Is Planned Obsolescence becoming Obsolete?
For Americans, the concept of the annual model change is nothing new, since the early 1900's products have been built with the mentality that at some point everything gets replaced. For Henry Ford, the Model T had a lifespan of eight years for most owners, which was considered impressive as most of the competition only lasted six. Every year and a half there is a new electronic, such as a "specific letter" phone, pod or laptop. As soon as a consumer finishes loading last years digital pictures, there are higher resolution, clearer images to be made. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I think most Americans felt fed up with the status quo, but treated it for the longest time as just that, how things were. In 2007, however, the shock of collapsing global markets and bank scandals as well as increases in fuel prices seemed to change not only consumers but manufacturers as well, at least in the realm of automotive products.
Before getting into what we all saw happened to automotive manufacturers in 2007. lets take a short jaunt in time to another period when car manufacturers had to change their ways or be visited by the spirits of lost profit. The year was 1972, most Americans owned cars produced by the Big Two, General Motors and Ford. These beasts of the road were almost all derivatives of the "muscle car" phenomenon which had arisen in the early 1960's. Large displacement engines, solid steel bodies and almost non-existent miles-per-gallon was how it was if you were an American car owner at this time. Don't get me wrong, as an owner of some of that gas-guzzling Detroit steel of the 1960's there is a certain love affair to be had, but in 1972, no one was ready for what October of the next year would bring. In response for America supplying arms and training to Israel, OPEC decided to "punish" America by placing an embargo on oil headed to the US. Suddenly overnight, many American gas stations could not afford to fill all the daily drivers, and some prices shot so high drivers could not afford to run their cars at all. This gave a Japanese company, Toyota, the chance to gain a market share in a country that was all but closed off to imports. 1973 also saw drastic changes in design and size of American produced cars to compete with the fuel-sipping Asian imports.
The times were changing, and while some concessions would be made, the Big Two still clung to the mentality of planned obsolescence even with the little Japanese cars plugged on for years and years past their American competitors. Disparity in quality came to a head during the begging of the "great recession" in 2007, with almost all automotive manufacturers in the United States filing bankruptcy or coming awful close. Pontiac, a staple of GM was allowed to perish so that as a whole, GM would survive. Chevrolet asked the government for financial support to prevent itself from following suit. Ford underwent extreme restructuring and barely skimmed by without asking for assistance. Toyota, however, continued to show market growth, gaining sales of its most popular product, the Corolla, and backed these figures with claims that over 80% of Toyota's sold since the 1980's were still on the roads. Ford could see the writing on the wall. Foreign Ford models had increased in reliability, quality and decreased in fuel consumption as European markets had dictated was necessary. With a few tweaks, those cars would be brought home to America, and would help resurrect the auto maker. Chevrolet, not having as much worldwide success would have to start from scratch.
In addition, foreign auto makers who had lost market coverage in America or had never really gained a foothold, such as FIAT of Italy managed to come screaming back into America after 25 years with tiny economic dynamos like the FIAT 500. European public demands had long dictated how cars sold there would have to conform to standards which now every American wanted. With the potential end to the recession wallets are still light and fuel prices are still high nationally so MPG, reliability, and longevity will seem to stay the new advertising buzzwords for the foreseeable future. Will the American brands learn the lesson this time? Is it too late to wrestle back the market that global giant Toyota has developed at home and abroad? Finally does it even matter, since planned obsolescence is little more than a marketing scheme to get Americans to buy the next greatest? The truth is, as Americans, in the realm of Automobiles, we are starting to reject the notion that cars only last six to eight years, so perhaps one day planned obsolescence will not be an effective strategy
Links:
original article on American buying habits becoming more European
Toyota's sales figures
Ford's December 2012 sales
GM's 2012 sales figures
In addition, foreign auto makers who had lost market coverage in America or had never really gained a foothold, such as FIAT of Italy managed to come screaming back into America after 25 years with tiny economic dynamos like the FIAT 500. European public demands had long dictated how cars sold there would have to conform to standards which now every American wanted. With the potential end to the recession wallets are still light and fuel prices are still high nationally so MPG, reliability, and longevity will seem to stay the new advertising buzzwords for the foreseeable future. Will the American brands learn the lesson this time? Is it too late to wrestle back the market that global giant Toyota has developed at home and abroad? Finally does it even matter, since planned obsolescence is little more than a marketing scheme to get Americans to buy the next greatest? The truth is, as Americans, in the realm of Automobiles, we are starting to reject the notion that cars only last six to eight years, so perhaps one day planned obsolescence will not be an effective strategy
I think planned obsolescence is still extremely relevant in regards to how
ReplyDeleteconsumers purchase their goods, and how manufacturers market their goods. My
evidence lies in the fact that car companies are always looking to one-up either
themselves or their competition and every model change comes with improvements,
whether they be more horsepower, mpg, towing capacity, etc. The same can be
said for every other market. Manufacturers always update their products as time
goes on, and I think as the economy recovers and Americans have more money to
spend 'planned obsolescence' will become much more obvious.
As far as the question of current planned obsolescence becoming less demanding goes, it’s relevance in most markets is a powerful as ever. Look no further than annual several hundred dollar phones that people wait hours in line for; for what is really a yearly half grand subscription to the next big thing is a prime example of this. I enjoyed reading your article about automobile producers and planned obsolescence weakness in the current economic environment. When questioned why planned obsolescence isn’t as strong in the automobile industry, it boils down to the past. If your car isn’t a reasonable enough investment, people won’t buy the lemon. For one of the few things in the market that you aren’t expected to replace within a few years, cars need to back their own investment. I found the passage where Toyota gained its foothold in American markets to be quite interesting as there business model is still basically the same today. When money gets tight, people will always listen to whatever hits them in the wallet. This is easily reflected by Toyota again and again as their cars are rather simple, however is efficient for the buyers’ pocket book. These trends are always brought back by bad economic periods and are talked of much less when the economy is flowing. Fuel efficiency and its massive strides in reliance however, are worth an entire different blog post discussion.
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