There Are Too Many Cars at the North American International Auto Show

Detroit Free Press

Rochelle Riley

January 9, 2004

Jan. 9--This will sound a little silly, but of one thing I'm certain: There are too many cars at the North American International Auto Show.

Yes, I know it's new car season. Yes, I know automakers will unveil at least 65 new models at the fabulous showcase, and that those cars will join the more than 1,400 car choices we already have. And, yes, I know they keep coming up with new cars because we've come to believe -- we, the blessed of America -- that we must have hundreds of models to choose from to be happy.

But you know what?

We could be wrong.

We may have forgotten the simplicity of shopping for a new car from few choices. We seem to have forgotten the sense of tradition that came from finding our own style and sticking with it --the same way we choose appliances or types of suits or handbags.

We seem to have forgotten the days when we didn't buy cars -- we bought a company.

In my growing-up town, on my street, we knew our neighbors' cars not by the model but by the brand.

We became a Ford family. Oh, my grampa drove a Dodge, then a Buick, but eventually settled on Fords for the rest of his life.

His final car was a dark blue LTD, the one he used to wear his hat to drive. It was a hat- and tie-wearing car. It was the car he drove on his last day of driving. He was headed down St. John Street on his way home and sideswiped every car on the street. He had to give up his keys after that.

We picked cars like we picked washing machines. Our neighbors across the street drove Chevrolets. My old boyfriend's dad drove a Buick Electra 225, a "deuce and a quarter." And he didn't just drive it for a while. He drove that model forever. When he bought a new car, you could only tell it was new by the change in color.

That's what missing from cars and the car industry now. As the Detroit automakers face possible growth for the first time in four years, maybe it's time for them and the rest of the car companies to consider the less-is-more philosophy and return to making signature cars that bring people to their companies for good.

Maybe the car companies, in addition to realizing that not everyone drives or wants to drive a truck, can focus on tradition. Focus on just a few special cars that speak to your company. Every passenger car is a Ford Taurus, anyway, with just a few minor adjustments. There's the drawing board.

Then maybe we can get back to a place where, when you're asked what kind of car you drive, your answer is: a Ford or a Chevy or a Cadillac or Pontiac or a Dodge. Or a Toyota or a Honda or a Volvo.

And every year at the auto show, we can pick a new color or doodad. The auto show could be about innovation in the cars we love.

For my money if Chrysler would make as its signature car a PT Cruiser mounted on a Caravan frame instead of a Neon frame, I'd have to disappoint my grandfather and buy a Chrysler every time.

Contact Rochelle Riley at 313-223-4473 or e-mail riley@freepress.com. Her columns appear on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

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