Whatever one thinks of George Will, you have to give him credit for making an attempt to understand why the domestic auto industry is struggling -- and coming up with a completely erroneous prescription about how it can recover.
The way to get to a glistening future may be to get back to the chrome-covered 1950s, when each autumn boys mounted their balloon-tire Schwinns and rode around to dealerships to savor the excitement of the curtain rising on a new model year. The loss of theatricality — today’s seemingly random arrival of too many models, too many of them boring — is central to the domestic industry’s decline.
If by "theatricality" Will means exciting, high-tech, high-mileage cars of the future, maybe he's right. But somehow that doesn't seem to fit. It sounds like he wants tailfins and 8-cylinders again.
And somehow he manages to miss the point that many people want cars that are well built and reliable more than design flourishes.
http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showfast.html?article=58772
Posted by Dave at August 16, 2005 09:26 AM