There is lots of talk these days about a turn to basic transportation, simple automobiles meant to serve a generation of practical consumers. But as you can see from this picture of Henry Ford with a 1921 Ford Model T, this is not exactly new thinking.
Ford just celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Model T. This car first rolled off the assembly line on September 27, 1908 and didn't stop until May 26, 1927, by which time more than 15 million had been made. It changed a bit over the intervening years, but not much. As Henry Ford said, "I will build a car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one - and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God's great open spaces."
Plenty of people will tell you that some kind of adventurous new thinking is required to build a modern cheap car, a cross between the NASA space program and the cheap computer club that led to the Apple personal computer. The trouble is, this sort of thinking results in a lot of effort to make things cheap rather than good, and the result is bad little transportation pods that can't pass safety or air emissions regulations. Really, the Tata Nano isn't a good model for the basic car of the future.
But why not the Ford Focus? Though this platform for Ford's world car is two generations old, the newer designs differ more in tuning than in specification. Inside this soggy, unpleasantly styled little coupe there's a Mazda 3 or a Ford Fiesta yearning to breathe free. All it needs is a little tuning. As BMW has proven over the decades, sticking with the same fundamental platform over a long period of time gives you the opportunity to develop it, and development not innovation is really the secret to affordable goodness.
Of course, we're going to be getting our version of the Ford Fiesta fairly soon, so there's not much point in pursuing this. But if I were looking to create a basic car, I'd be thinking twice about something new that's actually crummier and cheaper than something old.
Michael Jordan, Executive Editor, Inside Line @ 16,233 miles
m3shmem3 says:
03:23 PM, 02/10/09
A few months ago when my niece blocked my car with her '94 Accord EX I snatched her keys to run a quick errand. Within a block, I had the heater on, the seat moved back, the radio tuned from Britney to Drive-by Truckers, and the mirrors adjusted. I could even see out all around the car's beltline. I travel a lot for work, and I couldn't remember the last new rental car, however cheap, in which I could repeat this. Similarly, the car drove like, well, a car instead of a giant golf cart.
I'm surely not the only consumer who would welcome some simplicity and purity back to vehicles. Well, as long as I can have my bi-turbo I-6, heated seats, Parktronic, and...um, nevermind.
fadetoblackii says:
03:44 PM, 02/10/09
m3 has a point.
The problem with returning to making cars simple again is that people wouldn't buy simple cars.
Imagine if an American car company came out with a car that was simple and easy to maintain at home, used manual transmission, steering, windows, seats, locks, and mirrors, came with an A/C and CD player package, a 1.5L 4 cyl. engine, room for 5, went 0-60 in 12 seconds, did the quarter mile in 21 seconds at 67mph. All that for $8k. Whats the market for it? Nobody would buy that vehicle because it's not fast enough, smooth enough, refined enough, luxurious enough, or just doesn't look good.
The thing could look like a 4 door R8 and no one would buy it because we've simply gotten too used to our power everything, able-to-drive-it-with-a-triplegrandemochacaramelmachiatto-in-one-hand-cell-phone-in-the-other-driving-with-one-knee-while-the-other-balances-a-cinnabun cozymobiles.
A car that actually required attention and knowledge would go straight over the head of the Joneses. Sure it'd be practical, and probably cheap as hell to build, but no one would buy it because we all want SOMETHING in the car thats better than everything else on the market.
Whether its speed, gas mileage, comfort, features, prestige, or just good looks, we all need to be the best in some way. It really is a shame, because if we could live without a few things, we really might get alot more for our money instead of having to spend alot more of it to get things we don't really need.
roar02ram says:
05:15 PM, 02/10/09
Are we talking about simplicty or honesty?
Even that '94 Accord is hideously complex compared to a car just a decade older. Airbags, VTec, ABS, CD player, etc - none of that was there 10 years older.
The problem isn't features - it's how they're presented and the impact that they have on the driving experience.
cx7lover says:
07:44 PM, 02/10/09
They're plenty of affordable basic cars, namely the Hyundai Accent. CD player, manual windows, transmission, all for 10K.
FromBrazil says:
07:59 PM, 02/10/09
JC! What world do you live in? The Focus a world car? In most of the world, and in the world that's growing BTW, the Focus is a great big damn car. It's a luxury few can afford. I'm not knocking the car, but maybe you should travel a little bit around the world (not just NA and Western Europe). Probably this is the kind of thinking that got US car makers into such dire straits!
louiswei says:
10:41 PM, 02/10/09
To FromBrazil,
Ford Focus is all over the place in Taiwan.
stingray454 says:
08:02 AM, 02/11/09
That is a great quote from Henry Ford. Brilliant man. Ford used this quote in one of their TV commercials about 10 years ago - it was really cool.
m_thrizzle says:
12:30 PM, 02/11/09
I think the key thing to low-margin economy cars is styling and reliability. Does it really cost that much more to make a good looking car? Apparently so, given the number of uggo's on the road. But look at the Mini and Fiat 500 - you can charge a premium for better styling even if the guts of the car are basic.
I vehemently oppose the introduction of cheap Chinese cars that will start invading the US in a few years. They will probably have poor crash performance and reliability, and I don't know why people would buy them as opposed to a 3-yr old Civic instead. Keep crappy cars off the road!
tenfifteen says:
01:04 PM, 02/11/09
Most motorheads do want a lighter/simpler car however, and are willing to trade power to get it. Build something like the Lotus Elite at $25k and see if you can keep them in stock.
tenfifteen says:
01:05 PM, 02/11/09
^^ Elise. Duh.
jdub53084 says:
01:06 PM, 02/11/09
The Model T was replaced by the Model A. It sold like the proverbial hot cake and nobody looked back yearning for the "simple pleasure" of the Model T. If Americans wanted a small,cheap car, the roads would be chocked with them but they aren't.
I see them stacked up at every car dealer, rental lot etc.. and nobody seems like they're in a hurry to buy the ones we have now. Why spend the money to make yet another one?
jederino says:
12:27 PM, 02/12/09
I'll second cX7: the Hyundai Accent is a compelling, basic car. Particularly in sport edition.
I prefer simple cars because less goes wrong with them. I wouldn't worry about the drivetrain from most automakers, but the power windows, locks, seat and steering column motors, magnetic suspensions, etc. Those things may not leave you stranded, but you will pay dearly when they go out.
Unfortunately, the car industry operates in tiny profit margins. They make their cake by selling upgrades and luxuries to people willing to splurge a little. A simple car, like the Model T, could very well be a proven platform that is kept cheap. It happens in other countries. I heard that the Datsun B210 was sold in France decades after it left our shores. It was still competitive there, and provided basic transportation!
zoolander1 says:
09:09 AM, 02/17/09
I agree with m3shmem3. I owned a 1988 BMW 325i. That car had a simple exterior design, a simple interior layout, comfortable seating and decent handling. As much as I enjoyed that car, I'm hesitant to buy the new 3 series as it has so many sensors and gadgets, its instrument panel looks like a Xmas tree every time is due for service. I wonder how many of these sensors and features are "necesary" in the pursuit of the Ultimate Driving Experience. I rather stick to the basics and drive a driver's car and not a mechanic's regular.