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Suicide Doors: A Metaphor for the US Auto Industry?
By TheCarLounge.net's Atomicalex
Jan 10, 2006, 11:30

At the NAIAS on Sunday, two highly anticipated (and widely leaked) concepts were shown by Ford and the US Chrysler division of DaimlerChrysler.

The Ford F250 Super Chief pickup was not only the most extravagant truck shown since the Lincoln Blackwood, its interior rivaled the finest Pullman carriage to be found in the railroading days of its namesake. With Eames-esque plywood and leather seating complete with flip-up footrests, it was everything today's Detroit cannot afford. In the days of shrinking (high-paying) union employment, the entire city is beginning a strict diet. This raises the question - who is this luxury for?



Later in the day, the design honcho from GM gave his pitch from, yes, an Eames chair and ottoman. He expounded on the value of laminated plywood and leather. Irony. Pure, golden irony.

Ford's (and GM's) recent struggles with profitability have trickled down to their US workforces, and it's not uncommon to pick up the Detroit Free Press and see a story about an assembly line worker who will no longer be able to afford a new F150 every year. The rest of America has been living like this for some 10 years now for the dot-com-ers, and for close to 40 for everyone else. The boom days have been over for a while, and the Iraq war is not World War II - there won't be a post-war recovery like back then.

With the existing buyer base eroding daily, what is the purpose of wowing the press with a silly truck? For the most part, the press were non-plussed, looking at the Super Chief as an exercise in futility, something along the lines of installing light rail transit in Detroit: never going to happen.


Chrysler's Imperial was just as ostentatious. The wide open passenger cavity said one thing to this viewer - "look! I won't catch my Oscar de la Renta loaner on the hinges!" Drawing its bone structure from the 300C, this luxo-barge was just another attempt to out-bling someone else. If this was the best the crack team of designers could come up with, it's about time to call in the Germans. Too many parts from the past, too many design cues from Rolls, not enough Zetsche. Nothing about the vehicle said 2006, or even 1980, for that matter.



It was wrong. Ford's concept was silly, but Chrysler's concept was scary. By stretching the platform even farther, putting yet another shell on it, and sticking even more gee-gaws and fancy bits on, they cheapened the stunning 300C, effectively telling the world that the 300C isn't good enough any more. The Imperial is bling. A redeeming feature of the Super Chief is that it is at least not bling.

Reaching back is not the answer. Reminding people of past glory doesn’t distract them from icky reality any more. It’s time to get over the retro thing and move on.

The most redeeming concept shown today was not a luxurious wafter at all. It was small, fuel efficient (if a bit noisy), and flexible. It was parkable, packable, and instead of insulating the driver from the world on a sea of leather and foam, it hung the driver out to dry, literally.

The Ford Reflex, a tiny turboDieselhybrid (say that three times fast) with its upward opening, reverse-scissor doors and Aeron-style seating is much closer to where our domestic auto industry needs to go. Lean, mean, and not looking back any more.

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