chadhargis wrote:
I don't know why auto manufacturers can't figure out something they teach in basic marketing classes.
Seems to me that Chrysler, with it's former ties to MB and now it's marriage to Fiat, would have lots of inroads to excellent diesel technology.
They should start putting diesels in everything. Run an ad campaign similar to the one BMW used back when gas was high. You know, the one that said, "High gas prices are not new to us", but focus on how the rest of the world deals with high fuel cost.
Become innovators. Lead, versus try to play catch up.
If they want to follow the electric car fad, then do it with hydrogen fuel cell technology, not batteries. Either that, or make a diesel electric car that uses the same technology used by locomotives for years.
If you find yourself in a hole, first thing you need to do is stop digging, and axing their failing models is a good start, but now they need to leverage their international connections and make something unique.
I agree. I don't know what they don't look at diesels more. I get very annoyed with companies not wanting to be leaders. Everyone puts all of their energy into being a follower. A think I've read and heard at my company (a chemical producer) is that we need to be like GE. Oddly, they sold their chemical divisions, so the GE model apparently didn't work so well in that case. It's conveniently overlooked that GE is a predominantly a financial company. I'm in a R&D function and we've been told numerous times about how outside companies don't view us as innovative. This isn't too hard to figure out since most of the impetus is put on seeing what's out there and then developing some knock-off to compete with it. It seems that sometimes, CEOs have a vision, but the managers in between dilute it to play it safe.
What I'm hoping is that more companies will consider diesel hybrids. Some of you have suggested some of them follow the locomotive model and it looks like Volvo at least considered this. It seems like there is a good opportunity to develop a technology that actually simplifies the hybrid drive train.
http://jalopnik.com/cars/alternative-en ... 233435.php
I'm not sold on the hydrogen fuel cell concept. I know it's very efficient, but I'm concerned with the storage and supply aspects. There is no adequate storage technology that would give us the cruising ranges we're accustomed to with petroleum powered vehicles, and some don't seem appealing from a safety standpoint. And then having a source of hydrogen that's "green" is tough. As pointed out earlier in the "diesel cheaper than gas" thread, hydrogen comes from the cracking of natural gas into CO2 and hydrogen. Unless they use solar or wind to provide power for the electrolysis of water, it seems that the efficiency from hydrogen fuel cells would be lost in all of the energy conversions to get hydrogen fuel to put in it.
Hopefully someone in the auto industry steps out and becomes a leader, and I'm cheering for Chrysler to get their act together, but I'm not overly impressed by the financial and management wizards at Cerberus.
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