The Big Three have already lost vote of consumer

Published 10:49 pm Saturday, November 15, 2008

It could have been anyplace in Snohomish County. It happened to be the Target store parking lot on SE Everett Mall Way. It could have been any time, but happened to be noon on Friday.

I sat in my car, in my parking space, and noticed other cars.

A man got out of a dark red Subaru Outback. A tan Nissan Sentra pulled in. A woman shut the door of a Chrysler Town &Country. A white Honda Passport drove through the lot. A gray Subaru Forester went by in the opposite direction. A black Honda Civic parked nearby. A Volvo V70 Cross Country headed for the exit.

A black GMC Denali waited to make a turn. A woman opened the back of a silver Audi A6 wagon and took out a stroller. A man sat waiting in a green BMW 525i. A black convertible Ford Mustang was parked by the store, near a Pontiac Grand Prix. A white Mitsubishi Lancer put on its right turn signal. Not far away was a Volkswagen Jetta. It was too new to have Washington plates.

I was there fewer than 15 minutes. If I’d spent all afternoon in that parking lot, I suspect the mix would have been much the same: More than half the cars I saw weren’t products of Detroit’s Big Three car makers, Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC.

With Congress abuzz over possibly bailing out the U.S. auto industry with emergency loans, I made a point of noticing what drivers here choose to buy. Just so you know, I’ve had both domestic and foreign cars. I now drive a 5-year-old Volkswagen Passat wagon. If today someone gave me cash to buy a new car suited to my life, I’d choose a 2009 version of my car or a Subaru Outback wagon.

Sorry, Big Three.

Pat Roberts is sales manager at O’Neill’s Wheels, a used car business on Evergreen Way in Everett. While on a banking errand Friday, he said he noticed that every car parked around him was made by a foreign company.

“It’s generalizing, but the perceived quality of American cars versus foreign cars hasn’t been standing up,” Roberts said. “People come in and ask, ‘Do you have any Hondas, Nissans or Toyotas?’ They want those cars for the quality,” he said. “You can have 180,000 miles on a Honda, and people won’t bat an eye. I’ve seen 250,000-mile Hondas, but I haven’t seen Chevy’s and Fords with those miles.”

And if Roberts went shopping for a new car? “I probably would look at a Honda, that’s the truth of it,” he said.

He isn’t sure about a government rescue, but Roberts said the failure of any American car maker would be a shame.

At Carson Cars, which sells used cars on Highway 99 in Lynnwood, sales manager Kelly Roach is opposed to government help for the Big Three. “I don’t think they deserve a bailout,” he said. Roach saw American car makers push big SUVs and trucks during good times, but said they’ve had little to offer in high-quality fuel-efficient cars.

Roach also said Japanese car makers are marketing wizards, convincing American buyers to equate their brands with quality and dependability. Many choose names for brand’s that don’t sound Japanese. Just think of Nissan’s Infiniti or Toyota’s Lexus.

It’s not for me to explain how the Big Three got into deep trouble. I do know this: A long time ago, a Chevrolet sedan was a cool car, even coveted.

The year I was born, my father had a 1953 Chevy convertible so snazzy that my mom still talks about it. Later, my parents had a two-tone blue 1957 Chevy, with those wonderful fins. Their last Chevrolet was a neat-looking 1965 Impala.

By the mid-1960s, my father was buying VW Bugs for his commute to work. Even back then it mattered to him that cars were cheap and fun to drive. He had three Bugs over the years, one tan, one black, and the last one (the one my brother got) orange. I’d love to have any of those cars today.

Last month, I was in Los Angeles for a wedding. I asked for a basic mid-size rental car. I got a Chevrolet Malibu. It was brand new. I drove it three days — long enough to know I’d never want one. Cheap, maybe. Cool or fun to drive, no.

Roberts called some U.S.-made sedans “plain Jane,” and said many of them don’t have the standard amenities American buyers now expect, from power windows to cup holders.

We hear plenty of blame aimed at U.S. auto workers, or at their benefit packages. I hardly think the workers are the ones coming up with cars we don’t want to buy. As for benefits, didn’t we just see Boeing Machinists accept an enviable contract? The Boeing Co. manages to make products that customers all over the world want, while still offering generous benefits.

Sometimes I feel a twinge of guilt when I see a “Buy American” bumper sticker. Still, isn’t it an insult to expect Americans to prop up the Big Three? For decades, these companies have ignored our desires for high-quality, energy-efficient cars.

How about my dad, the former Chevy man? What’s he driving these days? My 85-year-old, politically conservative, patriotic, World War II-veteran father decided a few years ago to reward himself with a nice new car.

It’s a Lexus.

Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlstein@heraldnet.com.