HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1986-11-19, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1986. PAGE 5.
Japanese competition
means auto changes
own niche in the market. Not one of
them went under and so it is, I
suppose, conventional wisdom
That, if all the current manufactur
ers in the world can somehow find
their own niche during the next 10
years, not one will go under.
’ goingtoseeaglut of carson the
market just as there is a similar glut
on the oil market today. It is too
early to say which ones are going to
be the winners and which the losers
but there is a lesson, I think, to be
learned from the Japanese experi
ence. That country’s powerful
Ministry for International Trade
and Industry once expressed the
opinion that the 11 car companies
in Japan could safely be reduced to
three so as to avoid over-produc
tion. The manufacturers totally
ignored this bit of wisdom and
proceeded to find, all of them, their
Continued from page 4
This is especially true in the field of
quality control. I have two cars, one
of which is a Mazda 626 and to my
mind its quality is nothing less than
superb. It costs next to nothing to
maintain, in stark contrast to most
of the North American models that
I have had over the past decade. It
was Lee Iacocca of Chrysler who
realized the importance of quality
control and it was this realization
that undoubtedly saved his com
pany from joining the ranks of
bankruptcy. For this reason look
for an emphasis on quality in the
years to come. For the consumer
this is good news indeed.
I also think that the days of
cosmetic changes are over. I think
many of you can recall the days
when changes were made simply
for the sake of change even though
Volkswagon was demonstrating in
. its world famous Beetle that
change was not necessary, or at
least nothing more than minimal
changes. It is Volkswagon’s line of
thinking that has come to be
prevalent these days so don’t look
for any real differences from year
to year. The changes when they do
come will be at the end of a much
longer time frame.
One almost complete disaster
were the efforts of one car
manufacturer to merge with ano
ther of almost identical size. The
marriage between American Mot
ors and Renault has not benefitted
either one. Fiat had no more
success when it set up housekeep
ing with Citroen and almost found
itself in a similar fix with Ford but
backed out just in time. It is
noteworthy that the current round
of arrangements is not between
equals. Nobody for one minute
would equate General Motors with
Suzuki and this is likely to be the
sign of the times for the rest of the
century. In short, links between car
manufacturers will continue to be
made but they will be very much ad
hoc arrangements with one agree
ing to make, say, bodies or engines
for another.
Given the capacity which exists
when you add up all the car
manufacturers, there is obviously
too much of this capacity which
means that some time down the
line, say about 1990-1995, we are
I may get this article out in 10
years and see how accurate I was.
However, economists have to go
out on the proverbial limb from
time to time and this is one of them.
At any rate I would be delighted to
hear from anybody who opposes
my line of thinking.
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Enjoying her meal to the fullest, Amy Crawford of Brussels was one of
the many people who enjoyed the bake sale and luncheon sponsored by
the Brussels United Church Women last Thursday. Despite the first
snowfall of the year, organizers report that the event was “most
successful”.
Rebekahs support youth
Continued from page 2
Children’s Services asking for
donation will be taken care of by
Humanitarian Services. There will
be a meeting of this committee at
the arena on November 20 at7p.m.
and a meeting of Oddfellows and
Rebekahs at 8 o’clock at the arena.
Plans were completed for euchre
party November 17 and trip by bus
toGoderich on November 18. Itwas
also announced the Rebekahs
could continue to hold their
meetings at the arena until new
rooms are available.
The Santa Claus parade is to be
held December 6. Travelling prize
was won by Lois McCutcheon.
Jelly bean contest by Susie Nichol,
draw for a doll donated by Lillian
Moses was won by Marguerite
Crawford. Lunch was served by the
committee in charge.
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