Since MAC is always straight up with his opinions I'll try to do the same here...
These recent posts have to be the most disingenious recommendations on how to design a car. Eliminating small features and lowering small quality aspects is exactly what is killing American car manufacturers when compared to some foreign products.
Look at it, MAC says all of it is unimportant but the clothes hooks are essential TO ME. I bet you that I can find people that would say the exact same thing about the other little features.
When you combine all minor cost savings and look at the elimination of a group of small features my impression of the car and the manufacturer changes. What a ****ing cheap way to run a business. Cars, for me, are a product that I buy for a big portion because of emotional reasons. If you try to sell me a car that was designed purely based on cost effectiveness I will not buy it. Especially, a car like a H2 is an emotional purchase. I am very close to being turned off to Hummer if some of y'alls assumptions are true because it shows such a lack of committment and true design, build, and customer care.
Let me give you another example why running your business on pure cost cutting and operational efficiencies is not the way to go. Particularly when you are talking about a market space that is not commoditized such as the H2 market space.
Airline travel. Every business student thought it was the greatest example of operational efficiencies when United cut the olive out of drinks to save 5 cents which translated into millions of $s over years. To me, that was the beginning of the end of barable air travel. SouthWest was the final the kiss of death.
Again, some of this is fine when you are participating in a commoditized market space where the vendor's only differentiator is price. Cars, and luxury cars especially are not sold into that market and to manage the operation in such a way is deadly.
Cheap GM ****ers.
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