QOTD: Nassim Taleb Sums Up The Problem With Our Favorite Car Makers
In roughly 50 words, author Nassim Taleb neatly summarizes the answer to every essay ever penned about how “Car Company X Has Lost Its Way”.
Speaking about our higher education system and its flaws, Taleb writes
“This is the natural evolution of every enterprise under the curse of success: from making a good into selling the good, into progressively selling what looks like the good, then going bust after they run out of suckers and the story repeats itself …”
From Honda to BMW to Lamborghini, it’s difficult to look around and not see examples of this phenomenon at work. On the other hand, there is Lotus, a company that has arguably avoided this trap, while also avoiding any semblance of profitability. But I don’t have the benefit of context and life experience compared to many of the B&B.
Personally, I think that the vehicle above is most symbolic of what Taleb is describing: a front-drive BMW minivan wearing an “M Sport” appearance package. Is there anything further from the platonic ideal of “The Ultimate Driving Machine”?
But I also want your opinion. I want to hear who has fallen into this trap, who had avoided it, who is most in danger and why this is complete and utter BS. Post your reply in the comments.
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Starbucks. But in fact, they just changed their target market. It used to be people who really loved coffee. Now it's a general fast food place full of pastries and dessert drinks, at the expense of the really good coffee. People like me now find good coffee at indies, like Barismo in the Boston area, Vivache in Seattle, and a host of others all over the land. Unfortunately, the indie-equivalent car brands, like Saab and Volvo, can't survive on their own.
costco has signs in their breakroom that say something along the lines of "we must strive to maintain our culture and identity", so at least someone has a clue. i think its going to be pretty hard to do as years pass though.
It's a nice coincidence that Derek brought this up. Yesterday I was getting my hair cut and beard trimmed and my barber, Jeff, who was originally from the USSR had the good sense to use the barbering skills he learned in the Russian army and set up shop in one of the few subcultures where men still wear their hair short and get regular haircuts, an orthodox Jewish neighborhood. It's hard to book a chair on a Friday, which is why I was there yesterday. His wife Ellen also cuts hair and they've done well. America, what a country! He knows I write about cars and he started asking me about the Porsche Macan. He's a big man and he likes expensive SUVs. It might have been his Cayenne in the parking lot. I told him that it's an Audi Q5 with different engines, transmissions and maybe a little better driving dynamics. If I'm not mistaken, the Cayenne is Porsche's best selling vehicle. I'd bet that if you surveyed Cayenne and Panamera owners and asked them which car represents the Porsche brand better *to them*, their own car or a 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder, a vast majority would pick their own car.
I think sometimes we just get used to perceiving a brand a certain way and get a little upset when that perception is challenged. I avoid the trap by trying to think about the whole picture holistically, from manufacturing logistics to market perception. Regarding expectations, In the BMW community, when I used to frequent the forums, people balked at the idea of a non-I6 BMW and many 3-series reviews I've read since the E30, say the the new car it's predecessor and often call it heavier, larger, less sporty, more complex and less tactile. In this respect, it's more of the same. Regarding brand perception, in the US, where BMW is a premium brand of sporty-looking RWD cars, it the fwd thing with the M-sport badge probably won't be sold. However, in other markets, brand perception can be different from ours. BMW's slogan in the UK and many English-speaking markets is "Sheer Driving Pleasure," as opposed to the one we get. If a BMW-badged FWD car drives sportier than the competition, it still fits that perception and ultimately meets the expectation of that particular market.