QOTD: Best Wishes for Future Success?
It’s that special holiday time of year again. For a few short weeks, people go out of their way to be nice to others, and to wish one another the best in the upcoming new year. While the niceness still abounds, we want to know which car manufacturer receives your well-wishes for the future.
It’s not an easy time in the car-making business. Ford’s experiencing low share prices and is implementing irritating buzz-wordy “mobility” talk. Nissan’s CEO recently had a little compensation scandal. General Motors is closing down several plants. And Tesla is finishing their cars in tents purchased from Bass Pro or wherever.
It’s not all bad, though. Truck sales are up, and likewise are sales of profitable crossovers. Consumers have more choice than ever of egg-shaped adventure vehicles to take them to a big-box store for Cyber Monday. But I digress.
(Ed. note — We’re running QOTD late today due to holiday travel. As stated last week, our schedule is going to be a little weird until Jan. 2. Thanks for understanding! — TH).
Whether a manufacturer is down on their luck (Fiat) or doing very well right now (Honda), we want to know which you’d like to see succeed. A single company from which you’d like to see a marked improvement in some area or areas. Perhaps the company needs a turn-around in reliability, build quality, or their model lineup. I’m building to something here.
My pick is Volvo. The plucky Geely-owned Swedish brand is on the upward swing lately, in sales and product offering. And I think they can do more. Their present models aren’t what they used to be. Volvos of old were no-nonsense boxes with a bit of luxury (sometimes), designed to run for a long time without much fuss. They were prestigious, but in a subtle and unassuming way. Sturdy, hard-wearing; like a well-constructed tweed blazer. With the introduction of the 850 model in the early ’90s, Volvo headed down a different path (which Ford paved ahead through the new century). It’s a path they still seem to be on today; cost-cutting, front-drive, disposable vehicles. Buttons peel, electrics and sensors have issues, and nothing feels special or unique. Perhaps Geely can continue Volvo’s upward trajectory; they’ve let the brand have general independence since assuming control in 2010. I’m hopeful.
Time will tell for Volvo. But for now, tell us which car manufacturer you want to thrive.
[Images: General Motors, Volvo]
Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.
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Since GM is giving up all performance cars that don't start with a C, my hope for future performance only exists at Dodge. I hope to see Dodge release their next Generation V8s with aluminum blocks and add a midsize (SS Sedan sized) car based off of the Gulia platform with the amazing 392 they have. Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll have something with over 400 cubes with the new engines
I’d just like to wish every manuafacturer the ability to stop throwing billions of dollars into the autonomous mobility dumpster fire, and spend that money in places where it’ll actually affect consumers TODAY. Making EVs truly viable should be priority #1. I keep imagining that 30 years from now we’ll be laughing about the 2010’s vision of an autonomous future like the 50’s with their flying cars.