How Detroit’s Fate Is Linked With Ours
Shapiro
In the recent debate over whether Washington should bail out the U.S. auto industry (including GM, which is a client of my firm GreenOrder), there’s been plenty of blame and finger pointing. The automakers’ top brass have not surprisingly received the most criticism, but there have also been brickbats aimed at labor unions, the health care system and elected officials.
Regarding the politicians, Tom Friedman wrote in the New York Times, “If and when they do have to bury Detroit, I hope that all the current and past representatives and senators from Michigan have to serve as pallbearers.” Why? Because they failed, in Friedman’s view, to make the automakers face reality on key issues including fuel economy and the environment.
What about us, though? Have we consumers also failed to get Detroit to face reality? And if taxpayers do bail out Detroit, how we can ensure that the money is well spent?
American consumers are not bystanders in this drama. We, of course, elect the officials who craft public policy on energy and environmental standards. And those of us who buy cars have also voted with our wallets on Detroit’s fate. We’ve had (and still have) the opportunity to use our purchasing power to get the Big Three to make great cars that will help us get to a greener world — or reject those that don’t.
If we bought gas-guzzling trucks or SUVs from Detroit over the last decade, we endorsed products that were inconsistent with our own interests (fueling our addiction to oil, deepening the climate crisis, etc.). If we bought from foreign automakers, then we probably didn’t think it mattered much where our cars were made. Only if we bought fuel-efficient cars from the Big Three — or didn’t own a car at all — can we really say that we aren’t in any way complicit in Detroit’s dilemma. And the truth is, there aren’t enough of us in this category.
Of course, consumers aren’t primarily to blame for Detroit’s fate. But we shouldn’t excoriate the automakers for the Sin of SUV Sales without acknowledging the market dynamic that prevailed until very recently. When Detroit offered bigger and less efficient vehicles, consumers loved them — so much so that foreign automakers rapidly expanded their own truck and SUV offerings. At the same time, buyers ignored the greenest cars on the showroom floor, such as the EV1, the electric car GM produced in the 1990s.
Only recently, as environmental consciousness has grown in America and gas prices went above $4.00 (temporarily), has there been real consumer interest in more energy-efficient cars — including hybrids, flex-fuel vehicles and plug-in electric cars.
And there’s the sad irony: This new demand for greener vehicles, and the automakers’ effort to meet it, could disappear — either because the Big Three either cease to exist (which could ease pressure on foreign automakers to go green) or because, if the US automakers make it through bankruptcy, they might have to delay the roll out of next-generation vehicles and pull back on R&D spending.
So what can we consumers do? To start, we should call for an explicitly green bailout plan that is conditional and phased in. It should have tough, enforceable requirements and the government should gradually dole out funds only if the Big Three make progress on clear milestones — from improved fuel economy and technological innovation to “green job” training. If there’s no progress, then no more money.
We can also find creative ways to show where we stand. The grassroots activists at the blog site GM-Volt.com, for example, have created a sign-up list for the Chevy Volt to show GM that there’s real demand for it. Then, as time goes by, we need to patronize those automakers that embrace change and actually succeed in creating the next generation of cleaner, more efficient vehicles. Hopefully that will include the Big Three.
Whether or not Detroit gets the bailout, this is a good opportunity to think about the role that all consumers can play in demanding products that will lead us to a smarter, more sustainable world. Whether it’s cars, electricity, food or whatever, we need to use our purchasing power — and our investment dollars and our political voices — wisely. We must recognize that it’s not just an industry’s fate that’s in question. It’s ours.
*This story originally appeared on Harvard Business Publishing’s Leading Green blog.
Last 5 posts by Andrew Shapiro
• Business Can Ignore Climate Deniers - December 21st, 2009
• Copenhagen, Meet Columbus - December 12th, 2009
• Make Every Job a Green Job - August 24th, 2009
• Can Obama Become the Green Leader We Need? - May 1st, 2009
• Take Eco-Efficiency to a Higher Level - April 9th, 2009
