Americans are not interested in fuel economy or small, efficient cars. Americans want power, size, and styling. Says who? Says GM. Says Ford. Says Daimler-Chrysler. Says the analysts at JD Powers.
“All things said and done, I think power is more important to the typical American car buyer than fuel efficiency,” he said.
That’s the message we’ve been getting for years. Even as GM disintegrates, Ford finds no takers for their most monsterous SUVs, and Daimler-Chrysler declares that their 60mpg Smart vehicles are “too small” to interest the American consumer. Even as the market share of the “Big Three” heads toward the Big Zero, Conservative law makers (I’m looking at you, Kit Bond) continue to make fun of smaller cars at every opportunity.
Then GM finally did something that maybe they might have thought of years ago… they asked the American consumer what they thought was important in cars and energy policy.
Want to guess what real Americans answered?
Start the drum roll. Here’s the number one thing that interests American consumers:
See, they told you it was power. Now… Oh, wait.
Dependence from foreign oil? How did that make the top of the list? Let’s look at #2 and #3.
Reduced use of oil, better fuel efficiency, and fewer reductions. It almost sounds like they’re looking for plug-in hybrids, doesn’t it? Haven’t the American consumers been listening to the billions of dollars in marketing that the car companies have expended to tell them to want more power? Haven’t they been listening to Bond and others who say that only SUVs can satisfy our cravings?
American consumers have been listening. They’ve been listening to the ads, and looking at the products, and they have a very good ides of what kinds of vehicles the different car manufacturers are putting in their showrooms.
Ouch.
Maybe it would have been better if GM spent less time telling us what we want, and more time listening.