Re: Fw: History of Jeep and the Jeep Liberty (diesel)

[adh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Sandwich Maker)]

" From: Tom Jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx>
" 
" On Mon, 29 Aug 2005, Sandwich Maker wrote:
" 
" > the auto cos and the oil cos have -massive- investments in the way
" > things are done now, and in the name of the holy bottom line they will
" > dig their claws in and resist every attempt to be shifted.  they'll be
" > glad to spend govt grant money, but imho we'll be lucky to see h2 cars
" > or fuel cell cars in our garages in our lifetimes.  biodiesel is a
" > renewable fuel we can make now, and anything that burns #2 diesel can
" > be converted just by pouring it into the tank.  which means an end run
" > around the industry - if we can just get them to sell us the models
" > they already make for foreign markets...
" 
" I wish you were wrong, but you're probably right :-)
" 
" The concept of corporate growth is insane -- it's a 19th century
" concept of new-frontier always-room-to-grow nonsense. (Eg.
" corporations have to get bigger every year else they are
" considered dead.) Coupled with quarter to quarter market mentality
" the only way to make more next quarter than last, forever, in a
" saturated market is to cut corners in quality, deliver less for
" more money, etc.  Innovation is a threat to finely-divided markets
" (coke vs pepsi my ass).

and the free market encourages this.  it's a race to the bottom when
you sell to customers who need your product but don't understand and
can't judge it, eg. nearly everything technical including cars.  they
buy on advertising and on price, and don't notice when you shrink the
package [remember coffee in 2lb cans?] nor miss features they can't
comprehend.

" There may be some way out of this mess but I nor anyone I've
" talked to or read about has practical solution.

maybe laws forcing them to be better citizens?  i like the law the
greens got passed in germany requiring manufacturers to dispose of
their products when they're due for discard - basically, 'you make it,
you take it'.  overnight, large gaudy packages containing little tubes
or jars disappeared from drugstore shelves, and if you take a german
car apart you'll find every scrap of plastic marked with a recycling
logo.

this necessitated re-engineering as well as redesign, because 'simple'
plastics don't have the characteristics of the plastic alloys they
were used to using, and alloys can't easily be recycled short of
breaking them down to first principles...  and i'll bet they're using
a lot less colored plastic and more paint to color.
________________________________________________________________________
Andrew Hay                                  the genius nature
internet rambler                            is to see what all have seen

adh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx                       and think what none thought