Chevy SUV Dies During PR Stunt to Crush Japanese Car
December 22, 2008 by Grant
Last Friday, in an attempt to send a message to buy American cars, a Chevrolet dealer arranged to have a modified Chevrolet Suburban drive over a Honda Accord. The stunt was derailed however when the SUV blew a hose and failed to crush the truck. Utterly stupid? Just a little. Here’s the excerpt from the full article:
HILO, Hawaii – A Hilo Chevrolet dealer who tried to crush his Asian auto competition found the stunt a little harder to pull off than expected.
Island Chevrolet general sales manager James Severtson arranged for a Chevrolet Suburban SUV outfitted with massive tires costing $5,000 apiece to drive over a Honda Accord.
On the first attempt Friday, the monster truck blew a hydraulic hose and leaked vital fluid while the Honda remained intact and ready for more.
I drive a Suburban and I also drive an Accord. I would never want to crush either one of them, because they serve different purposes. That’s why it irks me to no end to see this type of cowboy attitude, especially in the middle of the auto bailout. We don’t need more chest thumping about American cars, we need reflection and re-organization.
And seriously, who in their right mind thinks the Japanese make bad cars? The era of the 70s and 80s where American automakers and consumers laughed at shoddy Japanese cars is nearly three decades ago. The fact that anyone can even think that the Big Three make more reliable cars than Honda or Toyota is laughable at best and plain sad at worst.
If Americans want to take pride in their vehicles, then it’s time for the automakers to sit back and do some reflection on why the industry they created from scratch is now in the dying throes of bankruptcy. The problem is that the automakers are not doing that reflection, but instead, blaming just about anyone they can for their current problems: the economy, the union, gas prices, picky consumers and yes, now the Japanese. It’s a sad day when a proud American industry is so in denial of it’s own faults that it resorts to pointless name calling to save face.
Domestic car enthusiasts are probably wondering where are the Henry Ford or Lee Iacocca of our modern times to lead us through this financial mess among our automakers. The answer, unfortunately, may be that those comparable visionaries are here today – they just work on the other side of the ocean.
I have to say that this was a rather low brain cell count type of stunt. I, like the author, own a Suburban and two other GM vehicles. I know full well what the quality level of a GM vehicle is versus that of a Honda, Toyota or Subaru. There is no need to “crush” a car to prove a point. I do find it funny that the people staging the event looked like idiots…..The funny thing is that it sounds like the “hose” blown was an aftermarket item.
The Japanese and the Toyota manufacturing system is far superior to that of a domestic manufacturer. This can not legitimately be disputed. The big three had their chance at this type of a manufacturing system 40 plus years ago. They passed on it because they “knew what they were doing” and the idea was put to the Japanese manufacturers (Toyota at first) who jumped on it. Look where they are now.
The Japanese manufacturers are very gracious in allowing tours of their plants to other manufacturers, U.S. or otherwise, that show interest. They do not profit from this in any way. They offer books, seminars and actual classroom setting courses on their manufacturing process, JIT, and their philosophies. We Americans are welcome to a majority of this information at no cost whatsoever. But we know better, don’t we? (Yeah…..right…..)
If you are really curious about what is destroying the U.S. auto manufacturers; look no further than the unions. (Pardon my digression!)