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Exit loyalty.

People are waking up to the fact that loyalty to anyone other than your immediate loved ones is a sham. The team concept of selling your soul to the company is forever gone. Layoffs, downsizing, mergers and acquisitions tend to jade a person on being loyal. Because none of those concepts breed a sense of belonging to a group. Building a future. Or planning a family. One must go seek maximum self-worth because that’s what businesses do. Incorporate yourself, sell your skills to the highest bidder. That's how you get ahead. And stay in business. It costs a lot more now to keep food on the table and the lights on. Loyalty doesn’t cover those bills anymore.

JRR
Plymouth, Michigan



Design still matters.

Is it just me, or is that new Lexus really ugly? I think almost all of the new electric vehicles look like shit. I am probably in the minority saying this, but one of my prime concerns when buying a new car, which I do every few years, is its appearance. No matter how nice a new car is technically, if it's ugly to me, I won't buy it. And not just the electric cars but some of the non-electrics as well. I guess "attractive design" is no longer a concern for car makers.

Ted R.
Raleigh, North Carolina



Still bringin' it.

I have a new all-time favorite Autoextremist phrase starting this week… “no CEOs were harmed by this.” Nothing more perfectly sums the state of America, and not just business, better than this. Thank you for describing the current situation so eloquently yet again.

Kengineer
Dearborn, Michigan



Not Very Good.

As one of the Great Unwashed Salaried Ranks labouring away at one of the then "Big 3" automotive manufacturers in the late 1970's onward, I learned very quickly that any otherwise happy press announcements in the matter of increased corporate profits for a quarter were NOTHING whatever to celebrate -- because, curiously, they were a clue that cutbacks in our numbers were imminent.

Likewise, the corporate mantra of so-called "Stretch Goals": "...So you successfully achieved all of the aims that were set before you for the past quarter...? Good -- but why didn't you achieve an extra 10%...? Or more...?!"

A moving target never to be attained, nor paused to celebrate for having done so., either.

That sort of workplace environment was both demoralizing and a personal burden to bear. But the proverbial "...icing on the cake"...? How about the company unceremoniously removing a few of our retirement benefits from us, after we signed all of the papers and left it?

It took a class action lawsuit to successfully win that one.

We used to share a common belief in our number that was just oh-so-very appropriate at the time, now maybe even more so than back then:: "...Forget about personal respect or morality as you pass through the entry gates into this place -- because there simply isn't any..."

Eddy
Newcastle, Ontario, CANADA



State of upheaval.

You are right on the money with this article, thanks for doing a great job explaining the current state of affairs. I am a UAW/GM retiree who started with GM in 1976. I have lived through the loyalty era and was fortunate to benefit by staying with GM. You can’t hardly blame the young people who jump jobs. Seems like loyalty only goes one way at this point in time. Also, it appears that the current administration is determined to keep everything in a state of upheaval which makes job creation difficult.

EF
Spring Hill, Tennessee



Private Equity - Loyalty = Less Than Zero.

I started working professionally in 1980. There was still the notion of company loyalty, then it changed a few years later. You had Neutron Jack, Chainsaw Al, and Harvard MBA Frank Lorenzo, who stuck a dagger into Eastern Airlines. Harvard MBAs also inundated General Motors (hi Rick!) and we know how that worked out.

What strikes me is how people leave a job with two weeks' notice when companies will walk you out the door in a heartbeat. All for the value of "not burning bridges" with a mercenary boss. I respect someone in own company who resigned and left the same day. Apparently, the fury of working for private equity got to him. Maybe companies need more of that?

DG
Rochester, Michigan



Cutting corporate throats.

At least (I hope) the bean-counters relentlessly cutting and/or outsourcing American jobs have the satisfaction of knowing they've virtually eliminated the middle/working class of this country, cutting their corporate throats by throwing thousands and thousands of customers in the unemployment line, who can't be new buyers anymore.

Any wonder why the median transaction price for a new car (I didn't think GM and Ford made everyday cars any more) is north of 50 grand with NINE year finance terms?

Gee, I wish I'd have gone to the Wharton School.

J. Wilson
Nashville, Tennessee



Powerful implications.

Your article on the decline of corporate loyalty, including at automakers, is strong. On a related topic—it used to be much more common that someone might move cross-country based on company assignment (as opposed to companies just hiring someone else). That level of trust, between employer and employee, has deteriorated outside very high-level positions. Numerous social scientists have pointed out the decreased mobility of Americans moving to new communities vs previous decades. This is typically attributed to housing costs or other factors, but the decline in the stable employer reassigning people is perhaps an underrated contributor to this phenomenon. The gig economy may be only superficially more flexible at the level of being able to resettle in a new place easily.

This has powerful implications for the future of the automobile itself. Although America, thankfully, remains faithful to the idea of the open road more than most countries — it is almost our national credo, as you have previously discussed — a reduction in the percentage of people moving around physically makes the country's vast expanse less real to people, and the automobile seem perhaps less essential and liberating than it has been historically. Automakers which further undermine mutual trust between employee and employer may not recognize that they may be also be undermining the world view and desire essential to their products.

Hal Conte
Morrisville, Pennsylvania



Depreciating loyalty.

The solution to the phenomenon you highlight for the domestic auto industry requires a complete reset of the North American consumer mindset that spans across the economic and emotional significance of private vehicles owned for necessary personal transportation vs. elective recreation. The current mindset has evolved over nearly 125 years in tandem with American society automobile manufacturers. Automobiles are now a worldwide business. Only a tiny fraction of the world population owns an automobile and it is an aspirational possession in the upward climb of global social mobility among the masses. This will change and be punctuated by the occasional geopolitical hiccups involving crude oil supply and demand. The rate of change is accelerating worldwide as is the mindset of those employed directly or indirectly in the associated industries involving vehicle design, manufacture, sales service. Employee loyalty is a casualty of this velocity and necessary change of mindset that considers the role of the automobile as a service rather than an expensive discretionary possession.

The “use case” for automobiles in America is already out of sync with the “ownership case”. Most sit parked and unused for over 80% of a day. That’s a lot of asset depreciation.

Dr. John
Phoenix, Arizona



More on loyalty.

The most impactful early career event - thankful to have experienced in hindsight - was watching engineering "lifers" be told they weren't qualified to do a job they'd done for a decade with stellar performance reviews year after year in 2008 at one of the "big 3."

Watching mentors get walked out on a random Tuesday at 10AM after devoting decades to a company, oftentimes working assignments at detriment to their personal lives and immediate family, still weighs heavily on me to this day.

I chased my "engine" dreams in 2010 and ended up at an OE for the HD truck market. Guess what? They did the same thing around 2012, and with no roots, I was able to transition back to the "D" rather easily as the pass-car industry began to recover.

Most people in this industry have learned to expect the boom-and-bust cycles. What many seem to ignore is that the delta between the "peaks" and the "valleys" seemingly grow more extreme as time goes on.

Loyalty has been a low priority for me since 2008, and given the challenges that the industry (and the US) faces today, it's never been more important to ensure you're loyal to the right people (family). Like it or not, we're all fighting for scarce resources... better make sure you get yours!

Signed,
Out of water in Oakland County, Michigan



Loyalty = Zero.

Watching Ford and GM chasing after and spending billions of dollars on the EV chase. Did they not look at the price and identify who could afford these massively expensive electric vehicles? Once they got past the early adopters with the incredible fed government subsidies, what did they think would happen? Corporations, have to realize the Fed Govt changes direction every 4 or 8 years. Toyota has done an excellent job, with its normalized approach to the market, and even more importantly to evolutionary upgrades instead of revolutionary upgrades.

I personally went through a series of suppliers that were only hiring for specific projects, then cutting staff. I finally upgraded my education which got me hired by an OEM. I worked on projects that saved the corporation millions, and discovered division-to-division financial issues worth tens of millions. What did I get for all of this? ZERO. Even worse, due to medical issues I left three months early, losing a year's worth of bonuses and losing what little retirement benefits I might have collected. Did I mention managing saving the corporations millions and division issues worth tens of millions? A little bitter, you might be right. Meanwhile, CEOs are collecting unbelievable amounts of money driving the businesses straight into the ground.

PJH
Formerly Detroit area



Consequential week.

I often ask myself what the hell happened to this country. You have described it well. I would argue that the ‘80s and the Summer of Love were equally consequential. I believe that Vietnam, the assassinations, and the realization that the government was corrupt made us cynical and sapped our energy and our will to progress further. The view that "hell, it‘s just a job” may have flowed from that. Bringing us down to today, where the most disaffected among us saddled us with the most unqualified President in history. And that brings me down to this week, which I believe will be the most consequential in history for the American car business. The Orange Menace will have his pants taken by Xi Jinping, and agree to lift any restrictions on Chinese cars entering the US. And, then it is over.

Joe Folz
Bonita Springs, Florida