Thomas Friedman of the New York Times wants us to think about the future as we consider the crises of our times. In an op-ed piece he says basically, that the Detroit crisis is happening because American auto manufacturers will not be innovative and they refuse to build cars with great mileage. Although they probably could. I, myself, look at the mileage rates in our cars and the price and consumption of gasoline and it’s pretty clear to me that there’s some kind of collusion taking place between the auto and gas industries.
None of this matters, says Friedman, and I agree with him. Traditional gasoline-powered cars are dead anyway and it’s just a matter of time before they realize that they’re walking ghosts and disappear from our plane of reference. A few months ago I wrote about air cars. Incidentally, it’s projected that these cars will be sold in the US as early as 2010. Tata Motors of India who licensed the technology from French creator Guy Negre, is bringing production to the states.
Friedman likes electric-powered cars that cost 6¢ a mile to run and will be supported by charging stations located all over a particular country or geographical vicinity. Whatever works, it’s all good. The only thing certain is that our auto industry is way behind the times and the American public is paying the price of their stubborn denial that change has come.
From Friedman’s op-ed piece:
“. . . our bailout of Detroit will be remembered as the equivalent of pouring billions of dollars of taxpayer money into the mail-order-catalogue business on the eve of the birth of eBay. It will be remembered as pouring billions of dollars into the CD music business on the eve of the birth of the iPod and iTunes. It will be remembered as pouring billions of dollars into a book-store chain on the eve of the birth of Amazon.com and the Kindle. It will be remembered as pouring billions of dollars into improving typewriters on the eve of the birth of the PC and the Internet.
Do not expect . . . innovation to come out of Detroit. Remember, in 1908, the Ford Model-T got better mileage – 25 miles per gallon – than many Ford, G.M. and Chrysler models made in 2008. But don’t be surprised when it comes out of somewhere else. It can be done. It will be done. If we miss the chance to win the race for Car 2.0 because we keep mindlessly bailing out Car 1.0, there will be no one to blame more than Detroit’s new shareholders: we the taxpayers.”