Afternoon coffee with Bob Lutz, v-p of General Motors.
Dinner with Bill Ford, chairman of Ford.
That's one of the attractions of the Detroit Auto Show for journalists - it's hard to get this kind of access at other international auto shows.
Lutz and Ford agreed on quite a few things, actually. With respect to the recent visit to Washington by the CEOs of the three Detroit-based auto makers (Rick Wagoner of GM, Alan Mullaly of Ford, Robert Nardelli of Chrysler) both senior executives were quite taken aback by the reception they received.
Both mentioned that politicians, or even senior executives of other corporations that car company people talk to for advice all the time, don't seem to understand a few things about the car business.
In no particular order, the politicians in particular seem to be playing from a really old playbook. They keep thinking the domestics still trail the imports on things like quality and crash safety, when virtually every third-party analysis suggests otherwise.
They seem to think that the car makers weren't building the products the public wanted, when two years ago what the public wanted was precisely the big trucks and SUVs the domestic car makers seem uniquely capable of building and which of course were immensely profitable too.
They seem to think the car makers can switch products at will, when in fact every new vehicle is the result of hundreds of thousands of individual decisions taken over a period of 18 to 30 months which is the time needed to design and develop a new product.
They seem to think that all the car makers need to do is tell the public what to buy and they will meekly obey. As if. And some of those politicians are old enough to remember the Edsel.
Even senior executives from other industries are surprised once they get to know the car business a little how complex it is. Just managing the supply chain - trying to ensure the outside companies who are supplying everything from sheet steel and bolts to complete transmissions and tires get the stuff to the assembly plants just in time, on budget, and don't either go on strike or out of business in the interim - is a hugely complex deal.
And building the car is just the start - distribution, marketing, sales support, financing, parts and service - it is a tough, tough business.
And one that doesn't necessarily play by any rules. What works today might be obsolete by tomorrow.
It is also a business run by the heart. As Lutz said, the 'transportation' component of a car purchase could be perfectly handled by "a three year old Mitsubishi Gallant', to quote the example he used. It's the emotional component that drives the business, and that's much harder to get a handle on.
But that's also why it is such a fascinating business.
That's also why we will be back at the Detroit Show tomorrow, to try and keep pace with it all.
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