials, just like a colony.
"And they ship us
value-added cars and machine tools and electronics, just like a
mother country."
- Lee Iacocca, Chrysler Chairman
& COO,
speaking after a trip to Japan with
President Bush in 1992
Car Wars,
Jonathan Mantle (Arcade, 1995)
"Five years of
pure hell and five years of tall cotton."
- Lee Iacocca, Chrysler Chairman
& COO, characterizing his time at
Chrysler at his farewell bash in August 1992
The Critical
Path: Inventing an Automobile and Reinventing a Corporation,
Brock Yates (Little, Brown & Company, 1996)
"I don't know
how many speeches I gave in my forty-six years in the auto industry,
but it was easily more than a thousand. By actual count, I gave 663
during my fourteen years at Chrysler.
"I realized that if
people understand what you want them to do, and it makes sense,
they'll do it.
"A good speech, like
a good novel, is constructed around conflict. If all is right with
the world, there's no need for a speech. Usually, the conflict is
between something that's comfortable but wrong and something that's
disturbing but true.
"The best speeches
are those in which you tell people things they don't want to hear in
order to get them to believe things they don't want to believe so
they'll be motivated to do things they don't want to do."
- Lee Iacocca, Chrysler Chairman
& COO,
speaking after a trip to Japan with
President Bush in 1992
I Gotta Tell
You: Speeches of Lee Iacocca,
Matthew W. Seeger (Wayne State University Press, 1994)
"If you have set your goals high enough, you will have many
failures."
- Shoichiro Iramajiri, president of Honda
of America manufacturing (succeeded by
Shoichiro Iramajiri)
Jump Start: Japan Comes to the Heartland,
David Gelsanliter
(Harper & Collins, 1990)
"Mr. Honda used to say, 'in a race competing for a split second, one
tire length on the finish line will decide whether you are a winner
or a loser. If you understand that, you cannot disregard even the
slightest improvement.'
"It has often been our experience in racing that when one team is
successful, the rules will be changed... we have never said that was
unfair; every rule change has given us the opportunity to be
challenged and learn again."
- Shoichiro Iramajiri, president of Honda
of America manufacturing
Jump Start: Japan Comes to the Heartland,
David Gelsanliter
(Harper & Collins, 1990)
"When you expect
braking, deceleration, and it doesn't happen, you have the feeling
the thing is picking up speed even!"
- Manfred Jantke,
Porsche Executive
Porsche Legends, Randy Leffingwell (MBI, 2002)
"When you start with a suspension setup, you
start with the springs. Then you have to calibrate the damping accordingly to
rebalance the car. We focus on how the wheel reacts to the road surface, putting
a lot of work into the details of geometry, which is not easy on a low car where
vertical travel is limited."
"The (2004) GT3's suspension setup is on the
limit of comfort for real world roads with bumps. Most car enthusiasts do not
realize that for a modern smooth racetrack like the Nurburgring Grand Prix
Circuit or Hockenheim, you would still need to be two-thirds stiffer than stock.
If you take the stock Carrera as the baseline and 100 as a full-blown GT2 RS
race car, then the street GT3 would be around 25 and a Supercup racer about 65."
- Hartmut Kristen, Head of Porsche Race
Car,
Specialized Street Car Sales & Marketing
'Pure Nine Eleven,' Ian Kuah, Sports Car
International,
July 2003
"We weren't sure what to
expect from a 300-horsepower, all-wheel-drive, performance-oriented Volvo, but a
paragraph in one of Volvo's technical booklets made us eager to get behind the
wheel. The section, which dryly described balancing power between the front and
rear axles, ended with the following: 'It is entirely possible to perform a
handbrake turn, provided that the throttle opening is low and the speed is below
90km/h. The AWD coupling is disengaged under these conditions.
"Wow. Maybe a 56-mph handbrake
turn means something different in Europe, but we doubt it. We'll admit that we
didn't try such a turn, but imagine: a manufacturer not only mentions the
possibility of such abuse, but actually designs a car to react to it! America,
say hello to the other side of Volvo."
- Aaron Jenkins,
columnist
'Sideways Swede (Volvo
S60R),' Sports Car International, September 2003
"Lutz loved a grand
entrance. At GM's proving grounds in Milford, Michigan, he would
often do a couple of screaming, low-level passes in his Czech-made
Aero-Vodochody L-39 ZO Albatros fighter jet before setting plane
down in the grounds and walking up to a group of astounded engineers
and test drivers.
"Wayne Cherry, GM's
vice president for design, would laugh when he heard the buzz of
Lutz's copter at the tech center. He knew the group would be in for
a stimulating morning.
"The Friday walkaround
was one of Lutz's ideas. In GM's old system, top management didn't
get in the game early enough and consistently enough. Senior
officials delegated decisions. One bad result of keeping top
executives out of the loop was that sometimes they would see a car
nearing production and couldn't tolerate it. Lutz had rejected what
he regarded as an awful redesign of the Buick Regal, thus delaying
the renewal of the car to the 2005 model year (LaCrosse) from the
2004 model year.
"Lutz had fixed it so
that no longer would product development mysteriously move through
countless steps in a faceless system, where dozens of people could
slow the process but few could say yes. Now product decisions were
being made by flesh-and-blood people, with Lutz at the center."
- Richard A. Johnson,
author and Managing Editor of Automotive News
Six Men Who Built the Modern Auto Industry
(Motorbooks, 2005)
"When Lutz came to GM
he had been given the chance to climb once more into the cockpit. He
was living the dream of every auto executive who, upon retiring at
or near the top, took the shocking descent to a life of normalcy
they hadn't known in decades.
"Many plotted ways to
return. Iacocca, von Kuenheim - even the men whose names were on the
building, Henry Ford II and Soichiro Honda - could not fully let go.
Only Bob Lutz managed to claw all the way back, and three years
after he retired. He had been given the greatest gift."
- Richard A. Johnson,
author and Managing Editor of Automotive News
Six Men Who Built the Modern Auto Industry
(Motorbooks, 2005)
"For many engineers,
cars were impersonal technical challenges, not living, breathing
creatures as Lutz saw them. American chief engineers, with few
exceptions, could not have envisioned the Dodge Viper, the first
true U.S. muscle car since the 1960s.
"Lutz loved cars, but
more importantly seemed to understand why others loved them. He had
a sixth sense for how regular people reacted to what they saw on the
street."
- Richard A. Johnson,
author and Managing Editor of Automotive News
Six Men Who Built the Modern Auto Industry
(Motorbooks, 2005)
"There were two
automotive worlds at the turn of the century. One consisted of
groups that had merged or had acquired other companies. The other
was made up of companies that had not.
"Iacocca envisioned a
global auto industry at the beginning of the twenty-first century
that was made up of a few giant surviving auto manufacturers.
"In fact, Iacocca had
not only predicted the outcome, he helped set it in motion. He put
the industry on a course that led to the merger mania at the end of
the century. Iacocca was long retired when the DaimlerChrysler
merger was announced in May 1998, but it was really his deal - he
had dreamed it. His vision of the future was a logical extension of
the thinking of Henry Ford II, his old boss.
"But (chairman Eberhard)
von Kuenheim at BMW and Soichiro Honda saw things differently. They
believed independent auto companies should - and would - survive on
the strength of attractive products and superior technology. So did
Ferdinand Piëch, who fought to keep his family's Porsche sports car
company independent and made only minor acquisitions during his
decade as head of Europe's largest auto group."
- Richard A. Johnson,
author and Managing Editor of Automotive News
Six Men Who Built the Modern Auto Industry
(Motorbooks, 2005)
"Lutz had retired from
Chrysler in the autumn of 1998, just as the DaimlerChrysler merger
was being consummated. He had gone out a hero - Detroit's most
respected auto man since Iacocca was at the height of his powers.
"But whereas Iacocca
was a man of the people; a folk hero, Lutz was also a hero to the
relatively small community of Detroit insiders. Among the town's
automotive cognoscenti, he was far more highly esteemed than
Iacocca."
- Richard A. Johnson,
author and Managing Editor of Automotive News
Six Men Who Built the Modern Auto Industry
(Motorbooks, 2005)
"(PSA/ Peugeot-Citroën
CEO) Jean-Martin Folz had worked for many different sellers of
commodity goods during his career; in his previous job, he ran a
French sugar conglomerate. Here was a man who understood commodities
and didn't believe that an automobile was one."
- Richard A. Johnson,
author and Managing Editor of Automotive News
Six Men Who Built the Modern Auto Industry
(Motorbooks, 2005)
"After Chrysler's
acquisition of American Motors in 1987, Iacocca had decided to keep
the American Motors engineering team intact, a move that Lutz
praised.
"Before the (Chrysler)
takeover, the AMC unit had managed to achieve so much with so little
than Chrysler executives wanted to learn how they had done it.
Keeping the AMC guys together would help them understand.
"One of the reasons
turned out to be François Castaing the Renault executive who, like
Ferdinand Piëch at Audi and the CVCC engineers at Honda, had formed
their work habits in the intense atmosphere of race-car engineering.
Through the 1970s, Castaing had been in charge of Renault's Formula
One.
"Chrysler's engineering
department had been a series of silos: body engineering, chassis,
powertrain, electrical. Castaing and Lutz disassembled the
component-specific engineering groups and formed units that were
responsible not just for components, but for a whole vehicle.
"Chrysler didn't tell
its LH group how much of the total vehicle cost to allocate
to the interiors, for instance. Under the old system, the company
broke costs down and said the team could spend, for example, $200 on
the front suspension, $150 on the rear suspension. Now they had an
overall objective."
- Richard A. Johnson,
author and Managing Editor of Automotive News
Six Men Who Built the Modern Auto Industry
(Motorbooks, 2005)
"Inspiration
can come from anywhere: architecture, products, organic forms, but most of all I
look for an energy in something and try to translate that energy into a project.
"When I visit
somewhere like the Pebble Beach Concours, I feel a passion and energy from the
artistic expression of these historic cars."
- Mark Jordan, senior designer on the
original Mazda Miata project and formerly of Opel
You & Your Mazda MX-5/ Miata, Liz Turner (Haynes,
2002)
"You've got to have your
styling right before customers will even consider you in this segment."
- Jay Joseph, Acura TSX
product planning manager
'Acura designs new TSX to rival Jaguar,'
Automotive News, March 3rd, 2003
"Let's
try not to be disliked by the community. Let's first make sure of
that. Later, we can think about how to be accepted. We do not want
to bring drastic change to a quiet, peaceful farming area."
- Kiyoshi Kamashima, Honda president,
speaking in 1976 about Honda's plans to manufacture
in Ohio
Jump Start: Japan Comes to the Heartland,
David Gelsanliter (Harper & Collins, 1990)
"Buyers might
subconsciously want a stable, solid car, but they want to feel like
they are buying something exciting."
- Neil King,
analyst at Global Insight,
on why VW trumpeting the Golf's 30-yr pedigree may
not be sound marketing
'30 years in the making... so what?'
CAR, May
2004
"In a perfect
world, an automobile's design is functional, stylish, low cost, and
easy to manufacture.
"To some degree,
however, these goals are at odds with each other.
"Therefore, car
makers must understand what is most important to the target customer
in order to make the appropriate trade-offs which are typically
necessary during the design phase."
- Thomas C. Kinnear,
Michigan Business School Professor
AutoSim: The
Marketing Laboratory, Deighan, Kinnear, and James (Interpretive
Software, 1993)
"Something went
horribly wrong with the American automobile industry in the 1970s. It stopped
building cars people wanted to hold on to."
- Jamie Kitman, 'Happy Birthday Ford,' CAR, September 2003
"If those guys want to be fools and withdraw from racing, let them.
But I've got a car to save, and I haven't got time to be a
gentleman. We're going racing."
- Bunkie Knudsen,
General Manager, Pontiac
Glory Days: When
Horsepower and Passion ruled Detroit, Jim Wangers (Bentley
Publishers, 1998)
"The
911
is a very special design issue every time. It's iconic, of course,
and it's very inspiring, too. The fact that it's an iconic car is
not felt here because we are surrounded by it every day. We just
accept it as it is. We love to do it and we are inspired by it.
Everybody asks me, 'surely you have less freedom,' but we don't feel
that.
"Designing a new
911
is challenging, but it isn't hard in the same way it is to do a
whole new car. The proportions are already there.
"Now we want much
greater differentiation between the
911
and Boxster.
That has given us more freedom, and that is the reason why we said
that for the 911
we should do something with a flavor of the earlier cars.
"I get nervous when
people say the 997
is retro because it has 'round' headlights and 'hips.' It's
definitely not retro! When I read in other publications that the car
has more hips 'like the old days,' I wonder what people mean because
the old cars are actually very narrow. There are absolutely no hips
until you get to the 993.
Of course there were the Turbo models, but these had wheelarch
extensions rather than hips.
"Similarly, if you
look at the headlamp closely, you will see that it's not a round
headlamp like the original cars, but a huge oval, elliptic shape.
It's extremely well-executed, and we put a massive amount of time
into the details. Previously, designers that were in charge of
headlamps would have just designed the shape, whereas now they
design not just the shape but the whole unit.
"From day one we
needed to have guidelines. In the end, we settled on clarity,
tension, and precision. All three gave us the possibility to come up
with a different sculptural feel, but we could also check every
detail and make sure it created the right impression: is it clear?
Is it precise? Does it have more tension? These guidelines drove the
approach to the whole car. I'm proud of individual elements such as
the head and tail-lamps, but I'm most proud of the tautness of the
surfaces."
- Harm Lagaay, Design Head,
Porsche
'Carrera Development,'
evo, August 2004
"Judging from the door
hinges, the only way this car had eighty-two thousand miles on it was if the
first eighty-one had been spent with a pregnant donkey on the window sill. The
'minor surface rust' included bubbles the size of a frozen pizza, and as to the
interior, well, I can only assume by 'worn' he meant 'on safari by Stanley
Livingston.' I'll admit that it ran like a top, but all that really meant was
that the engine and front suspension were about to break free of the chassis and
begin running errands themselves."
- Jay Lamm, "Feeling
Used," Sports Car International, September 2003
"There it was, a lovely
solution, a beautiful answer to a question... what should a car
be if I do not have to carry an excess amount of people and
luggage?"
- Anatole Lapine,
Porsche Designer, on the Porsche 356
Porsche Legends, Randy Leffingwell (MBI, 2002)
"Porsche cars are
expected to last in the marketplace for a model run of at least
twenty years."
- Anatole Lapine,
Porsche Designer, on Porsche design
strategy
Porsche Legends, Randy Leffingwell (MBI, 2002)
"All Porsches had
smooth hoods. We have always had large wheels. It fills that space,
gives it purpose. It finishes that side profile. That organic shape.
It was something we found. We didn't invent it."
- Anatole Lapine,
Porsche Designer, on Porsche design
strategy
Porsche Legends, Randy Leffingwell (MBI, 2002)
"We did the 928
the way any intelligent develpment team should do. We did
engineering and design simultaneously."
- Anatole Lapine,
Porsche Designer, on Porsche design
strategy
Porsche Legends, Randy Leffingwell (MBI, 2002)
"You had a living
legend presiding at a meeting. If you wanted to know what a Porsche
was all about, you could ask the source. This was unheard of at GM.
No family, it was corporate law. That made everything simple. And so
god-damned unromantic.
"At Porsche, you had
romance. Butzi was a critical and cool thinker in lines of design.
At the same time, you had Mr. Piech who was a brilliant engineer who
didn't know any such thing as second place.
"At Porsche, you have a
team effort. Two, maybe three design studios. Each had twelve
designers, each has as many modelers. Maybe more. THe designer
created on paper. The modeler was the designer who continued from
there, who may anxiously have thought, hey, gtiveme that thing!
You'll be amazed what I can make of it! The professsional
modeler brought out the nuances the designer could not get on paper.
"And each studio had at
least two engineers.
"I could not go up to
Dr. Porsche or Professor Fuhrmann and talk designer lingo to
them like at GM styling: this thing needs more ooph here, we have
an idea for a little more pizazz along there...
"You better come up
with very sound,sure-footed arguments. There wshould be a dominance
in logic. Especially at Porsche, where there are forty-three
designers surrounded by 2,000 engineers."
- Anatole Lapine,
Porsche Designer, on Porsche design
strategy
Porsche Legends, Randy Leffingwell (MBI, 2002)
"The original plan was
to provoke corporate management. Harley Earl always wanted to
provoke them. It was something I learned from him. To provoke
management.
"Harley Earl wanted to
make GM management think about what was possible. If he had to
confront them with someone else's idea, show them something else
already done by the competition, well, as long as it forced them to
think."
- Anatole Lapine,
Porsche Designer, on how his time spent at
GM helped in the creation of the 1989 911 Speedster
Porsche Legends, Randy Leffingwell (MBI, 2002)
"A
unified national strategy.
"It makes no sense for some in Washington to complain about the
rising tide of Japanese investment while state governors are saying
come on in, the water's fine."
- Clint Lauer, Ford vice-president for
purchasing, asked in the late '80s whether
anything might stop the Japanese match toward dominance of the American
automotive industry
Jump Start: Japan Comes to the Heartland,
David Gelsanliter
(Harper & Collins, 1990)
"The
concept car is to the production model what haute couture is to
ready-to-wear: a reservoir of ideas, a surprising and inviting
showcase setting the stage for future production models and
reflecting current trends in research, innovation, styling, and
creativity."
- Patrick le Quément,
Renault Design Chief
Concept Car Design: Driving the Dream, Jonathan Bell (RotoVision, 2003)
"... Renault Design. The
whole thing: the team I've assembled going back over the years, the spirit
underpinning everything, our status within the company at large, the
organization that has been set in place step-by-step, our shared experiences,
our human resource policies... in short: Renault Design."
- Patrick le Quément,
Renault Design Chief (on which of his
achievements are the most important, in his view)
Car Men 6: Patrick le Quement, George Mason
"Very early on, I was
interested by everything that moved, cars, planes, boats, but, strangely, not
motorbikes"
- Patrick le Quément,
Renault Design Chief
Car Men 6: Patrick le Quement, George Mason
"After all, there had never before been a vehicle which so
daringly sought to overturn peoples' perceptions of what a car
should be; no design for a generation or more had so deliberately
broken so many rules or threatened to undermine so many
long-entrenched buying patterns as the tiny two-seater smart.
"And even
aside from the revolutionary nature of the car itself - or perhaps directly
because of that very revolutionary nature - there had until then been few car
development programs which had had such emotion, both positive and negative,
heaped on them in such a public fashion.
"Certainly, no
project had ever endured so long and traumatic a period of gestation and,
equally certainly, none had been forced to suffer the
smart's
ignominy of being kicked around in public before, during and after its birth."
- Tony Lewin,
author and editor of Financial Times Automotive World
smart thinking.... the little car that made
it big
(Motorbooks
International, 2004)
"
At a whisker over three meters in length, the (original) Mini was
one of the smallest and cheapest 'proper' cars available: logic
suggested that it should be cramped, primitive and boring, in
keeping with its entry-level position in the market.
"Conventional
thinking also suggested that you bought a Mini because you could not afford
anything bigger or better. Yet, as we all know, things turned out very
differently: the Mini proved stylish, practical, and great fun to drive, and was
soon taken up by enthusiasts whose budgets could easily have extended to
something much bigger and more superficially prestigious."
- Tony Lewin,
author and editor of Financial Times Automotive World
smart thinking.... the little car that made
it big
(Motorbooks
International, 2004)
"When Nicolas Hayek realized his co-operation with Volkswagen was
going nowhere, he began approaching other companies in the hope that
they would take up the project from where VW left off. Among the
firms on his itinerary were Renault, Fiat, BMW, and General Motors,
where the U.S. giant's then European president Bob Stempel gave the
Swiss entrepreneur a polite but nonetheless cool reception.
"Undeterred,
Hayek continued leafing through his Rolodex, and it was just before Christmas
1992 that he put in the all-important telephone call that would link the fate of
the Swatchmobile (smart)
inexorably with that of Mercedes-Benz and, later, DaimlerChrysler.
"For Hayek, it
must have seemed that Christmas had come early and that Santa Claus had been in
a doubly generous mood. For opening the door to Mercedes-Benz revealed a company
that was not only hungry for change and thus keen to cooperate, but which had
already done a huge amount of research on very much the kind of car Hayek wanted
to build."
- Tony Lewin,
author and editor of Financial Times Automotive World
smart thinking.... the little car that made
it big
(Motorbooks
International, 2004)
"Anyone who witnessed
the rebirth of Chrysler under Lee Iacocca knows that one of the best
product decisions he made was to invest in the K-Car, the basis for
all new passenger cars introduced in the 1980s. It saved the company
from ruin.
"Then, in the 1990s, he was willing to step back and allow some
remarkable leaders like Bob Eaton and Tom Stallkamp and Bob Lutz and
François Castaing to reshape the company. A major focus was in
product development, where vehicle centers (modeled after Honda)
were created to realign the old functional organization into a
product-driven organization. Engineers responsible for electrical
components, body engineering, chassis engineering, and manufacturing
engineering were all put together under one general manager, who
took a role something like the Toyota chief engineer.
"In the meantime, Tom Stallkamp was revolutionizing purchasing and
creating what a Harvard Business Review article called an
'American kereitsu.' (Dyer, 1996). Chrysler soon became the world's
most profitable car company in terms of profit per vehicle - not the
biggest, but the most profitable per vehicle.
"Toyota was actually concerned by these developments. Up to that
point, no U.S. company had shown signs of getting it right and
developing a culture that could compete with Toyota. But Chrysler
was beginning to get it right.
"Fortunately for Toyota, Chrysler was bought by Daimler."
-
Jeffrey K. Liker, professor of Industrial and Operations
Engineering, University of Michigan
The Toyota Way, Jeffrey K. Liker
(McGraw-Hill, 2004)
"The merger of
Daimler and Chrysler was initially portrayed as a cooperative
venture of equals that would learn the best of the best from each
other. Soon it became obvious that this was an out-and-out takeover.
Of course, in any takeover there is a cleansing of the old guard who
resist change - so out the door went all of these fine leaders who
were starting to truly build something. And out the door went what
they were trying to build, until all that mattered was short-term
cost-cutting to regain profitability. And out the door went the
'partnership' with suppliers that Stallkamp had carefully built...
and the trust... and the sharing of technology that was taking place
in developing new vehicles...
"It is not clear what Daimler's long-term purpose was in buying
Chrysler. In the short term, it seemed logical to expand from a
European luxury carmaker to enter the U.S. market in full force
making lower-tier vehicles. But did Daimler really think through the
implications of integrating a very different company with a culture
completely different from their own? Did they think through the
implications for public opinion in the U.S.? Did they think through
what effect their purchasing and management style would have on the
existing culture of Chrysler?
"By gutting the leadership of Chrysler, Daimler gutted the culture
that Chrysler was proudly building - a culture that made companies
like Toyota nervous. Instead of building on this proud culture and
protecting it, Daimler tore it down through radical cost cutting,
eviscerating Chrysler's strengths.
"From Toyota's perspective, the appropriate response might be,
'Thank you Daimler, for doing what we could not and would not do to
a competitor. You destroyed its culture.' "
-
Jeffrey K. Liker, professor of Industrial and Operations
Engineering, University of Michigan
The Toyota Way, Jeffrey K. Liker
(McGraw-Hill, 2004)
"I enjoyed driving
today's Phantom, which is agile for such a gargantuan car, but
elephants will fly to the moon on gossamer wings before anyone
convinces me this is a good-looking automobile. This journey's best
moment came when a very English Englishman emerged from his
beautiful home by the church in Alwaton, inspected what he termed
'the new BMW,' and hit the nail on the head when invited to comment
on its appearance.
"Having ascertained that I wasn't the
Phantom's
owner, he quipped,
'what did it look like before the head-on accident?' "
-
Phil Llewellin, columnist
'Phantoms of the Past,' Automobile,
May
2004
"During the
late-1960s, Toyota acquired Hino and Daihatsu, bringing the former's
car producing cars to an end. At a time when others were making
deals with the Big Three in America purely to establish themselves
in the world's largest market, Toyota not only stayed independent,
but adopted an even more aggressive marketing and expansion policy,
especially during the 1973 Arab Oil Crisis when its economy cars
were in great demand.
"In 1969, Toyota was
the world's fifth biggest car producer, way behind General Motors
and Ford, but not far away from the Volkswagen and Chrysler figures.
By 1972, thanks in no small part to the immense success of the
Corolla
both at home and abroad, Toyota had moved into third place."
- Brian Long, author
Lexus: The challenge to create the
finest automobile (Veloce, 2000)
"(When the
Toyota Corona
was introduced in May 1957), the
Corona name was
already in use in Japan - Nissan had a small coach called the
Corona but,
instead of stopping Toyota from using the appellation when the
announcement was made, Nissan rang Toyota to thank them for
advertising the little bus!"
- Brian Long, author
Lexus: The challenge to create the
finest automobile (Veloce, 2000)
"The battle for the
European automobile industry is the final struggle. If we lose it,
we shall become second-class citizens of second-class countries.
"We can win this
battle because the third industrial revolution will be driven by
creation, and there is more creativity in Europe than in Japan.
"The Japanese are not
creative. No inventions, no Nobel prizes. Cars are a European
discovery, especially German. We must learn to walk tall again."
- Jose Ignacio Lopez de Arriortua,
former GM VP & then-VW board
member, speaking at a Hanover press conference in June '93. Lopez
was the subject of a drawn out espionage investigation between
General Motors and Volkswagen in the mid-90s
Car Wars,
Jonathan Mantle (Arcade 1995)
"Our (Maxima) consumers are
accepting of a certain amount of torque steer. We're trying to manage that best
we can. At this point, we're facing physics. We think it's an acceptable
trade-off; some torque steer in return for a lot of power."
- Kevin Lum,
Nissan senior management for sedans
'04 Maxima a powerhouse with style;
Sedan has pep, but needs a little polish,' USAToday
"We
don't have to create models that are radically different from the
ones they replace. To maintain our tradition, we do not need to
design 'way out' designs. The important thing to keep in mind is to
make sure there is continuity from the old model to the new model.
It is absolutely essential that we build a lasting image of what a
BMW is and not be swayed by ever changing fashion trends."
- Claus Luthe, former chief
designer, BMW AG (1976-1991)
Driven:
Inside BMW, the Most Admired Car Company in the World, David
Kiley (John Wiley
& Sons, 2004)
"The really nice
thing about the way we program our vehicle stability system is that
ideally you do not feel the stability control system - you just
think you're one of the world's best drivers, and sadly the rest of
the world doesn't recognize it.
"Our software guys will
define a line all the way around the complex inside perimeter of the
physical boundaries of the car so that you can go all the way to the
limits in any direction before the system takes over. The system
still intervenes to save you from yourself, but you really have to
take it to the very edge before it kicks in."
- Robert A. Lutz,
GM Vice Chairman of Product Development
Corvette C6, Phil Berg (MBI, 2004)
"The drive for
more and more power in cars and trucks is way larger than the drive
for more and more hybrids."
- Robert A. Lutz,
GM Vice Chairman of Product Development
CAR, March 2005
"I
like a lot of Japanese cars... their interiors are still better than
ours. We have made great improvements, in things like graining of
the plastics and some of our fabrics, but we admit we have a way to
go to get to a world-class level.
“Japanese
engines have a wonderful silkiness to them, a lightness, but what I have trouble
conceding is what (they do) on the road. When you push them hard and see what
they do - we're better!
"It's a
perception thing among the public, aided by the media, that we're not
competitive. It bothers me when we're not given credit where it's due."
- Robert A. Lutz, GM Vice Chairman of
Product Development
'Mano-a-mano: GM über-boss vs. unimpressed auto critic,'
Toronto Star Syndicate, Jim
Kenzie, May 30th, 2003
"The ability to
inspire passion is the single most significant measure of a
vehicle's success... real differences in quality are so narrow as to
be almost negligible."
- Robert A. Lutz, GM Vice Chairman of
Product Development
Concept Car Design: Driving the Dream, Jonathan Bell, (RotoVision, 2003)
"I told somebody that the interior of the new
Volkswagen Touareg looked like each car had been worked on by 15 German
cabinetmakers for a week."
- Robert A. Lutz, GM Vice
Chairman of Product Development (in praise of the VW SUV)
"I thought I knew
every expression in French for self-gratification, including the
crudest ones known to man."
- Robert A. Lutz,
GM Vice Chairman of Product Development,
remarking on the unfortunate naming of the upcoming
Buick crossover as Lacrosse (which has 'different' implications in
French-Canadian slang)
'Only in
America,' Autocar, Howard Walker, December 30th,
2003
"Holden is a star,
the star, in the entire GM world. We have to learn from them."
- Robert A. Lutz,
GM Vice Chairman of Product Development
'The Lion King,'
Wheels, Peter Robinson, January 2004
"Wait a
minute... don't push me out now; it's taken me longer than I'd like to admit to
figure this business out, and I'm finally getting it."
- Robert A. Lutz,
GM Vice Chairman of Product Development (adding that it was "a thought
directed less at DaimlerChrysler than at a world that tends to measure age only
chronologically")
Guts, Robert A. Lutz
(John Wiley & Sons, 1998, 2003)
"Ugly cars, no
matter what the market, don't sell. As a sort of elder statesman in
this business, I feel almost an obligation to the industry to say
that I'm concerned about a lot of the concept cars we're seeing
lately. Many of them are all-out weird. It's as if the designers are
no longer designing for the public, but rather for each other,
trying to be evermore off-the-wall than the competition.
"It reminds me of the
height of the abstract-art boom in the 1960s and 1970s, when you
viewed one blue circle and one line on a canvas, and then had to
read a two-page description of what all the artist meant.
"There are concepts
over across the street (at the 2001 Detroit Auto Show) that look
like a whole family of angry kitchen appliances: demented toasters;
furious bread machines, and vengeful trash compactors.
"Then there are the
assemblages of mere steel tubes, leather, and plastic - they look
like exercise machines.
"And worse yet, a lot
of these concepts all seem to be drowning in a sea of sameness: high
beltlines; tiny windows; flat fronts; rhomboidal headlights, and
slab sides. Auto companies that fall in love with this stuff do so,
I submit, at their peril: Jack-o'-lantern styling may get
photographed at show time, but if it sells, it'd be a miracle."
- Robert A. Lutz,
Exide Battery CEO, speaking
at the 2001 Automotive News World Congress
Six Men Who Built the Modern Auto Industry,
Richard A. Johnson (Motorbooks, 2005)
"(Lee Iacocca) had extremely conservative
taste. He liked, just like Henry Ford II, cars with a waterline belt. The belt
line had to be absolutely horizontal. He didn't like anything wedge-shaped. He
didn't like anything with a curved beltline. Whenever we showed anything with a
diving hood or a lot of gesture to it, he didn't like it, because in his
programming, that didn't radiate luxury or power.
"... this was the guy who, when I joined
Chrysler, told me I was joining at a good time because Ford had made a fatal
mistake with the Taurus. He said all of Chrysler research indicated the Taurus
was going to be a hopeless flop because they got 5 on a 10-point scale, whereas
Chrysler's new stuff, the C-body Dynasty and New Yorker averaged 7.5 . The
problem was, the 5s that Taurus ran were an average of half the population
giving it 9s and 10s and half giving it 1s and 2s. That's how you win in this
business. The 7.5s meant the Chryslers were everyone's second choice and no one
sells second choices anywhere. So he was convinced the Taurus was going to flop,
and couldn't understand why it did so well and why we had to rebate the C-bodies
almost right off the bat."
- Robert A. Lutz, Chrysler President
Modern Chrysler Concept Cars, Matt DeLorenzo
"We had a well-reasoned business motive for
doing concept cars, but there was also the issue of personal pride involved.
Here we were, being beaten-up in the press and justifiably so. So what do you do
in the meantime when your bankers, the press, the analysts, and the dealers are
asking, 'why don't you guys do this?' or 'why don't you guys do that?' and 'why
don't you guys get, it?' You can only say for so long, 'look, we get it, trust
us, we're going to do great cars - yes, I know what you mean, I know we
shouldn't do padded vinyl roofs anymore.'
"But the only way you can really get them to
shut up and demonstrate that, 'look, we know what you're talking about and help
is on the way,' is by doing concept cars.
... you almost wind up doing the best work
partly for yourself."
- Robert A. Lutz, Chrysler President
Modern Chrysler Concept Cars, Matt DeLorenzo
"I didn't like (the concept Viper) at first.
Those sketches were very close to the car now. In my mind's eye, I wanted
something closer to the Cobra, more literal in interpretation... the more I saw,
the more we started doing in clay, the more I knew it was going to be dynamite.
It's interesting that the Viper went the opposite way of most concept cars in
that the first car was done in metal and then the production car was plastic.
Usually, it works the other way."
- Robert A. Lutz, Chrysler President
Modern Chrysler Concept Cars, Matt DeLorenzo
"There's
something compelling about a car with an engine that's too big wearing a body
that's too small, causing it to arch and bulge over the mechanicals."
- Robert A. Lutz, Chrysler President
(and owner of a 1985 Autokraft AC Mark IV, referring
to the Cobra)
'Cobra: Make it Again, Sam,' Car and Driver,
December 1991
"We
have bona fide car people in sales and marketing, not Pampers people."
- Robert A. Lutz, Chrysler President
and COO (commenting on a reorganization of
GM's executive ranks that brought in 'brand' specialists with
non-automotive backgrounds)
100 Years of the American Auto, the Auto Editors of
Consumer Guide
(Publications International, 2003)
"From his post in
the engineering department, (François
Castaing) was the human linchpin who helped us to turn the lessons
of the Honda Study into action."
- Robert A. Lutz,
Chrysler President and COO
Six Men Who Built the Modern Auto Industry,
Richard A. Johnson (Motorbooks, 2005)
"No one (pulled
BMW Motorcycles all together). It just sort of ran itself and was
always reactive, and it had run to the point where we really wanted
to shut it down."
- Robert A. Lutz,
Head of Sales and Marketing for BMW cars
Six Men Who Built the Modern Auto Industry,
Richard A. Johnson (Motorbooks, 2005)
"I don't want to
place blame, but it's you baby boomers who are doing this (retro)."
-
Steve Lyon, executive director of GM design
(chief designer of Buick LaCrosse, Bengal, and
Centième Concepts)
'Designers
have their say,' Jean Jennings, Automobile, May 2004
"Carmakers have been selling speed, or at
least the illusion of it, for 100 years. From the Stanley Steamer forward, cars
have been as much about consumer identity, about the vivid dream state they
induce in potential buyers, as about machinery.
People aren't stupid; we are merely absurd. We
know we probably can't go 185 on F.D.R. Drive. Only gypsy cabbies and livery
drivers can do that. But while you're downloading the brochure, or watching the
commercial, or standing next to the demon thing itself in your neighborhood
showroom, here's what happens in your head:
You are alone. Flying low and loud and fast
down a long, straight-razor stretch of Nebraska interstate, perhaps in late
autumn, headed west, sharp cold just coming on, the desolate geometry of golden
stubble fields strobing past you, the sun wobbling low and weak on the horizon,
your windshield embroidered with the glare of it, and in the rear-view mirror
the sky behind you as blue and deep and black as a bruise. You are cupped in the
heated seat. The earth spins beneath you. All the shining instrumentality of
uncomplicated power falls easily to hand. Your body dissolves into the machine
until you are no more and no less than acceleration itself. The brute music of
the engine rises up through the floorboards and the soles of your feet and into
your blood until your heart beats with it, the world blurs and the vast web of
human complication is somewhere far behind you and there is no past and no
future and nothing bad can ever catch you. Nothing can touch you. That's what
you tell yourself you're buying.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
would certainly disagree. It sees you more as a basal skull fracture waiting to
happen. To car manufacturers, though, all's fair in a sluggish economy, and
whatever overwrought Kerouac fantasy you're willing to hypnotize yourself with
is none of their business."
- Jeff MacGregor, special contributor to
Sports Illustrated
'The ID of a Hot Rod In a Minivan Land,' The New
York Times, April 20th, 2003
"You know
what I love about the auto business? Its eternal optimism. You may have just had
to spend several million dollars recalling your best-selling model to replace a
5¢ part with a 6¢ one; last month's market share numbers might look like
Studebaker's, and the beancounters are muttering darkly that the company would
make more money by just selling the business; sticking the cash in the bank, and
living off the interest, but, hey, there's always next year's hot new car.
"At one auto
show some years back, I added up all the sales forecasts I'd been given by
senior executives from different automakers. Needless to say, it exceeded the
number of sales most analysts believed the year would finish at by a
considerable margin. In the auto business, it's always the other guy who's in
trouble, the other guy whose market share is going to get hammered."
- Angus Mackenzie,
Motor Trend
Editor-in-Chief
Motor
Trend, March 2006
"Automakers are accustomed to hard times.
"The economy
goes up, profits soar, and shareholders and executives gloat. But as quickly as
the Michigan seasons change, costs escalate; focus is lost, and the economy
weakens before books celebrating the previous successes even hit shelves.
"This happened
as recently as 1991, when U.S. automakers were being dominated by the Japanese
and hemorrhaging so badly that the Big Three lost a combined $7.5 billion,
unheard of at the time.
"Predicting the
end of Detroit would have been easy, and many took that route, assuming
America's last industrial stronghold had faced its day of reckoning: failure due
to poor quality; design, and management.
"But by 1994,
after a great awakening, the American automakers were back with striking
products and record earnings, intriguing domestic customers romanced by the auto
once again."
- David Magee,
author
Ford Tough, David Magee (John Wiley &
Sons Inc, 2005)
"Ford Motor Company had set the standards for world transportation
at the beginning of the 20th century by building affordable,
reliable cars for the masses.
"But the early
days of the 21st century revealed that America was approaching an automotive
crossroads.
"Consumers were
still seeking and enjoying the luxuries of large, lavish SUVs on one hand, but
asking for environmental and sensible alternatives on the other. Faith in the
American corporation was weakened, yet reliance on corporate responsibility
increased. No industry in America had the opportunity to deliver and respond to
the calls for change like the automotive industry, which accounts for roughly 15
percent of the U.S. economy when considering suppliers, dealers, and finance."
- David Magee,
author
Ford Tough, David Magee (John Wiley &
Sons Inc, 2005)
"Our lives, over
generations, have been so deeply intertwined with Ford Motor Company and its
milestones that if we have not read it, we have, at least in part, lived it,
from the introduction of the Model T (1908) to the first moving assembly line at
Highland Parl, Michigan (1918); military production and support in World War II;
the launch of the Thunderbird (1954); the end of the Edsel (1959); the birth of
the Mustang (1964); the hapless Pinto (1970); the import-whipping Taurus (1985);
the segment-birthing Explorer (1990), and the best-selling truck in the United
States, the F-series Pickup."
- David Magee,
author
Ford Tough, David Magee (John Wiley &
Sons Inc, 2005)
On Renault's
acquisition of Nissan: "Going after a European company was pointless,
considering Renault needed to grow outside of Europe, since the majority of its
sales were already derived there. There was also a fear of putting Renault in a
position of weakness by uniting with a bigger, stronger company.
"(Ghosn)
believed Nissan was the only company that had all the attributes Renault desired
and needed. He began to openly push for Nissan at a directors meeting in July
1998, telling fellow Renault executives that they should consider hiring some
'Japanese language instructors' and that they should all begin learning
Japanese."
- David Magee,
Turnaround: How Carlos Ghosn rescued Nissan (HarperBusiness, 2004)
"(Advertising
campaigns which) embrace the entire marque (are) unusual. I can't
think of (a) car campaign in recent years which has taken this
umbrella approach. The last one I remember was a Volvo campaign
about 12 years ago, when they talked about nothing but safety."
- Mick Mahoney, Kia Picanto ad
co-creator, Mustoes advertising
'How To... Make a Car Ad,' Autocar,
August 24th,
2004
"The automobile is as
integral to war as to peace, and to poverty as to prosperity. It is
the vehicle of progress and its nemesis. It is (my) proposition than
whenever that balance between necessity and excess begins to teeter
toward the latter, it begins to right itself, and the automobile
reverts toward its utilitarian origins as 'the people's car.'"
- Jonathan Mantle, Car Wars
(Arcade, 1995)
"The big
manufacturers - Ford, Volkswagen, Fiat, Citroën, and General Motors
- and luxury car makers such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Porsche -
had invested billions of dollars in developing designs that their
domestic markets alone could not sustain.
"The battle for the
new domestic and export markets had begun, and it was not merely
based on engineering excellence, but also on marketing and design.
"The 1960s were a
period of unparalleled affluence in America and Europe. The
automobile was unique in that it both fueled and drove that boom and
was the boom's most conspicuous and significant product. To the
American and European automakers there seemed no limit to how far
they would go."
- Jonathan Mantle, Car Wars
(Arcade, 1995)
"If you can find a product that resonates with people and really
taps an emotional well, you've got a winner on your hands. People
buy the cars they love and then spend a significant amount of time
justifying their purchases to other people."
- J Mays, Ford
Vice-President of Design
Retrofuturism: The Car Design of J Mays,
Armi & Brooke
(Universe, 2002)
"In some respects, the incorporation of 'heritage' into my design
approach is a reaction to the confusion and inconsistency created by
the fact that for many years cars radically changed in appearance
with each new model.
"My work is an attempt to create visual consistency within a brand
as a way to build faith in the brand.
"And, especially, at Ford, since there are so many brilliant cars in
the company's past, it's an important way to rebuild the brand's
identity and recapture some of the affection that people feel for
these iconic cars.
"Looking to them for inspiration is the first step, making them
contemporary and, hopefully, timeless is the big challenge. In many
ways, it's more difficult to design a new car based on an amazing
old one than it is to start with a clean sheet of paper.
"About the future, I certainly don't want anyone to think that all
we do is look back to the past because designing cars is all about
the future. While the cars you see on the road at the beginning of a
model year look new, we have had to think about them as much as five
years in advance."
- J Mays, Ford
Vice-President of Design
Retrofuturism: The Car Design of J Mays,
Armi & Brooke
(Universe, 2002)
"The
actual starting point (of the takeovers) was that business was so
awful that the distributors just wanted to get out. Whether it was
(Standard-Triumph USA head) Alan Bethell's recommendation, and
people in the UK decided with him that we should make it easier for
the distributors to go, or whether it was simply decided that they
should be taken out because they wanted to get out, I don't
remember.
"It was a
snowball thing... it was about July 1960 that we started talking to
distributors, and it was nine months to a year before we were done.
"Not being in
marketing, I have to take somebody else's word as to whether it was a good
thing. I thought the distributors were on average no better or worse than doing
it yourself. We certainly believed that it was financially sensible not to try
to support two organizations on the tiny profit margins available in those very
inexpensive cars."
- Ed McCauley, accounting
manager for Standard-Triumph, USA, on the
company's 1960 purchasing of its distributors
Triumph Cars in America,
Michael Cook
(MBI, 2001)
"From 1974 until the day that I left that company four years
later, my main concern was that we did not have a product lineup
that would be acceptable during the 1980s.
"A cycle plan
for new cars should last at least three months before it's reviewed. We had a
new one every week.
"We could
never make up our minds about what kinds of cars we wanted to build."
- Matt McLaughlin,
former vice-president and general manager of the Ford Division
Taurus: The Making of
the Car that Saved Ford, Eric Taub (Dutton, 1991)
"There was something of a David and Goliath attitude at work in
the early days. It often caused the imports to do bold things the
domestics would have regarded as unthinkable.
"Their
unconventional, often sophisticated, and sometimes whimsical advertising and
promotion are a case in point. Raw economics drove them to find ways to gain
maximum effect from skimpy advertising and promotional budgets, and the
pioneering spirit of their people led to independent thinking. Lean
organizations limited the layers of approval that so often hamper bold programs,
so that bright minds were able to exercise their imaginations.
"For imports,
sales development was tantamount to psychological warfare between themselves and
the domestic mass marketers, many of whom looked upon import enthusiasts as more
than a little mad! Some of our efforts raised the benchmark of automobile
advertising and promotion and, themselves, became the subject of editorial and
news coverage, adding to their effectiveness.
"Besides, it
was fun to be the tail that wagged the dog."
- J. Bruce
McWilliams, vice president of British Leyland in America
Triumph Cars in America,
Michael Cook
(MBI, 2001)
"We had grown used to having it easy. We would develop the car,
launch it, and people would simply queue up to buy it. I had an
uncle who was happy to wait for several years to get his
W123."
- anonymous
Mercedes-Benz aide to the CEO,
commenting on the years when engineers'
recommendations took precedence over costs
smart thinking,
Tony Lewin
(Motorbooks
International, 2004)
"It was a genuine shock when we launched the
W140 S-Class
(in March '91): people simply didn't want it - we weren't used to
things like that. Our previously loyal buyers went off and bought
the BMW 7 series:
it was the best thing that could have happened to the big BMW.
"We realized
something very important. We realized we had built the car that Mercedes-Benz
wanted, not the one our customers wanted."
- anonymous
Mercedes-Benz insider. In
1993, Mercedes-Benz plunged into loss for the first time.
smart thinking,
Tony Lewin
(Motorbooks
International, 2004)
"Sienna is the most important launch for
Toyota Division this year."
- Deborah Meyer, corporate manager of
marketing & communications, Toyota Division
'Toyota counts on kids in Sienna campaign,'
Automotive News,
April 28th, 2003
"Guess what
happened? Sales soared, the kids loved them, it added to the
excitement."
- Gerald Meyers,
Michigan Business School professor (and formerly American Motors
Corp. CEO),
speaking about NHTSA's requirement that all 1984-and-up
short-wheelbase SUVs carry sun visor stickers
High and Mighty, Keith Bradsher (PublicAffairsTM,
2002)
"It (the Jeep
division) escaped regulation - we didn't have to worry about fuel
economy much at all, we didn't have to worry about bumper height
standards, we didn't have to worry about side-impact standards, we
didn't have to worry about emissions standards.
"So, you see, it was
a dream for us - we didn't have the money to do anything, and we
didn't do anything... I wasn't doing the sociological thing, I was
keeping a dying company alive, I had the blinders on."
- Gerald Meyers,
Michigan Business School professor (and formerly American Motors
Corp. CEO),
speaking about the Reagan years
High and Mighty, Keith Bradsher (PublicAffairsTM,
2002)
"Our real clients buy
our cars like works of art... if they already have one, they won't
exchange it and when they buy another, it's to add to their
collection."
- Luca Cordero di Montezemolo,
Ferrari Chairman
The 1994 New Car Report,
Denis Duquet, Marc LaChapelle, and
Jacques Duval (Contemporary Books Inc., 1993)
"Mice love cars."
-
Heather A. Moore, Design Consultant, AutomoBear.com
"The misfortunes
of long-ago automotive inventors, geniuses, and madmen, struggling
(usually in vain) to interest a fickle public and overcome vested
interests, offer a mirror for our own troubled times. It's never
simple to buck tradition, even when that tradition is destructive to
all concerned.
"Looking back from
our omniscient vantage point, we might think that our ancestors
would have been glad to see all those troublesome equines put out to
pasture; but today's cars won't go gently to history's junkyards,
either."
- Jim Motavalli,
author, and editor of E: The Environmental Magazine
Forward Drive: The Race to Build 'Clean'
Cars for the Future (Sierra Club, 2000)
"Ironically,
the electric car died out just as some of the major objections to
it, such as high price, slow speed, and short range, were finally
being addressed.
"The last Detroit
Electrics could reach thirty-five miles per hour, which was
competitive in the early 1920s.
"No doubt,
electric-car technology would have continued to evolve, but with no
industry to support it, research and development went as flat as one
of Edison's batteries after a fifty-mile run.
"Go back a hundred
years, and you arrive at a time when gasoline was by no means the
fuel of choice, and alternative energy sources competed fiercely. By
learning from the past, could we go back to the future?"
- Jim Motavalli,
author, and editor of E: The Environmental Magazine
Forward Drive: The Race to Build 'Clean'
Cars for the Future (Sierra Club, 2000)
"After
investigating the long, colorful, and occasionally sordid history of
the automobile's interaction with the environment, I began to sense
that we were once again at a crossroads, looking into an uncertain
future.
"Instead of trying to
interest me in the sweep of a redesigned fender, car people were
suddenly talking excitedly about a host of exotic technologies, some
new and others just resurrected.
"It was to some
extent bewildering, because for my entire lifetime the industry had
focused relentlessly on internal combustion, making only minor
changes from year to year. Some engines, such as Chrysler's famous
Slant Six, stayed in production for almost three decades."
- Jim Motavalli,
author, and editor of E: The Environmental Magazine
Forward Drive: The Race to Build 'Clean'
Cars for the Future (Sierra Club, 2000)
"All small cars are
far more prone to pitch than larger ones, and the situation gets
worse when you design them with a wheel at each corner, as you must
do for good cabin space.
"Today's
buyers want more space-efficient, yet more comfortable, small cars - and with an
interconnected suspension both things are possible."
-
Dr. Alex Moulton, head of Moulton Developments and famous
(together with Sir Alec Issigonis) for his work on the original
Mini, commenting on his new research agreement
with Toyota
Autocar,
August 10th,
2004
"Let me tell you about horseback riding for a minute: it was wrong
to ride those animals."
-
Greg Muncer, of
the Auto Air Yacht project
Advanced Fleet Specialists, Ann Arbor,
MI
"Design is a way to
connect with people. Retro is just one way to connect. I'm not
against retro, but we have a short history, so it's not much to
utilize."
-
Shiro Nakamura, head of Nissan design (formerly of Isuzu)
'Designers
have their say,' Jean Jennings, Automobile, May 2004
"Unique
packaging, which gives consumers a new experience; sportiness;
simple and straightforward.
"If it's the same old
packaging, it could be copied. But if it's totally different, it
would take five or six years before Toyota or Honda could copy it."
-
Akinori Nakanishi, head of Mitsubishi design as of June, 2004,
asked what he wants Mitsubishi to be known for
and why. Nakanishi takes over from Olivier Boulay.
'Mitsubishi's new Design Chief must work his
magic fast,' Automotive
News, August 9th, 2004
"Thomas Edison once
said many of life's failures were people who did not realize how
close they were to success when they gave up. I'll admit I've spent
a considerable amount of time thinking about this recently."
-
Finbarr J. O'Neill, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer,
Mitsubishi Motors North America
Open Letter to Mitsubishi Dealers, published
in Automotive News, June 14th, 2004
"The
350Z
was my first road car - I worked on the exterior. The styling
principle we applied was called 'fusion of contrasts,' combining
soft surfaces with mechanical details - seeing this work in the real
world was really satisfying. If I had to pick a favorite element,
it'd be the tail light. I just like the shape. I'd love to make one
into a table lamp.
"There have been other projects: my work on an early
Nissan Altima
proposal called Arc
was pretty influential in defining the way Nissan dashboards look
today."
- Ajay Panchal, designer,
Nissan
'Early Draws,' Autocar,
July 27th, 2004
"If an EDS employee
saw a snake, he would kill it.
"(At General Motors),
first thing you do is organize a committee on snakes. Then you bring
in a consultant who knows a lot about snakes. Third thing you do is
talk about it for a year."
- Ross Perot, head of Electronic
Data Systems (EDS), and on the GM Board from 1984-1986
Car Wars,
Jonathan Mantle (Arcade 1995)
"This place (General
Motors) cries out for engineers with greasy hands, who know how to
make cars, to be making the policy.
"This company could
do a number of things to signal a new day at GM.
"For example, I'd get
rid of the fourteenth floor. I'd get rid of the executive dining
rooms; I would urge the senior executives to locate their offices
where real people are doing real work."
- Ross Perot, head of Electronic
Data Systems (EDS), and on the GM Board from 1984-1986
Car Wars,
Jonathan Mantle (Arcade 1995)
"By the time you
see an ugly car, it's already too late.
"The decisions have
been made; the go-aheads given. Millions have been committed to a
design that someone enthusiastically thought would be the next 'in'
thing - but which really should have been thrown in the trash,
preferably after being used to wrap fish."
- Eric Peters,
author, and automotive columnist for America Online,
Netscape, and Compuserve
Automotive Atrocities: The Cars We Love to
Hate (Motorbooks, 2004)
"For Mercedes-Benz, function,
technology and design are one unity; they are inseparable. It varies
from manufacturer to manufacturer. Some manufacturers live by design
only, but this would not be right for Mercedes-Benz."
- Peter Pfeiffer, Senior Vice
President, DaimlerChrysler AG
'Design Defined,' How to: Design
Cars Like a Pro, Tony Lewin
"It's always preferable to have a reference
brand to base your ideas on, rather than making just a 'Bertone-style' car."
- Roberto Piatti, Managing Director, Stile Bertone
'A Birusa experience,' Road & Track,
August 2003
"Tradition in the United States gets attention. Think about
Harley-Davidson - they do a beautiful job."
- Dr. Ferdinand Piech,
Volkswagen Chairman &
CEO, on the Concept 1/ New Beetle
Automobile,
December 1993
"(Placing work on a future ecological car with an outside company)
would have given our R&D people the message that they were incapable
of doing it on their own, that we preferred to bring in a Swiss
engineer who had had a big hit with watches.
"The idea of
our own small car with three-liter (94 mpg) consumption was already around. It
seemed a much better proposition than a two-seater with an absurd wheelbase that
couldn't possibly give enough space for the things that make up a proper car.
For me, it was an elephant's roller skate - not even a practical bubble car.
"Even the
eventual sales success of the smart doesn't make me in the least bit jealous as
I know that it's resulting in a deep red financial bottom line. it was always my
ambition to finish my term in office not leaving behind any product lines that
were making a loss. If we'd had smart, that wouldn't have been possible."
- Dr. Ferdinand
Piëch, Volkswagen Chairman & CEO,
commenting on why he dismantled the Swatchmobile (smart)
program upon taking office on January 1st, 1993. Shortly
thereafter, Mercedes-Benz took on the project.
smart thinking.... the little car that made
it big, Tony Lewin
(Motorbooks
International, 2004)
"The handling of a
rear-drive car in principle will always be more agile than a
front-drive car."
- Dr. Bernd Pischetsrieder,
Volkswagen CEO
Motor Trend,
October 2004
"The genius of (Bob)
Lutz is that he fully understands cars and he understands customers.
"He's maybe not the
best product guy in absolute engineering terms, and he may not be
absolutely the best tuned-in guy to the customer.
"But he mixes those
two skills better than anyone else."
- Dr. Bernd Pischetsrieder,
Volkswagen CEO, on GM Vice Chairman of Product Development Bob Lutz
Motor Trend,
October 2004
"One of the
differences between (former chairman) Dr. Piëch and me is that I
fully accept that the vehicles I have a passion for may not
necessarily sell.
"My philosophy is
that if I like a car, I buy it. But if I approve a car to
manufacture and sell, it must be profitable."
- Dr. Bernd Pischetsrieder,
Volkswagen CEO
Motor Trend,
October 2004
"We had an icon
(in the Golf GTi),
and we managed to completely kill it. If it hadn'y been for those
fans of the old GTi,
and their clubs and meetings, the icon would've disappeared
completely."
- Dr. Bernd Pischetsrieder,
Volkswagen CEO, on the Golf GTi's 3rd
and 4th successors
Motor Trend,
October 2004
"You don't learn from
customer research what people like - you learn what people don't
like. What they don't like today, they will continue to dislike in
the future. But what they like - that changes.
"The customer is
never right when you ask him what he wants in five or ten years. He
cannot imagine that people will invent, for instance, a navigation
system. But if our engineers know what is on their shelves and what
can be done in the future, and the customer tells us what he doesn't
like about today's cars, well this combination brings innovation."
- Dr. Bernd Pischetsrieder,
Volkswagen CEO
'This is what I've learnt,' CAR,
August 2004
"You can't get
people to sit over an explosion."
- Colonel Albert Pope,
electric car manufacturer in Hartford, Connecticut.
Pope had sold 500 electric cars by 1897.
Forward Drive: The Race to Build 'Clean'
Cars for the Future (Sierra Club, 2000)
"The birth of a new car
should take no longer than the birth of a new child."
- Professor Ferdinand Porsche,
Porsche founder
Porsche Legends, Randy Leffingwell (MBI, 2002)
"I
believe you can't come up with regulations to create more
fuel-efficient, smaller vehicles.
"There needs to be a system where the marketplace directs the
consumer - through the pricing mechanism - to conserve fuel.
"Then you would have more people interested in hybrid vehicles (with
improved gas mileage) because they could see it is more economical
to purchase that type of vehicle.
"That is where the legislature has to effectively enact laws, rules,
and regulations that will force the market-pricing mechanism to take
over and change consumer behavior, rather than the government
telling the manufacturers to build vehicles that have better fuel
economy."
- J.D. Power, III,
chairman and chief executive officer of J.D. Power and Associates
Inside the Minds: The Automotive Industry
(Aspatore, 2002)
"I once had
a camera shoved into my face. And another company once drove their car right at
my son, who was helping me take pictures. But I sent film of the incident
straight to the automaker, and they came down hard on the driver. Usually, the
worst that happens is an upraised middle finger.
"I usually try
to hide the faces of the engineers and drivers if possible. But if they're rude
to me, you'll see their faces on the front page."
- Brenda Priddy,
spy photographer since
1992, when her shot of the upcoming 1995 Mustang landed the November
issue of Automobile
Motor Trend,
March
2006
"The numbers are
small but the dedication of these customers is beyond belief.
"I've spent time with
Ferrari and Lamborghini owners, and never saw this level of
enthusiasm. These are people on a personal mission. They believe
they are pioneers bringing in the next generation of the car
business. They're just the customers we want, high-energy people
carrying the message."
- Robert Purcell Jr.,
head of GM's Advanced Technology Vehicles division,
speaking about EV customers
Forward Drive: The Race to Build 'Clean'
Cars for the Future, Jim Motavalli, (Sierra Club, 2000)
"We are one of the few brands
in the U.S. where sons want to drive what their fathers drive."
- Tom Purves, Chairman & CEO, BMW of North
America
'2004 BMW 5 series,' The Car Connection,
October 6th, 2003
"Do
we need to build the whole body out of this lightweight aluminum
technology? By utilizing aluminum from the A-pillar forward, we achieve 50/50
weight distribution."
- Tom Purves, Chairman & CEO, BMW of North
America
'2004 BMW 5 series,' The Car Connection,
October 6th, 2003
"What
may appear to most as an automotive eccentricity is actually a
carefully engineered safety innovation. Do we Saabists whine
endlessly about binding up our ignition switches with dirt and
debris? Absolutely. But that's a minor annoyance compared with
surgery to remove a key ring from a knee after a collision."
- Reader's Letter:
Alison Beaton of Brookline, New Hampshire,
Motor Trend, July 2004
"Interiors
are the new battleground in which new customers are won or lost."
- Marek Reichman, director of
interior design strategy, Ford
'So long Rat Fur,' Ward's Auto World,
July 1st, 2004
"I
started this discussion of overhang at BMW. Audi and Mercedes cars,
I always thought, looked like dachshund dogs being dragged across
the carpet by their chins. The minimum overhang gives a more
athletic and streamlined look; that and pushing the wheels out to
the most extreme four corners as possible. I used to drive our
packaging engineers crazy with this obsession of mine with the front
end."
- Wolfgang Reitzle, former R&D
chief, BMW AG
Driven:
Inside BMW, the Most Admired Car Company in the World, David
Kiley (2004)
"My thinking was, and
still is to a degree, that a BMW should be like an Italian suit. It
has to fit, and it only goes up to a certain size. If the customer
needs more room and more space, they can go to another company like
Mercedes or Audi or Opel. We made the cars bigger one generation to
the next, but never put a priority about making things bigger for
the sake of utility - only about performance, handling, style, and
making more profit. This was key to our consistency, and we always
felt that there is profit in consistency."
- Wolfgang Reitzle, former R&D
chief, BMW AG
Driven:
Inside BMW, the Most Admired Car Company in the World, David
Kiley (2004)
"Smart stands for innovation, for function, for emotions - and for
joy of life.
"The word,
smart, is the best definition of our brand value because the smart word stands
for much more than just clever. I think the word smart is one of the most
positive words in the English language. Everybody wants to be smart. On styling,
we said we wanted extraordinary styling, we want to always be a little bit ahead
of competition, and we can do this if we look to brand values and to our
two-material concept we can use a very good styling approach - you can see it in
the forfour.
"It is very
important for such a young brand to be in a stable state so that customers can
always see, 'oh, that is a smart.' "
- Andreas
Renschler, smart president
smart thinking.... the little car that made
it big, Tony Lewin
(Motorbooks
International, 2004)
"From my point
of view, it was way too much at once at the beginning. New product, new brand,
new sales network, new production facility - to do it all at once is a big
undertaking.
"If I were to
do it again, I would not focus on all the new things which have to be done at
once. To have a new production system is ok, the brand is ok because you're
using a new brand, and the new concept is ok, too.
"But maybe you
need a stable factor, because it is like an equation: if you have two unknowns
then you have a problem.
"Maybe it's
speculation, but if from the first day you had used the [existing Mercedes]
sales network, you might have been able to focus better. If you focus too much
on everything, somehow you will lose the substance in some directions.
"You have to
use the synergies, you have to use the know-how. Because Mercedes-Benz has over
100 years of experience it cannot be everything bad, so use it intelligently and
be independent enough to make your decision on what to use and what not - that
will bring you one step further."
- Andreas
Renschler, smart president,
on the idea that smart's traumas were
due to it trying to do too much at once
smart thinking.... the little car that made
it big, Tony Lewin
(Motorbooks
International, 2004)
"The last third of
the 20th century in the United States saw a crisis in public trust
that threatened to undermine public communication campaigns. Within
a period of a few years, criticism of public officials, public
agencies, corporations, and other powerful entities... found its
postwar voice.
"Ralph Nader's indictment of the automobile industry, Unsafe at
Any Speed, was published in 1965.
"Under the media microscope, the flaws of individuals and
institutions were enormous but not monstrous. At century's end, it
was not the idealist but the cynic who was being told to 'Get over
it.' "
- Ronald E. Rice & Charles K.
Atkin, Public Communication Campaign (Sage Publications,
2001)
"Where retro styling leaves you nowhere to go next, Bangle's designs
can evolve. Bangle's mission has been to develop a style that plays
with the tube formula.
"Bangle's idea
is that car styling essentially divides into three historical eras: pre-1920s,
1920s to about 1970, and from 1970 onwards.
"People are
growing weary of the post-1970 style, and car designers are searching for the
way forward. In a nutshell, where most manufacturers have gone retro, BMW has
instead gone Bangle.
"Here's the
mental picture Bangle drew me. Picture a BMW
3 series head on. If the
car's flanks were to continue upwards instead of ending at the roof, they would
eventually meet, and you would be looking at a 'tube.'
"Car styling
is a question of how much bodywork surfaces deviate from the whole of the tube -
think of the tube as a lump of rock which can then be chiseled by a sculptor.
Since 1970, car styling has deviated relatively little from this tube; bodywork
surfaces have been simple.
"Bangle
gesticulates; in the hey-day of the previous design era, the 1950s, styling took
free reign to deviate as much from the tube as possible, with fins, bumpers and
glass areas sprouting all over the place. This is the excitement other
manufacturers are attempting to re-capture with retro design, but this is not
the path BMW wants to follow."
- Toby Richards-Carpenter,
journalist
'Chris Bangle interview,'
Top Gear, March 8th, 2004
"The rumors of Oldsmobile's demise had all but subsided in the
press. However, we were still perceived as 'your father's
Oldsmobile.' I thought we could reach back into Oldsmobile's rich
heritage of innovation and performance to put a halo over the brand.
What better way to accomplish this than a Carroll Shelby two-seater
powered and sold by Oldsmobile, in the Ford Cobra tradition!
"The only problem was, I had all of Oldsmobile's new product budget
committed to the yet-to-be-announced
Intrigue, Alero,
and 'Shortstar' V-6 engine. Carroll already had the car in his head
but not quite enough money in his 'ass back pocket.'
"My advertising manager was young with a good career in front of
him. He had no appetite for an 'under-the-covers' car program
without corporate approval that was bound to get extensive
publicity. He drifted over to by bosses' corporate bedroom.' The
politics got tough and I took the 'golden handshake.'
I
felt that I had let Carroll down. In hindsight, I should have taken
the job he offered me to finish the car."
- John Rock,
Oldsmobile General Manager through late-1996
Snake Bit, Eric
Davison (Motorbooks, 2004)
"One
thing that contributes to the wellness of a company is its
traditions. Great companies have great traditions, big events that
employees can look forward to. Every event in a company's history
deserves an event to remember it by. Whether you're producing job
one or job one million, whether the company is ten years old or a
hundred, it's important to observe these milestones."
- Marvin Runyon, head of Nissan's Smyrna,
Tennessee plant (succeeded by Jerry
Benefield)
Jump Start: Japan Comes to the Heartland,
David Gelsanliter (Harper & Collins, 1990)
"One of the best examples of architectural sharing in the business
is Ford with the Volvo S40 and Mazda3."
- Jim Sanfilippo,
market analyst, AMCI Marketing
'Ailing Lincoln's
new boss faces big task,' Eric Mayne, The Detroit News,
June 16th, 2005
"We have fewer levels of management here at smart (than at
Mercedes-Benz), but that's not really the most important difference.
"As a new
company, you have to discuss and create much more. In other companies - not just
Mercedes-Benz - you have to look very carefully at your past first. For smart it
is different: we have to create a future. The need to create new ideas is much
more important at smart than it is at any other company."
- Philipp Schiemer,
smart marketing director
smart thinking.... the little car that made
it big, Tony Lewin
(Motorbooks
International, 2004)
"So this is Maria,
the beast."
-
Arnold Schwarzenegger, upon viewing a
Hummer H2 prototype (codenamed Project Maria, after his
wife), Nov '99
Hummer H2, John Lamm & Matt DeLorenzo (Motorbooks,
2002)
"First,
Iacocca's style is direct, to the point, and highly credible.
"Second, Iacocca uses
the notoriety garnered from the unprecedented turnaround at Chrysler
to address larger audiences and more general issues. In many ways,
he symbolizes Chrysler's resurrection which, in turn, is symbolic of
America's larger economic struggle. In Iacocca's discourse, the
Chrysler story is a microcosm of America's problems as well as a
source of practical and tested solutions.
"Third, unlike many
business leaders, Iacocca takes a public stand regarding a wide
range of complex and sensitive economic and social issues, including
education reform, the trade deficit, the federal budget deficit,
business competitiveness, and, most recently, the North American
Free Trade Agreement.
"Fourth, unlike most
business speakers, Iacocca appeals to fundamental values. In
Iacocca's message, business is much more than making a profit.
Business is also related to deeply held values and beliefs
concerning jobs, sacrifice, cooperation, and the uniqueness of the
American experience.
"Finally, Iacocca's
skill as a public communicator sets him apart from most other
business speakers. He speaks with authority, flair, and an animated
delivery, frequently embellishing the prepared manuscript with
off-the-cuff remarks and reactions.
"Most important,
perhaps, is that Iacocca is sensitive to the needs, interests, and
concerns of his audiences and understands the process of
communication and his responsibilities as a communicator."
- Matthew W. Seeger, author,
associate professor, and director of graduate studies in the Dept.
of Communication at Wayne State University
I Gotta Tell
You: Speeches of Lee Iacocca (Wayne State University Press, 1994)
"Whereas the
political and economic effect of the railways was to offer society a
certain consolidation, the motor car offered particularity, so that
any member of society with such a vehicle available could at last
choose his own starting point and his own destination; link them by
his own choice of routes, and make the journey either alone or in
company of his own choosing.
"Another fixed
condition of human life was thus lifted: an individual could now
shun isolation; could enjoy independent mobility; could indulge his
curiosity and hope.
"Steam may have brought
us into the Machine Age, but it was the motor car which brought us
out of the Dark Ages.
"It had to be a
'petrol' car. Steam could never have accomplished it, lacking the
convenience; the practicality; the small-scale efficiency, of the
still incomparable petrol-burner."
- LJK Setright
Drive On: A Social History of the
Motor Car, LJK Setright (Palawan Press Ltd., 2002)
"It is never
easy to build a sports car with a major manufacturer. I ought to know as I've
done it several times. Getting around bureaucracy and the 'not invented here'
syndrome makes for lots of highs and lows in the process."
- Caroll Shelby
Snake Bit, Eric Davison (2004)
"The
Honda Motor Company Ltd. is unique even among Japanese automobile manufacturers.
The uniqueness originates mainly in Soichiro Honda, the founder of Honda Motor,
who pursued technology ceaselessly and had a fearless entrepreneurial spirit.
"Thus, in the company, Soichiro's successors inherited his spirit to
reject imitation, preconceived ideas, preceding examples, and even
hierarchical structures."
- Koichi Shimokawa
'Honda, an Independent Global Automobile Company, Out of
the Four Million Units Club'
"Every dynamic
move an automobile makes, whether it's to accelerate, brake, or
change direction involves managing mass.
"From a standstill,
the energy has to overcome the static inertia of the car as well as
the rotational inertia of the wheels (you sure you want those 22s?)
Everything has to be spun up, shoved off, and started down the road,
and it all takes power.
"Stopping is the
same, with the car's weight and, again, rotating masses attempting
to maintain their progress.
"Cornering is all
about convincing the vehicle's mass to deviate from its current
heading, something it'll always resist.
"The more mass there
is, the more doggedly it defends its Newtonian right to continue
doing what it's doing instead of accepting the change you're asking
for.
"So whatever you're
going to want a car to do (short of crash into a bridge abutment or
semi truck), it'll do better and more happily if you saddle it with
less weight.
"Light definitely
makes it right. Yet light weight doesn't come free or even cheap.
Anything, from the tiniest bracket to a complete unit-body
structure, costs more to make light than it does to make heavy."
- Kevin Smith, Editor-In-Chief
'See the Light,' Motor Trend,
July 2004
"For the
auto companies, there's a certain goofy camaraderie that develops when you're
working for weeks on end in an environment where people take saunas to cool off.
Several years ago, some Mercedes engineers hung the front clip of an SLK on the
wall of the bar - complete with working flashers and headlight washers. After
they left, the BMW guys came in and monkeyed with the works, so now if you turn
it on the SLK sprays you in the face."
- Arthur St. Antoine,
Editor-At-Large, on prototype testing
Motor Trend,
March
2006
"The
MINI's most important to me, though, because it was vital to get
that car absolutely right. I was a half-American, half-Spaniard
working on a German reincarnation of an English icon, and there was
no margin to get it even slightly wrong.
"I've yet to produce anything I'm more proud of than that car's
'too-big-to-press-in-one-piece' bonnet; only the
Maserati Quattroporte's
front seats come even remotely close."
- Frank Stephenson, Design
Director, Ferrari-Maserati (and designer of the MINI)
'Early Draws,' Autocar,
July 27th, 2004
"Chrome
bumpers have gone forever. You just couldn't do a visible bumper.
Windscreens will never be upright again and in the cabin there are
strict regulations on the radii of the edges - anything sharp is
out."
- Peter Stevens, head of
MG-Rover Design, commenting on upcoming safety regulations
'Iconography,'
evo, September 2004
"Why do we know so little about the designers who created the
cars that surround us? It is partly, of course, because we all tend
to think of cars first and foremost in terms of their performance
and as pieces of moving technology rather than as pieces of
sculpture enhancing our everyday lives.
"They are in reality both, a combination that is made possible by
the designer working in tandem with the engineer.
"The more one examines the work of individual designers who have
been influential the more one discovers a set of personal languages
which reflect diverse emotional and aesthetic responses. Once one
becomes sensitized to those individual languages it will never again
be possible to confuse one designer's car with another's. Look at
the lines of a Raymond Loewy Studebaker and compare them to Harley
Earl's exuberance or Ercole Spada's subtlety. The differences are as
interesting as those in paintings by different Renaissance masters
or in buildings by Le Corbusier or Frank Lloyd Wright. We rarely
hear the complaint that 'all buildings look the same.' "
-
Penny Sparke, A Century of Car Design (Octopus, 2002)
"The stuck-speedo scenario (at the scene of a crash) is like evidence from the
afterlife, the indicator needle a pointing finger.
"A stuck car speedo is the
automotive identical twin to, 'the victim's watch had stopped at...' in a
Hercule Poirot mystery. Personally, I couldn't imagine any machine so loyal as a
watch that will expire at almost precisely the same time as its owner. Well,
maybe a pacemaker."
- Michael Stahl, CAR,
May 2004
"Understatement is an inherent part of what
the (Bentley) brand is. It goes back to our Britishness. We are not loud and
screaming as a nation or a culture. We are quietly confident and reserved with a
modern, hard edge to this Britishness."
- Alasdair Stewart, CEO, Bentley USA
'Bentley comes out from under (silver) shadow,'
Automotive News,
May 5th, 2003
"Car companies spend
millions coming up with names for their products.
"And if... they can't
find the right words, there are still more folks assigned the task
of making them up.
"The value of some
brand names - Coca Cola, Apple, Ferrari - is incalculable. So we're
curious why car companies are working so hard to throw away names
that engender positive perceptions and loyal followings. Acura
tossed off popular brand names, such as
Legend
and Integra,
in favor of amorphous letter designations, like
RL
and TSX.
GM recently killed off Camaro
and Firebird.
Now, Land Rover is ditching
Discovery, at
least in the U.S."
- Matt Stone, Executive Editor
'Here's what's in a
name,' Motor Trend, September 2004
"This car has created
a unique marketing dilemma, in that it needs to attract not only the
middle-aged GTO
Faithful who've kept the Goat's flame burning since the original
went away after the 1974 model year, but also young performance
enthusiasts who currently shop at Honda, Subaru, and Mitsu stores.
"These audiences have
dissimilar tastes."
- Matt Stone, Executive Editor
'2005 Pontiac GTO,'
Motor Trend, September 2004
"The idea of
squeezing a big engine into a relatively small saloon is not a new
one, naturally. Yet no matter how many times people try to do it,
the appeal of the idea never seems to wear too thin.
"... the very first
'thunder-saloon' was probably the Coombes Jaguar of the 1960s -
which started life as a regular 3.8 Jag but turned into something
altogether naughtier once John Coombes had had his wicked way with
it. And, of course, once the Coombes Jag set the ball rolling, a
whole host of ferocious factory-made four-seaters started to appear:
Lotus Cortina, Sierra Cosworth, Lancia Thema 8.32, Lotus Carlton,
Mercedes 500E, Jaguar XJr, Nissan Skyline, etc. Not to mention the
explosion of mad four-seaters that appeared in the States in the
'60s and '70s, and over in Australia - where the fixation is
stronger than ever, thanks to the never-ending showdown between Ford
and Holden's high-performance divisions.
"... the thing about
the rapid four-seater, no matter which era or which example you
choose to highlight (is that) as a concept, it's a ridiculously but
deliciously flawed idea.
"In the end, it's the
hotrod in the M5 we love most, not its refinement. Always has been,
always will be. Amen."
-
Steve Sutcliffe, Editor, Autocar
'Power to
the phwoar-door,' Autocar, April 13th, 2004
"Even if the target
seems so high as to be unachievable at first glance, if you explain
the necessity to all the people involved and insist upon it,
everyone will become enthusiastic in the spirit of challenge, will
work together, and achieve it."
- Ichiro Suzuki,
chief engineer of the first Lexus
The Toyota Way, Jeffrey K. Liker
(McGraw-Hill, 2004)
"If you want to make
a car that goes very fast, it's very well-suited to also reducing
the aerodynamic resistance. So these two elements are harmonious.
"When you get up to
speeds of 250km/h, your air resistance reaches levels of about 95
percent or over. So the more you're able to reduce this aerodynamic
coefficient, the more speed you're going to be able to achieve.
"So these things suit
each other well, these two targets.
"Similarly, improving
the fuel economy is very harmonious with the goal of reducing the
vehicle mass.
"However, we didn't
know what to do with the quietness factor because to reduce the
quietness to an extreme level, that leads to higher mass.
"So we needed to
start acting on a new operating principle. And the new principle we
adopted was not to dampen the noise that exists, but to reduce the
amount of noise at its source, by making quieter engines."
- Ichiro Suzuki,
chief engineer of the first Lexus
The Toyota Way, Jeffrey K. Liker
(McGraw-Hill, 2004)
"You'll always have the reluctant ones. They can accept it or reject
it. Personally, I'm having fun."
- Chris Theodore,
DaimlerChrysler senior
vp of platform engineering, on the DCX merger
Automobile,
February 1999
"Certainly there's the stereotype about Germans being very
dictatorial. But they're not nearly as stereotypical as you think. They're very
well organized. They have to be well-prepared, and they have to show that they
put a lot of thought in place before they present something, which is different
from an American.
"They do a lot
of preparation in advance, probably too much. A bunch of Americans would
intuitively say, Hey, I think I know the right answer. Let's go.
"By the same
token, you'd be amazed at how open the engineering debates are. I've seen very
open, very frank, even violent discussion to get everybody's viewpoints on the
table.
"(The Daimler
people) have already made a huge cultural shift before the
DaimlerChrysler merger, from being old and staid to dynamic and aggressive.
"But if the
melding of the two corporations drags on too long, then we're in trouble. If you
give people too much time, the bureaucracy of the system comes up with all the
good reasons not to change. That's why both sides are moving fast. You hear it
in speech after speech. But there's still an American scale of speed and a
German scale of speed.
"You can't keep
two peer groups operating separately as peers for too long. Somebody's got to be
in charge of it. But the dominoes are starting to fall. Both sides recognize
that success is going to be determined by the speed of change."
- Chris Theodore,
DaimlerChrysler senior
vp of platform engineering, on the DCX culture clash
Automobile,
February 1999
"It
was crazy. Here we had a brake of a type we'd been producing for
damn near forty years throughout the worldwide industry. There were
no secrets to disc brakes. One brake was basically like another
brake, but ours had this irritating squeak.
"When I heard about it, I called the president of Kelsey-Hayes, who
was supplying the brakes. I found him in China. I raised hell.
"It turned out one of their engineers had made a small change in our
specifications. That was the source.
"Then some of the master cylinders started to leak. Do you know how
long this industry has been making master cylinders? We've been
using hydraulic brakes since the 1920s - seventy years! And
we got a leak. Not on all of 'em, maybe 8% of the units. But if
you're seeking zero defects, 8% might as well be 100%.
"We got it fixed - it was a flawed o-ring - but it was more
aggravation with a situation you just don't think can be the source
of a problem."
- Chris Theodore,
Chrysler minivan platform leader (and former head of engine
engineering at AMC),
talking about brake issues with
the first of the third-generation Town & Country/ Caravan/ Voyager
models
The Critical Path: Inventing an Automobile
and Reinventing a Corporation, Brock Yates
(Little, Brown &
Company, 1996)
"The
team that was set up at AMC was successful. What was not successful
was the mother ship, Renault. It was not ready to change and was in
deep trouble with a lot of lackluster products. Funny. The French
had great engineers. Great engineers. They taught us a lot
but they were insensitive to some of the problems. They couldn't
accept that there might be something different coming back at them.
"The Daimler
people seem to know their strengths and weaknesses."
- Chris Theodore,
DaimlerChrysler senior
vp of platform engineering, and former head of engine engineering at
AMC, on the AMC culture clash
Automobile,
February 1999
"When the French
came, all of a sudden these AMC factions gelled into one group with two camps.
There were the hard-headed AMC guys with, Goddam it; this is the way it is
and we're not going to let the Frogs tell us how to do business. And then
there were the rest of the guys. The obvious thing happened. The guys who fought
it, lost. The guys who learned got better and went on to do great Jeeps."
- Chris Theodore,
DaimlerChrysler senior
vp of platform engineering, and former head of engine engineering at
AMC, on the AMC culture clash
Automobile,
February 1999
"You may have
forgotten that American Motors was an amalgam of Hudson; Nash, and Kaiser Jeep.
There were already three factions: Kenosha (Wisconsin), Detroit, and Toledo. And
they all wore it like a badge of honor: those goddam Jeep guys. Those goddam
Kenosha guys.
"When the French
came, all of a sudden these AMC factions gelled into one group with two camps.
There were the hard-headed AMC guys with, Goddam it; this is the way it is
and we're not going to let the Frogs tell us how to do business. And then
there were the rest of the guys. The obvious thing happened. The guys who fought
it, lost. The guys who learned got better and went on to do great Jeeps."
- Chris Theodore,
DaimlerChrysler senior
vp of platform engineering, and former head of engine engineering at
AMC, on the AMC culture clash
Automobile,
February 1999
"To
be a leader in the automotive industry, I believe that above all, it
takes integrity. This industry has a reputation for having problems
in that area, and if you are going to lead in it, your word and
integrity must be your highest priority.
"During tough times when decisions are critical, you see the
integrity in people. It is easy to be ethical when everything is
wonderful, but when things are hard, you need people who are
grounded and solid in their principles and who know exactly where
they stand and will not let current events change their foundation."
- Scott L.
Thompson, Group 1 Automotive executive vice president, chief
financial officer & treasurer
Inside the Minds: The Automotive Industry
(Aspatore, 2002)
"To
be fair, in both those cases (in which evo criticized the
Civic Type-R
and Focus RS),
the manufacturers took it extremely well: we weren't even crossed
off their Christmas card lists.
"Because they understand that it's really nothing personal.
"Criticize a Ferrari, and you're virtually excommunicated."
- Peter Tomalin, Editor
evo,
August 2004
"When
Japan was making great efforts to rehabilitate and reconstruct after
the defeat in the Second World War, we acquired the concept of
quality control. This was introduced to Japan by your Edwards
Deming.
"This spirit of producing good products at low prices has prevailed
in Japan in the thirty-five years since the concept was introduced.
It is a very large factor in the success that Japan now enjoys.
"In the Japanese form of wrestling, the pupil expresses his
gratitude... by becoming so strong and capable that he is able to
defeat his teacher."
- Dr. Shoichiro Toyoda, Toyota president
and CEO, 1985 Herald
Leader interview
Jump Start: Japan Comes to the Heartland,
David Gelsanliter
(Harper & Collins, 1990)
"Instead of
avoiding competition with Ford and Chevrolet, we will develop and
mass-produce a car that incorporates the strong points of both, and
that can rival foreign cars in performance... and price."
- Kiichiro Toyoda, Toyota
founder,
speaking after the formation of the
company in August 1937
Lexus: The challenge to create the
finest automobile, Brian Long (Veloce,
2000)
"This
door leads to a different world.
"It's one of the doors to our new billion dollar automotive plant in
Georgetown, Kentucky, just outside of Lexington.
"... the people in that world are mostly Americans. They're
independent, creative, impatient for progress.
"But we're using techniques and thought processes that were
developed in another world - one driven by patience, persistence,
and dependence on the group.
"It makes for a nice mix: our American side teaching our Japanese
side how to step back, let go and fly with big new ideas; while our
Japanese side teaches our American side how to slow down, focus, and
make those ideas work."
- Toyota ad copy, released after the
opening of Toyota's Georgetown, KY plant
Jump Start: Japan Comes to the Heartland,
David Gelsanliter (Harper & Collins, 1990)
"Welcome
to the spirit of 'kaizen,' the restless search for a better way -
the Asian counterpart to American ingenuity."
- Toyota company spokesman, speaking after
the opening of Toyota's Georgetown, KY plant
Jump Start: Japan Comes to the Heartland,
David Gelsanliter (Harper & Collins, 1990)
"Automatic, because I just can't
handle driving a stick in traffic. All the cars I have are auto. I
can't deal with traffic and clutch and all that business."
- Paul Tracy, CART driver for
Team Players Lola (Ford Cosworth) (asked about his daily driver)
'Paul Tracy,' Motor Trend,
August 2003
"By comparison to
pre-war models, cars from the post-war era were modest and
respectable in their basic design, like all things made when times
are hard and materials scarce.
"However, when the
shock of war was over, cars were made into a baroque extravaganza
with pastel colors, chrome, and tail wings.
"In the sixties, the
new and predominant lines were slim, flat, dynamic, and purist.
"In the seventies,
models were angular and graphic: at that time, the new trend was
called wedge form; the front was often radically cut off, colors
were more bright, and a matt-black look sparked off a new fashion.
"In the eighties,
box-shaped cars were characterized by function and common sense: in
the search for maximum rationality, the body became higher and the
wheels smaller; at the same time, the goal was aerodynamics and the
finest possible integration of all component parts.
"In the nineties,
emotions were rediscovered, so that forms became more expressive,
softer and rounder: a wave of retro styling began.
"Around the turn of
the century, an age of eclecticism emerged, which was meant to
satisfy the need for greater individuality. Nostalgia joins forces
with experiments: on the one hand, new design languages are
developed; on the other hand, a neo-classical style comes to the
forefront. Brand features are rediscovered and emphasized. Heritage
alone plays an increasingly important role."
- Paulo Tumminelli, Professor for
Design Concepts at the Köln International School of Design
Car Design,
Paolo Tumminelli (teNeues, 2004)
"Cars made in the
USA? They are self-confident in the extreme, ridiculously large and
often eccentric.
"More strict and
consistent design is made in Germany, where concept and function
take priority over style and appearance.
"Whether traditional
or avant-garde, this country's cars are always aristocratic and
uncompromising: Great Britain's models are unmistakably styled on
the Buckingham Palace look.
"The French enjoy
surprising everyone, they always design in a revolutionary,
non-conformist style, even is this is at the expense of true beauty.
"It can be classical
and elegant, radical and chic, or rational and beautiful, the
characteristic obsession with a good figure has made Italy a
reliable design school.
"Japan's art, on the
other hand, is often to borrow something from everything and still
to remain undeniably Japanese."
- Paulo Tumminelli, Professor for
Design Concepts at the Köln International School of Design
Car Design,
Paolo Tumminelli (teNeues, 2004)
"In 1963, Ford
defined a car designer's job as follows: the 'stylist' is a
'catalyst between nature and technology.' He must possess
multi-faceted skills and know-how.
"'He is a textile
designer, sculptor, glass, and plastics designer, architect,
interior designer, artist, production and installation designer."
- Paulo Tumminelli, Professor for
Design Concepts at the Köln International School of Design
Car Design,
Paolo Tumminelli (teNeues, 2004)
"In
most campaigns, you have 30% with you, 30% against, and 40%
undecided. You work to win over half that 40%, plus one.
"Here (in Smyrna, Tennessee), we have had to start from almost zero.
Nissan workers act like 'the chosen.' "
- Jim Turner, UAW chief organizer for ten
southeastern states & part of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Turner died of cancer on April 22nd, 1989.
Jump Start: Japan Comes to the Heartland,
David Gelsanliter (Harper & Collins, 1990)
"It
constantly surprises this author that the Japanese have such a clear
appreciation of textures when it comes to silk, water and stone, but somehow
this never translates into the plastic surfaces within a car."
- Liz Turner, author
You & Your Mazda MX-5/ Miata (Haynes, 2002)
"Looking
back, and into a totally different segment of the market, it's
surprising how influential the work I did for Škoda has turned out.
With the Octavia
and Fabia
particularly, it's proved that their brand image can be enforced
through good design and better perceived quality."
- Dirk van Braekel, Chief of
Design, Bentley
'Early Draws,' Autocar, July 27th,
2004
"There's a great
sense of pride at being able to drive on the highway and say, 'I had
something to do with that vehicle.'
"Whether you're
working on the line or designing a vehicle, pride is a fundamental
value here at Ford. I think that's because this is a family-owned
company. When I first came here, people used to talk about going to
work at Ford's, as in, 'I'm going to work at Mr. Ford's place.'
"To this day that's
how the company is talked about on the line."
- Al Ver, Vice President of
Advanced and Manufacturing Engineering, Ford Motor Company
myFord,
Summer 2004
"As vehicles
become more sophisticated, the tools we use to build them must
evolve too.
"For instance, we
used to connect joints and nuts with pneumatic torque wrenches. But
these air-powered tools could be tough on operators' hands, and
there was no good way to verify that all the connections had been
made properly.
"So now we use
electronic torque guns - we call them DC nut runners - that are
ergonomically better and much more consistent, or as we say,
repeatable. We can also hook these DC nut runners into a data
processor that automatically signals if a particular joint doesn't
meet its torque requirements.
"These days, when a
vehicle hits the end of the line, we're certain that every single
joint has been made properly."
- Al Ver, Vice President of
Advanced and Manufacturing Engineering, Ford Motor Company
myFord,
Summer 2004
"It feels great to have done the
Taurus.
There was nothing like it. Nothing."
- Lewis
Veraldi, head
of the original Taurus (Sigma) project.
Mr. Veraldi passed away on October 13th,
1990.
Taurus: The Making of
the Car that Saved Ford, Eric Taub (Dutton, 1991)
"Developing a car is totally different to developing a watch. If you
create a watch and it doesn't work, you just throw it away and ask
someone else the time. It's not like that with cars - there are
regulations that affect almost everything on the car, especially its
safety."
- anonymous
Volkswagen engineer,
commenting on the lengthy development time of the Swatchmobile
(smart)
smart thinking.... the little car that made
it big, Tony Lewin
(Motorbooks
International, 2004)
"The Volkswagen marketing people had commissioned a study of buyers
in the sector, and the study found very clearly that the clientele
was looking for a four-seater. They needed to take their partner,
their kids, and so on - no one just wanted transport for a single
person. The report concluded that there was no big opportunity for
the Volkswagen brand in the two-seater sector."
- anonymous
Volkswagen marketing researcher,
commenting on the Swatchmobile
(smart) project feasibility
smart thinking.... the little car that made
it big, Tony Lewin
(Motorbooks
International, 2004)
"In the early 1990s, it was common for industry analysts and
commentators to talk about how the automotive industry was on the
verge of a great period of consolidation.
"By the middle 1990s, it hadn't happened, and many people thought
the theories were unfounded.
"By the end of the decade, however, it was clear the prognosticators
had been correct - it had just taken a bit longer than expected.
"By the late 1990s, only five vehicle platforms generated total
volumes of 1 million or more.
"Other companies have caught on quickly. Where once there were only
five, by 2005 there will be approximately 16 global platforms with
volumes of 1 million units or more."
"The result of this consolidation has been a shift to larger and
even more global customers... in many instances, these customers
require a more consistent approach to conducting business across the
various regions of the world. The challenge for suppliers comes not
only in geography, but also in the execution of product plans."
-
Don Walker, Intier Automotive, Magna's Interiors Company
president and chief executive officer
Inside the Minds: The Automotive Industry
(Aspatore, 2002)
"The golden rule of business in the automotive industry is
making the right product at the right price - and that takes good
innovation, good product engineering, good manufacturing, and having
the agility to put the right people in the right place at the right
time."
-
Don Walker, Intier Automotive, Magna's Interiors Company
president and chief executive officer
Inside the Minds: The Automotive Industry
(Aspatore, 2002)
"At
no time since Peugeot first started flogging motors Stateside has
any one, single American been able to pronounce it even remotely
correctly. It still comes out as Pew-jott, or Pew-joe, or even
Pew-gee-ott.
"As for Peugeot's current line-up of cars, sorry Monsieur Folz,
there's nothing you build that would remotely appeal to the average
American Joe or Joanna.
"The baby 206?
Too teeny. Ditto the 307.
As for your swanky new 407,
Chrysler used to offer a car - the
Concorde
- that looked just like it. And it bombed."
- Howard Walker, columnist
'Only in America,' Autocar,
July 27th, 2004
"Who was Semon E. 'Bunkie' Knudsen? Perhaps the best way to explain
him is to understand that at General Motors today, the Division
General Manager doesn't wield anywhere near the same clout he did
forty years ago. A General Manager back then shaped the direction of
his Division and literally called its every move."
- Jim Wangers,
author
Glory Days: When
Horsepower and Passion ruled Detroit (Bentley
Publishers, 1998)
"I
wasn't there to see it, but the story told is that the designers had
mounted a new, wider 1959 prototype body on a carryover 1958
chassis. Needless to say, the body hung out over its wheels. Knudsen
didn't like it and neither did styling boss Harley Earl. It made
this dramatically styled new body look ungainly. The car didn't even
look safe, let alone attractive. Together, Knudsen and Earl made the
decision to move the wheels out further.
"Whether Knudsen actually uttered the infamous line, 'this thing
looks like a football player wearing ballet slippers!' has never
been confirmed, but he did instruct the chassis engineers to move
the wheels out so the car took a wider stance and didn't look like
it was about to roll over. Thus was born the 'Wide-Track Pontiac'
for 1959. What's more interesting is that the 'Wide-Track' concept was
not a result of serious engineering; it was simply the answer to a
bothersome styling problem."
- Jim Wangers,
author
Glory Days: When
Horsepower and Passion ruled Detroit (Bentley
Publishers, 1998)
"Amid this success, a quirky controversy developed that made news
headlines. Soon after the first owners got their new Wide-Track
cars, they tried to get them washed at the automatic carwash and
discovered that their new Wide-Track Pontiac was too wide to fit in
the existing tracks.
"The car wash owners feared that this 'wide stuff' was going to
become a new trend throughout the industry, so they launched a
formal plea, asking Pontiac to stop building these 'foolish wide
cars.' They even threatened a lawsuit and, of course, that made the
newspapers.
"All that news became a positive, as public opinion was starting to
believe that Pontiac had literally re-invented their car, and it was
the newest of all the new cars on the road. Our Wide-Track
advertising reinforced that image."
- Jim Wangers,
author
Glory Days: When
Horsepower and Passion ruled Detroit (Bentley
Publishers, 1998)
"We wanted to make enthusiasts aware that Pontiac had the hardware
necessary to make their cars top performers. Much of this hardware
could be installed on factory-ordered cars or be ordered over the
parts counter. For the most part, dealers were unaware of these high
performance parts and didn't care to know. For those dealers that
did, like Royal Pontiac, it opened up new opportunities for
profits."
- Jim Wangers,
author
Glory Days: When
Horsepower and Passion ruled Detroit (Bentley
Publishers, 1998)
"There were as many as 50 dealers across the country that wanted to
get involved in racing. They didn't understand that the Royal
operation really was a marketing program; racing was only part of
the effort.
"When the potential customer did come into your dealership the day
following your win at the track, they wanted to admire your race car
and learn a little more about it, but what they really wanted was to
talk about their car, either the one they had or the one they wanted
to have. Those dealers who won on Sunday but didn't follow up by
hiring informed sales and service people were doomed to fail, and
unfortunately, too many of them did. Race on Sunday, sell on
Monday only worked when the dealer had all the pieces in place."
- Jim Wangers,
author
Glory Days: When
Horsepower and Passion ruled Detroit (Bentley
Publishers, 1998)
"The concept of product comparisons in sales training was not new,
although by the eighties it had deteriorated to a textbook kind of
banal analysis, based on published public data. In many ways, it was
exactly like what I had done for General Motors way back in 1975 for
what I called 'The Ashtray Grand Prix,' and it was still just that.
It reached the absurd point where everybody lined up their
'ashtrays' for a big comparison. Whoever had the deepest ashtray or
the widest ashtray or the easiest to operate ashtray had the best
comparison story to tell. Using that same logic, the manufacturer
would then say, 'because I've got the best ashtray, I obviously have
the best car.
"In addition to using that logic in their consumer advertising, many
of the carmakers used it to train their retail sales personnel, many
times insulting them, certainly boring them. Equipping a new breed
of educated sales consultants with both informative and meaningful
dynamic product information, and doing it in an entertaining way,
was the format for good sales training. Selling to a much more
educated and informed consumer, who wants to know more about
performance, handling, driving experience, and safety
characteristics, is not an easy task. These consultants needed to
have driven and been trained not only on their product, but on all
the competitive products in their segment.
"This kind of training and driving experience will reveal that their
product is not always the best in its class. It may not have the
quickest acceleration, or the smoothest ride, it may not stop as
well as some of its competitors, or it may even be noisier. But, in
order to be an effective sales consultant, they must know this. They
must not only be aware of the competitive realities of their car,
but they must then be taught how to sell against that deficiency,
especially when their customer brings it up. Presenting a larger,
easier to operate 'ashtray' no longer prepares a sales consultant to
greet the 'new' consumer."
- Jim Wangers,
author
Glory Days: When
Horsepower and Passion ruled Detroit (Bentley
Publishers, 1998)
"Cigar-chompin', fast-drivin' Bob Lutz is the only hair-on-fire,
let's-kick-some-butt executive GM has had since John Z. DeLorean
left the company in the early 1970s.
"Lutz has done
for GM what the X Games did for sports: given it a new, more youthful appeal.
"In short,
Lutz has taken a cutting torch to the mangled maze of GM's obsessively
bureaucratic product development, which over the decades became more concerned
with honing its own internal efficiencies than with creating inspiring
vehicles."
'Three Years and
Counting,' Ward's Auto World, August 1st,
2004
"There are loads of silly TV
ads... one is the Porsche Boxster where the paint peels off red to
silver when the driver hits the brakes, presumably to show its
brutal stopping power. Its muddled message leaves the impression the
paint peels off at speed. A new Saturn saloon (sedan) is so
numbingly bland it is advertised among mobile brown boxes to make it
look unusual... Kia hog-ties an accountant to prove it doesn't cut
corners in materials. They don't show the engineer making his
escape... in desperation for patriotic sales, Saab claims its cars
are, 'made in a state of independence where freedom is held as
tightly as the road.' What? Can you run that past me again?
"From all this you might deduce I
dislike cars. I don't. I detest TV commercials, the whole damn lot
of them. I do not want my brain marinated - OK?"
- Gareth Wardell, 'Stateside,' evo, August 2003
"I
think tradition is very important for brands. You can't copy
tradition. That's the good thing about it, because it's your own and
you work a long time to earn it.
"So this is really part of our success story. Other manufacturers
have good products, but they have no history. And in a world where
the normal customer is maybe not able to understand differences in
technical details between products, the decision process is more or
less driven by the brands. And brands are driven by tradition.
"I
think the decision process in the future is more based on the brand
than on the real product. And anybody who knows sports cars knows
Porsche. So we will keep the tradition alive."
- Wendelin Wiedeking, Porsche
CEO
Porsche
Boxster, John Lamm (Motorbooks, 1998)
"Porsche
people are like magpies, attracted to shiny objects - alloy wheels,
polished shift knobs, chromed exhaust-pipe outlets - and there are
entire magazines and mail-order catalogues devoted to satisfying
this lust.
"There is no part of a Porsche that cannot be 'improved' by some
aftermarketer, and most of the improvements are - arguably -
cosmetic, since we can assume that in most cases, the engineers in
Germany know what they are doing far better than does some
enthusiastic exhaust-system or torsion-bar modifier in Cupertino or
Cleveland."
- Stephan Wilkinson, author
and consulting editor of Popular Science
The
Gold-Plated Porsche (The
Lyons Press, 2004)
"I'm
upside-down, underwater, and in over my head - three phrases equally
favored among car restorers who have a more investment-minded view
of the trade. But every time I pull my little yellow car out of its
tarpaulin tent - no, we don't even have a garage, out here in the
woods - and go for a pointless drive, I'm renewed again.
"If there's a better reason for taking two years to sink a small
fortune into a used car, I don't know it."
- Stephan Wilkinson, author
and consulting editor of Popular Science
The
Gold-Plated Porsche (The
Lyons Press, 2004)
"If
you've got plenty of time, fly. But if you're in a hurry, drive.
"I am, like most of my fellow hicks,
blessed with open roads and unfettered highway travel."
- Brock Yates,
Editor-At-Large of Car and Driver
Car and Driver, April 2005
"Iacocca,
the quintessential dream-weaver and perhaps one of the great street
orators of modern times, was on his game for his final appearance.
"Like his tenure as boss, his speech was a series of highs and lows,
statesmanlike and measured at times, hard-edged and defiant at
others.
"He had the crowd in his thrall. They understood that for all his
chimerical visions, his daredevil sales tactics, his tough-guy
muscling of executives and dealers, his failed adventures purchasing
aerospace enterprises and wobbly Italian companies, he was the last
of the great car moguls, the last of a breed of men who, through
their own personal charisma and audacity, could shove massive
corporations in any direction they chose.
"The audience realized that when he stepped away from the podium,
the corporation would embark on a new and more measured course. The
speech was perfect Iacocca, delivered with the blunt purity that was
the essence of the man."
- Brock Yates, author and
Editor-at-Large of Car and Driver,
describing Lee Iacocca's August,
1992 farewell
The Critical Path: Inventing an Automobile
and Reinventing a Corporation
(Little,
Brown & Company, 1996)
"At
the time of Iacocca's farewell extravaganza (August 1992), Chrysler
was nearing its four-millionth minivan sold.
"By comparison, that number was nearly one-half of the total
vehicles - cars, sport utilities, and light trucks - sold by
Chrysler over the past decade.
"Literally every major rival in the business, including General
Motors, Ford, Toyota, Nissan, and Mazda, had tried their own
variations of the Chrysler machine and all had fallen wide of the
mark. Chrysler dominated half the minivan market, despite the
incessant challenges."
- Brock Yates, author and
Editor-at-Large of Car and Driver
The Critical Path: Inventing an Automobile
and Reinventing a Corporation
(Little, Brown &
Company, 1996)
"No one in the
Chrysler hierarchy retained illusions that their market share was
inviolate.
"Buffing and
cleaning the crown jewels would not suffice, Mining, cutting,
polishing, and elegantly mounting an entirely new set was the only
possible alternative."
- Brock Yates, author and
Editor-at-Large of Car and Driver,
on the 3rd-gen Town &
Country/ Caravan/ Voyager
The Critical Path: Inventing an Automobile
and Reinventing a Corporation
(Little, Brown &
Company, 1996)
"Despite
the incessant crowing that issues from the automobile industry about
'all-new' or 'original' cars, most such claims are egregious
bragging. Automobiles are seldom created from blank sheets of paper.
They are the result of steady, incremental development,
metamorphosed from existing designs employing mechanical components
already in the corporate inventory.
"Of course, carmakers do sometimes begin from the ground up - as in
the recent cases of Chrysler's LH
sedans, Ford's sales-leading
Taurus and
Sables,
and the minivans - but such a process involves wagering billions in
attempting to divine the future tastes of the public.
"Evolution is still safer than revolution, especially in Detroit.
European and Japanese manufacturers have traditionally been more
inclined to sell the same models for cycles of four to six years
before introducing totally new versions, while the domestics played
the 'all-new' game with basic vehicles that were sometimes as much
as twenty years old.
"American manufacturers began to follow suit in the 1980s, having
discovered that consumers were increasingly skeptical about their
sheet-metal masquerades."
- Brock Yates, author and
Editor-at-Large of Car and Driver
The Critical Path: Inventing an Automobile
and Reinventing a Corporation
(Little, Brown &
Company, 1996)
"Most
Japanese companies with American subsidiaries have relied on
Japanese managers to run those enterprises.
"We decided to try a different way: we would hire the most
experienced American we could find, and give him a free hand to
build an American company with American leadership and American
workers."
- Masahiko Zaitsu, project director for
Nissan's Smyrna, Tennessee plant
Jump Start: Japan Comes to the Heartland,
David Gelsanliter (Harper & Collins, 1990)
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