Midweek Motoring with Gavin D'Souza
For the last 50-odd years the American automotive industry has been somewhat of an in-joke in the motoring journalistic community, but things are finally starting to change.
As with the rest of the car-producing world, the USA makes good cars and bad cars, and there will always be takers for both.
What sets America apart, however, is that when their cars are bad, they are awful, and when they are good, it is usually for very loud and vulgar reasons.
Sort of like a Michael Bay film.
The American cars that have achieved world renown are in the ilk of the Mustang, the Corvette, the Viper and the Challenger – big, shouty, powerful hunks of ironmongery with all the unsubtle appeal of a Venice Beach bodybuilder.
This appeal is strong, nonetheless, and muscle cars have large, usually tattoo-ridden fan followings all over the planet; the automobile as we know it simply would not be the same without them.
But what about when you are done racing between the lights, have switched off the ZZ Top, and need to do the week’s shopping?
To serve realistic needs then, how many great all-rounders have truly been conceived, built and rolled out of the factory with the Star Spangled Banner stamped onto their oversized rumps?
Credit where it’s due, they did try, but the prevailing trends in the local (and largest) market meant the result was always something absurd, like the Chrysler PT Cruiser or the Chevrolet HHR.
For years the bread-and-butter vehicles of the United States were comprised of mammoth trucks (utes in this hemisphere), bread-box minivans, large lacklustre sedans and SUVs so crude, Americans called them trucks as well.
Engineering and practicality was swept under a rug, and quality was measured by the size of the cup-holders and the availability of satellite radio.
In spite of all this, the biggest failing would have to be the grotesque practice of badge engineering – where the same, humdrum car was lightly airbrushed and sold under a dozen different brand names at vastly different price points.
It is no wonder then that European arms of American companies – most notably Ford – turned to their Asian partners like Mazda to engineer a separate range of cars for a more discerning clientele, leaving America to wallow in the automotive swill it so happily accepted.
Unfortunately, this was a jolly expensive practice, and when the big, bad recession forced the Big Three to seek government bailout, it was clear a massive strategic rethink was in order.
This rethink required more than just plopping an electric shaver motor into the back of a V8 Dodge Ram and plastering Hybrid stickers down its sides, and it’s good to see the gears of this revolution are now in motion.
Almost all at once, the dead weight was shed, as less successful brands – Pontiac, Mercury and Plymouth, for example – were sold or killed off altogether by GM, Ford and Chrysler.
Like poking an angry lion with a stick, they slowly dared to introduce the concept of small, frugal motoring to a populace which considered a Honda Civic to be large enough for teenagers only.
Ford’s Fiesta Movement and One Ford policy are two of the most promising marketing campaigns the industry has ever seen.
Having ditched all but two brands, Ford and luxury arm Lincoln, the company is in the process of unifying its worldwide range, starting by carefully convincing Americans of the benefits of squeezing themselves into the economical Fiesta.
Incidentally, this is not going down so well in this half of the world, as blue-collar Blue Oval fans are up in arms over the impending replacement of their beloved RWD Falcon by the intelligently-engineered FWD Ford Taurus (pictured). Rightfully so.
GM is also taking its Euro models Stateside and simultaneously building itself a reputation of engineering and technological prowess with cars like the Cadillac CTS and the Chevrolet Volt – one of the most advanced hybrids on the planet.
Chrysler, meanwhile, is re-badging Lancias.
Because the whole world is downsizing, European brands like Audi and Mercedes-Benz are no longer restricted to the hallowed realm of upmarket, chic luxury - and are now producing smaller, cheaper, but still high-quality cars.
This, combined with rigorous lectures on global warming (read: economic awareness), has made Joe USA sit up and demand a better car; and that’s the least he should expect from the country that gave us NASA.
And don’t think this means we have to say goodbye to our beloved Hollywood show-boaters; a quick Google of the beautifully-engineered 2011 Ford Mustang will eradicate any such doubt.
Star Spangled Banner waving, in a cloud of red, white and blue smoke, the American Motoring Renaissance is underway.
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