Put Design Back on Top

If the Big Three could wave a magic wand and make all their business problems go away — health-care costs, pension problems, union grievances, quality perceptions — they still would lose market share.

Detroit's auto makers produce fewer cars these days, thanks to 30 years of lackluster design. It is the one parameter over which they have complete and total control. But, with a few exceptions here and there, they've botched it.

The halcyon days of product design started to crumble in the 1970s when the Big Three came under withering criticism from so-called consumer advocates who decried the annual styling change as an unnecessary cost and a waste of resources.

Reams of new (and conflicting) government standards on safety, emissions and fuel economy sapped their creativity. And two oil shortages not only caught them off guard, they opened the gates to a flood of imports.

Shell shocked and reeling from foreign competition, GM, Ford and Chrysler began to develop inferiority complexes. “Woe is us,” they wailed, and turned inward to lick their wounds. In trying to catch up, they focused intently on business metrics such as man-hours per vehicle, product development times, component prices, the cost of capital and a bunch of other numbers.

In the process of looking at those numbers, they forgot that this business is all about making people want to buy their products. It's about promising dreams, stirring passions and creating desire. And the only part of the business that can do all that is design. Not engineering. Not manufacturing. Not purchasing. Not finance.

Advertising and marketing can add to the sizzle, but only design can create the desire.

Today, Detroit's metrics look pretty good. OK, so they're a couple of man-hours off in the Harbour Report, a few TGWs (things gone wrong) behind in the J.D. Power and Associates reports and a few months slower in product development. But in terms of regaining market share, who cares? Car buyers don't even know these things exist.

The single most important move Detroit can take now to turn around its fortunes is to put design back on a pedestal. Bold design can instantly obliterate all the moldy clichés about Detroit and its lack of competitiveness. Head-turning cars can make them shout “hurray” and run for the showrooms.

So how do you know when design is back on a pedestal? When everyone else in the company is whining the design department has too much power.

How do you give it that power? Don't look for consensus, jettison the committees, kill off the focus groups and have design report directly to the CEO. Make it the driving force for what the company does.

In the '50s and '60s, Detroit design exuded a contagious confidence that you could catch in a glance. Bring that back and watch the miracle unfold.

John McElroy is editorial director of Blue Sky Productions and producer of “Autoline Detroit” for WTVS-Channel 56, Detroit, and Speed Channel.