The US Press Has a Bias Against US Automakers!

One of the reasons I write these articles is to combat the media bias against American automakers. I admit, I am biased in favor of US automakers. But as I watched CNN’s Miles O’Brien’s segment Thursday (7/17/08) on electric cars my blood began to boil. He was driving some remnants of an era when Toyota and GM were making electric vehicles for use in California when that state was mandating the sale of zero emission vehicles. He reported accurately that GM took the lead in developing the EV1 electric car that they leased to consumers in California. He made a big deal out of GM “repossessing the EV1’s and destroying them”, while he was able to drive one of about 100 Toyota Rav 4 electric vehicles left in America. The fact is that GM took possession of the EV1 vehicles at the end of their leases, they were not repossesses in the connotation of the word repossess as it is commonly used in the banking and automotive world. GM leased these expensive to build electric cars to consumers, much like Honda is doing today with their hydrogen fuel cell offering. Further GM destroyed the vehicles as did Toyota, a point that he barely mentions at the conclusion of the piece, because by law if they did not, they would be forced to support the product for 10 years making parts available and following any mandates from the National Highway and Traffic Administration. He went on to ask his guest why he thought GM destroyed the EV1 vehicles; who suggested that it was done to protect the value of their other vehicle offerings.

If this wasn’t enough, O’Brien said that US automakers don’t offer electric vehicles. Now while it is true that the US automakers do not have electric vehicles for sale today, neither do the imports. And he never made mention of the Chevy Volt plug in electric hybrid scheduled to go on sale in 2010. This is an electric hybrid that runs 40 miles on electricity alone and is supported by a gasoline engine for longer trips. He could have mentioned the Hydrogen Fuel powered Chevy Equinox, now being driven in LA, DC and New York.

I am getting sick and tired of the US press saying that Detroit doesn’t make cars and trucks consumers want to buy. I hear this over and over again on CNN, CBS and NBC news casts. They said this when Ford’s F150 was the best selling vehicle in America. While GM’s sales are down they still are the best selling manufacturer in America. Does that mean the consumers who buy their cars are insignificant? Sales of high mileage vehicles are increasing, driven by higher fuel prices, but not everyone can drive a compact car. You hear very little about GM’s full size Hybrid SUV’s that get 20mpg in city driving.

Whenever one of the US automakers has a recall or a vehicle challenge, it makes the front page of the newspaper and is all over the television news. Has anyone heard or read about Toyota buying back thousands of Tacoma pickup trucks because the frames are rusting through. I never heard about it in the press, I learned it from a Toyota dealer who happens to be a Chevy dealer as well. I confirmed by doing a Google search for “Toyota Tacoma Rust”.

The media touts Toyota as the fuel economy King. AOL did a study on overall fuel economy by brand. Chevrolet came in third overall including their truck fleet. Honda won but by only a few tenths of a mile per gallon over Chevy, and they have only one truck in their fleet. Toyota came in tenth. Now AOL is owned by Time Warner, the same company that owns CNN, but you never saw this on American Morning. Using Google, I also learned about things like the class action suit consumers brought against Toyota for engine sludge and other things about the imports that go unreported or barely reported. It is just not popular to report bad things about the darling imports and good things about the Big Bad Three from Detroit.

I think the popularity of bashing Detroit is a subliminal reaction of Americans who are disappointed that in the past the US automakers built inferior products to the imports. But today that is different. Today GM builds cars with superior quality. GM has more models that get 30 miles per gallon highway than any other manufacturer, but you won’t hear that on CNN. Thanks for letting me vent. It is good therapy. Drive safely.