At Some Point in the Not-so-distant Future…

At some point in the not-so-distant future, one or all of The Big 2.5 will go bankrupt. It will not be the end of American automaking. The company or companies involved will finally be free to jettison terminally ill brands, abandon onerous union contracts and trim their bloated dealer network. It will be a new dawn for the U.S. car industry. Or not. The same bureaucratic forces responsible for Detroit’s current decline and inevitable fall may continue to cling to power, until, like TWA, even the company name disappears into the mists of time. To avoid that ignominious end, management must use bankruptcy to change the 2.5’s culture. These are the principles they must live by.

Obviously, this isn’t an original or particularly insightful thought. But it is true. A car company exists entirely at its customers’ pleasure– so it better make damn sure every single interaction with its owners is entirely pleasurable. To that end, the situation down at the dealership must be sorted out once and for all.

At the moment, car dealers’ profits increase in direct proportion to their ability to screw their customers and bilk the manufacturer. The more a dealer charges a customer for their purchase, financing and service, the more money they make. The more they can extract from the manufacturer, the better their bottom line.

This paradigm must be turned on its head. Dealers should be rewarded in accordance with their [proven] ability to give company owners the best possible deal, finance and service. If healing the wound requires “no haggle” pricing or the elimination of franchised dealerships, so be it.

As an owner, the customer also requires complete transparency and accountability from his or her employees. Anyone who draws a paycheck should be ready, willing and able to provide honest and accurate answers to any customer inquiry about any aspect of the business.

Meanwhile, management should use the new media to supply relevant information about the company and its products to its owners. If a problem arises, it should be reported to the owners immediately, so that corrective action will follow.

Customers are a car company’s greatest– some might say only significant– asset. To use the expression of the day, car company employees must “take ownership” of their customers. The words “this is a customer satisfaction issue” must trump any other bureaucratic concern, triggering urgent and unlimited action.

To achieve this goal, management must foster a culture of paranoia. All employees must believe that their customers are about to defect to the competition. All employees must measure their performance against the goal of preventing that unhappy occurrence.

“Lost” customers must be wooed back into the fold at all costs. A defection must be analyzed in a timely fashion and appropriate customer reacquisition initiatives launched. Again, there can be no bureaucratic impediment to this process.

At the same time, the company must actively engage its customers in a never-ending conversation. This dialogue should not be restricted to customer service specialists. Employees throughout the company should be required to engage in frequent and direct customer contact. Information derived from these conversations should be actively disseminated throughout the company.

A car brand is an automaker's raison d'etre. It's a solemn promise to its customers/company owners. If an automaker commits a brand to “building excitement,” then excitement must be built. Everything a company says, does and thinks must be aimed at fulfilling the brand proposition. Everything.

Viva La Evolution!

To foster complete customer-oriented consistency, no product should ever be considered “finished.” Product improvements must be made constantly and quickly. Design teams and support services must evolve in accordance with this goal.

If an automaker removes a model from production, the company must remain fully committed to owners’ ongoing satisfaction.

To assure corporate creativity and flexibility, no product, policy or practice should be considered sacrosanct. While maintaining a seamless customer service, management must constantly seek to introduce chaos into the design, engineering, manufacture, sales, marketing and service process.

To foster a culture of constant change, employees must be encouraged to establish a portfolio of skills across a broad range of disciplines– before they settle on a suitable area of responsibility. Term limits should apply to the head of any department.

All employees must become product specialists. Every employee should know everything about the company’s vehicles AND all competitive products. They must drive both the company’s lineup and the competitor’s products for at least seven days.

Yes, all of this is common sense. But as Voltaire said, common sense is not so common. While The Big 2.5’s union straight jacket prevents this kind of cultural shift, bankruptcy removes that particular piece of attire. While the domestics’ current management is antagonistic to large scale change, bankruptcy will remove them from office. And while none of this is happening, it will.