The North American International Auto Show is an absolutely amazing tradition; the first one was staged in 1899, at a time when almost no one had ever heard of Henry Ford.
They’ve held it again every year since 1907, except for a few years during and after World War II. Since 1965, it’s been at the Cobo Center, usually in January.
I remember coming down to it in the early 1970s and being absolutely shocked that some new cars then cost $10,000 or more! These days, that might get you a used Honda Civic.
The auto industry is changing, of course, and will continue to change. But it’s not going away. I’ve read the stories about millennials not wanting or needing cars, and there is some truth in that. But the naked truth is that in Michigan, for most people, it just isn’t very practical to live without having some form of vehicle.
I’ve been arguing forever that we need more mass transit. But when it comes to a sense of freedom, many, probably most, people feel there is no substitute for wheels of their own, which is one reason why Americans have been buying 17 million new cars and trucks every year.
More than a century ago, Detroit became the command center of this industry. Even before cars, it was a place where workmen and master craftsmen made things, including stoves and railroad cars. Once Henry Ford figured out how to make cars for much less money and make it up on volume by selling millions of them, it was inevitable that the industry and its suppliers would settle in and be based in Metropolitan Detroit – and its nerve center is here too.
There have been good years and bad years. I am well aware that a majority of cars sold in this country today are made by firms whose world headquarters are in other countries.
But did you know that two years ago, General Motors sold six Buicks in China for every one it sold here? GM sells more vehicles now in China than it does in the United States. Those numbers fell last year, partly perhaps because our President essentially declared a trade war on China.
Actions have consequences, and it is a good idea to know what you are doing before you do it. But some adults clearly haven’t learned that. Nor have they learned that this is increasingly a world economy and a world market.
You literally cannot separate U.S. auto manufacturing from Canadian, not without hurting both nations’ economies. It seems that Donald Trump may not understand this.
And while the auto industry is doing pretty well today, the government is not. The North American International Auto Show is opening at a time when all the Detroit three are extremely profitable, and the federal government is shut down.
It has been shut down by the President, in response to an imaginary border crisis that every rational expert knows doesn’t exist. No terrorists are coming across our southern border; none ever have. Illegal border crossings have steeply declined.
Most drugs are smuggled into this country in trucks. Most “illegal aliens” or “undocumented immigrants” are in fact people who came in on legal visas and stayed here when they expired. The President is fighting the wrong war and addressing the wrong problem, and we are all paying for it. America’s auto industry was once a mess.
Today, it’s gotten it together. The irony is that the very national government that saved Detroit ten years ago is now itself dysfunctional.
As they know in the industry, a lot depends on who is at the wheel.
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