How Green Thy Chevy

May 01, 2009 — Emily

We have a bone to pick with the Auto Industry.  Now there will be no talk of the bailouts; it is not our job to give economic advise.  We do feel, however, that it is our place to inject thoughts about marketing this hot topic industry. 

It seems safe to say that the Auto Industry is responsible for its own demise.  The times they are a-changin', and Americans, as usual, expect to be the ones breaking ground on the future.  We expect the best built car with the best technology.

The industry claimed to be living up to these standards for – well forever – and for a good while they had us fooled.  Everybody believed they needed to have the biggest car available with the most powerful engine.

Why did we believe that these monster cars were something we should want in the first place?  Advertising. Now granted, it is not the advertisers fault that these commercials were made.  They were no doubt given a list of items that the client wants to use to market their product and the advertising companies just came up with creative and compelling ways to get that message out there.

Then the game changed. People began to realize that while it may be inconvenient the truth is that our earth is in a fragile way, and it is necessary to be conscious of what kinds of cars we drive and how much gas it takes to get where we're going.  In short it is time to go green! 

Most Americans have gotten this message loud and clear.  They are on board with the environment and being friendly to it is the newest and most profitable trend out there.

So why are we upset with the Auto Industry?  Well it seems they've gotten the message as well: Big is out and green is in.  They understand that the people want fuel efficient cars.  So are they producing better cars?  Not really, they are just advertising the same cars and putting a different spin on it.

Recent ads from all three major US automakers boast how good their fuel economy is.  Meanwhile, according to the website www.fueleconomy.gov the miles per gallon for the Ford F-150 have gone from 14 city/18 hwy in 2004 to 14 city/21 hwy in 2009.  So we guess you could say there has been some improvement, but are we really going to count 3 miles as a win?

The same holds true for the the Ford Escape, the Dodge Durango, the Chevy Avalanche, the Ford Explorer, the GMC Yukon and Envoy, the Chrysler 300 and the Chevy Impala.  In fact, virtually every car with a 2004 model and 2009 model only vary in gas milage by a 5 miles at most.

Given the facts is it any surprise that the U.S. Auto Industry is dying?

I guess what we're saying is this:  just because you change your marketing angle doesn't mean that you have improved your product, and without a quality product to back up your advertising, it would appear that you are just running some marketing scheme to trick consumers.  Obviously it's not working.  We can get cheeper cars with way better gas milage from most any other country.  Clearly going green is more than just a trend to consumers, it's high time the U.S. Automakers get on board, and not just in marketing.