Hummers [View All]

[ChairmanAgnostic]

No, not blue dress types. That ugly, useless, POS gas-guzzling, monster from your local foolish American Car Manufacturer.

I just don't get it. GM & Ford always seem to be off somehow. When the Japanese started building high quality cars, US cars were tossed off the assembly line like future trash. They built big. VERY BIG. THEN, EVEN BIGGER. with HUGE ENGINES. Surprise, surprise. The first oil crisis hit while Jimmy Carter was president. Who made smaller, high-quality, useful cars? Japan and Europe.
US makers got creamed.

GM responded with the pathetic X-car platform, Ford came out with rusting hulks, and eventually the Saturn came out. Jump in time to the mid 90s. Every year from Clinton's second term, the engine size grew, power usage grew, vehicle weight grew, mileage per gallon stayed the same or fell. By the time of Bush, it would be hard to recall that fleet averages once existed. Worst yet, the car builders made the mistake of believing Boy George and his evil sidekick Dick. Instead of cheap energy, gas prices began to rise. Still, the US industry pressed on. Forget the electric car. (cancelled and DESTROYED, including all engineering and blueprints) Forget hybrids. Bigger, faster, heavier, and bigger. Did I mention bigger? The height of this insanity has to be represented by the Hummer. It matters not whether it is H-1, H-2 or H-3. They all suck. Gas, that is. Large, unwieldy, uncomfortable, useless, and not really good off the road. (there was a contest, still on youtube, in which a hummer had to be towed out up a hill, while euro SUVs and ATVs were zipping around it - hillaryious!)

Hummers are an example of everything wrong with today's car industry. Except they went through this before. Can't they learn? In Europe and Japan, a new car model takes between 11-16 months of design and development until the first car is out on the street. Here, it takes between 18-20 months. Even so, we knew that IraqNam was going badly. We knew that energy prices were rising and had risen through out the era of Bush. We knew that there was no light at the end of the tunnel. Two years ago. And what did the US auto industry do? Not much. Just concentrated on more trucks, pick ups, and SUVs. Larger, heavier, fatter, and more wasteful.

So what will happen? Will the US tax payer have to bail out the auto industry AGAIN? Will being big and stupid be saved by the feds? Just like the mortgage industry? How many times do we have to see the same mistakes made over again, before they start doing things in a smart fashion? Peak oil has been a topic for 8 yrs. It is not like they've had no warning. Global warming has been a topic for 10 years, and within the last five, every reputable scientist agrees that it exists. Transportation experts have repeatedly stated that heavier cars and trucks damage the roads faster, raising our costs of maintenance and construction. yet, the weight of US vehicles has risen every year for the last 8 yrs.

When we put our minds to it, we can build really cool stuff. Yet, time after time, the US auto industry continues to fuck up. WHY?