SELF-INDULGENT TOOLS, SERIAL INCOMPETENCE, MOTORIZED PEACOCKING AND A DISMAL PREDICTION ABOUT WHAT COMES NEXT. TRANSLATION? IT'S A GIANT BOWL OF NOT GOOD.

Editor's Note: This week, we mark TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS of Autoextremist with Peter's sobering (and flat-out dispiriting) discussion of the business today. In On The Table, we feature the reveal of the GMC Hummer X Concept, which took place during the official opening of GM's new advanced design studio in Pasadena, California. And we're re-running Peter's take on the Ferrari Luce EV, the abysmal effort from Ferrari. We're also re-running our video featuring a memorable conversation with Jim Hall on the American Inventors Interview Series. And our AE Song of the Week is "Badge" by Cream. In Fumes, Peter presents the next chapter of his series, "The Great Races," as we return to Riverside International Raceway for the Rex Mays 300 on November 26, 1967. The race for USAC Indy cars was dominated by Dan Gurney in his beautiful AAR Eagle/Ford, against an all-star field of drivers. Dan considered this race to be one of his all-time greatest victories. And in The Line, we have INDYCAR and IMSA results from Detroit, and MotoGP from Mugello, Italy. Still here, at least for now. -WG

By Peter M. DeLorenzo

Detroit. Maybe it was the tone deafness surrounding the introduction of the Ferrari Luce. As in, how could so many (allegedly) smart people believe this is the definitive way forward for the most storied automobile brand in the world? Ferrari’s Executive Chairman John Elkann’s misguided words continue to haunt me: “We took the deliberate decision to lead what comes next.” What comes next? You have to be frickin' kidding. That is the most arrogant, delusional statement ever uttered by an auto executive, this side of whatever “St. Elon” muttered last, of course. But by deliberately hiring Jony Ive (the former Apple design chief and the driving force behind the iPhone) from LoveFrom, the design collective founded by Ive and "acclaimed" (my quotes) designer Marc Newson, Elkann chartered a disastrous course for a once-unimpeachable brand. (For the record, Newson is the most overrated designer extant and has been for a long, long time, but that's fodder for another column.) 

 

That the Luce is a total design failure on just about every level – something so pedantic that it could easily pass as a design proposal for the next-gen Kia EV6 – is simply shocking (See last week’s column about the Luce in this week’s On the Table – WG). The Luce is a rolling manifestation of Ive’s and Newson’s self-indulgent thought balloons. I can imagine the two of them praising each other’s brilliance at every turn, and then making the calculated decision to paint the thing baby blue as one last “fuck you” to whatever shred of Ferrari brand image was left.

 

As I predicted, the apologists came out of the woodwork to defend the Luce, suggesting, "some people just can't cope with change" or the other favorite phrase aimed at civilians by designers, "you're just not qualified to understand the concept of design reach." And then there were those who insisted that the Luce really was what's next.

Right.

I'll tell you what I am qualified to understand, however. How in the hell can a company like Ferrari talk themselves into letting a couple of glorified package designers loose to come up with this?  I'm quite sure that Ive and Newson are supremely confident that their work is fabulous, even if it wrecked the legacy of Ferrari in one fell swoop. I can assure you that the Luce isn't what's next. Instead, it marks the end of Ferrari's reign at the top. Enough about this, at least for now.

 

Or maybe it’s the fact that this business, this once-glorious expression of creativity that powered this nation forward and fortified the Arsenal of Democracy when our country needed it most has devolved into a swirling maelstrom of a two-steps forward and five-back dance of mediocrity. A tedious death march of mistakes and missteps while its overlords take home hundreds of millions. Too many people engaged at the top in this business are doing stupid things and repeatedly screwing everything up, while getting paid absurd amounts of money for their subpar efforts. And it is flat-out ridiculous.

 

Or maybe it’s the fact that the latest supercars leave me cold. Are these the technological developments that will power this industry forward? I’m not buying it, and I frankly don’t care anymore either, not that I ever really did anyway. Unless you have access to a race track, going 0-120 mph on Woodward Ave., or merging on to a freeway is pretty much the extent of the driving enjoyment that comes with owning one of these machines (except for the swinging dick-ism and motorized peacocking that goes along with it, of course). And it’s not because I'm unable to even remotely afford to indulge myself to that degree either (if I could, I’d get a Corvette ZR1 and call it a day). These million-dollar manhood projectors have become tedious beyond words. Throw in the formerly “affordable” Porsche 911s that now regularly approach $200k, and the whole auto world has gone flat-out crazy.

 

Or maybe it’s because the incessant chatter about AI and self-driving cars is threatening to swallow this business whole. As I’ve said many times before, self-driving cars can be applied in very limited uses. Otherwise, I really couldn't care less about the idea. Will a nation founded on the tenets of freedom and the option to go, and do, and see what we please all of a sudden succumb to groupthink and mindlessly queue up for nondescript, shared transportation devices based on convenience? Are we all just going to gleefully go along for a ride dictated by availability and the most-frequented ‘popular’ travel destinations?

I don’t think so. Every dimension of the American experience has been shaped by the automobile - the roads we used to explore the vast expanses of the unbridled majesty of this nation (and ourselves along the way); the music that provided much of the soundtrack for those journeys; the roadside attractions and the road food that went with them; the big cities and little towns along the highways and byways; and on, and on, and on. Talk to anyone who has visited The Henry Ford museum recently, and see what he or she has to say. In so many words, it will sound like this: The American experience is the automobile, and the automobile is the American experience.

The automobile’s influence on this country’s culture is almost incalculable. But then again, it’s even more than that. It’s part of this country’s soul, it’s who we are and it’s where we’ve been and it’s where we’ve always wanted to go. There’s an undeniable emotional connection between people and their machines. Far from mere transportation devices, these machines project a fundamental freedom of movement and unleashing of the spirit, and in fact they are the mechanical conduit of our hopes and dreams. Robo cars? No thanks.

Or maybe because the writing is now very much on the wall when it comes to the future of the U.S. automobile business. This industry and its supplier community are now being held hostage by a hostile administration in Washington hell-bent on “fixing” the American industrial fabric by employing tariffs based on the whims of one horribly misguided and serially incompetent Dear Leader. And it has been a frickin’ disaster resulting in a monumental financial quagmire. Compound this with the fact that China Inc. has blatantly subsidized its auto industry to the point that its EV development has accelerated beyond what our own industry has come up with - due to the fact that said administration effectively killed the incentive to develop competitive EVs - and you have a nightmare scenario that has no chance of improving anytime soon, if ever.

I predicted many columns ago that the U.S. auto industry could very well become a purveyor of niche vehicles native to this country, while China Inc. dominates the rest of the world. Sure, we can go on building trucks, SUVs, crossovers and select high-performance machines and do it damn well, I might add. But while this country is doing that, the rest of the world will leave us in the dust, or to our own devices, whichever is worse. Not exactly a projection for a thriving, healthy automotive future.

Or maybe it’s because the U.S. automakers have steadfastly dragged their asses on coming up with affordable transportation. I know the operatives in Dearborn are convinced they have alighted on the secret sauce of affordability with their upcoming EV pickup, but that remains a giant “we’ll see,” especially given that automaker’s dismal track record of launching new products. Ford's “Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread” is supposed to arrive sometime in 2027, but I’m not holding my breath. Everything is costing too damn much these days, especially the average price of a new vehicle, which is now $50,000, and that’s simply not sustainable. And nary a de-contented vehicle is on the horizon. Where’s a de-contented Chevy Colorado when it’s so desperately needed? And it’s not just the blatantly usurious Porsche pricing that regularly gouges its customers that pisses me off. My favorite all-time daily driver – the VW GTI – is just slightly under $40,000, as one sits on my local VW dealer’s lot. As Chris Rock has famously and repeatedly said, “That ain’t right.”

Or maybe despite all of the aforementioned Sturm und Drang, I still retain a shred of optimism, although I must confess it’s growing slimmer by the minute. There are still plenty of men and women in this business who are bringing their level best every day. The hallowed “True Believers” as I’ve affectionately named them are still present and accounted for, heads down and focused on The Future. And I applaud them, because if it weren’t for them, there would be no hope at all.

The Bottom Line? I’m depressed, disgusted and pissed-off. I not only don’t care for where this business is right now, I’m convinced it’s going nowhere good at all. And the fun aspects of this business – and believe me, it used to be uproariously fun – left the station a long, long time ago.

The disastrous Ferrari Luce may just be the last straw for me. What those stumblebums did to that magnificent marque is criminally indefensible and unforgivable.

Which is why this may be The Last Issue.

And that’s the High-Octane Truth on this 27th Anniversary of Autoextremist.com.

 

 

Editor's Note: Click on "Next 1 Entries" at the bottom of this page to see previous issues. - WG