Only having three courses is like a vacation, but it's going to be a fun one because I have an entirely new subject matter to absorb: LAW. Ross requires everybody to take at least one LHC (Law, Humanities, Communication) course to get their MBA and this seemed a fine time to wrap up mine. It was pretty interesting; I'm an anti-litigant so there's no doubt in my mind that I'll be butting heads with some people, but it's good to get a (much) better feeling for the lay of the land if you, and by 'you' I also mean the company that I work for, operate within the law.
The first day of LHC 517 is especially poignant to me because I heard yesterday, smashed between car show coverage on the local news, that a woman is suing TGIFridays because they mistakenly served her son a Long Island iced tea and he got sick after drinking the whole thing. Yeah, I agree that that is bad, but if your kid orders lemonade and you get a dark brown drink with a tiki-umbrella in it, shouldn't that trigger something? The concerned parent also said she began to worry when he said "it tastes funny" but it wasn't until they were getting up to leave and the toddler stumbled that she tried the drink. I hope she wins her suit against TGIFridays and the jury awards her $1000 in parental counseling gift certificates. What a bunch of crap.
Finally, on to the car show. I know this blog gets a pretty diverse readership, in terms of the auto industry, but here are my uncensored thoughts:
Top news is muscle cars. I'm more of a GM guy, thus the Camaro is interesting to me. It's three lousy years away but I like the heritage curves with tomorrow's details... kind of Art & Science kicks you in the chops styling. The Challenger looks smooth, but to me the design lacks the punch that the Camaro has. The proof of this pudding is in the mirrors; Challenger (left) has retro stalk and pod mirrors while Camaro sports some very minimal race-type mirrors.
It all comes down to preference, but Pontiac/Holden's GTO rennaissance throws a flag up on the rounded powerbulges of the Challenger. GTO turned fewer than 12,000 copies last year with 400hp on tap and the finest interior in a sports car. The GTO is what it is, but I think people stood out in favor of a little more spice in their styling.
It's been nice to finally hear some talk about diesels. I know I beat this topic to death, but where are the Euro-sportwagons? Show me an Opel Astra 1.9TD, Audi A3 2.0 TDI, and BMW 120d and I'll show you cars that get better gas mileage and cost less than a Prius (or all but the Saturn Vue green line and Ford Escape hybrid). These are solid cars with turbocharged performance, sporty interiors, and high-class heritage that are only available in Europe.
Car show reveals are something strange. Marching bands, models, famous people who clearly have no idea what they are talking about, comedians making bad jokes, and some crazy pageantry. The new Wrangler drove through a (rigged) plate glass window at COBO, which proves to me that I'm definitely going to want one of those babies for all of my plate-glass-window-smashing needs. One I did like, despite being wasteful and extravagant, was the Chrysler Aspen 'snowstorm' reveal.
People are pretty worried about the Big Three (or at least two), but I'm worried about everybody...right down to Hyundia and K-K-Kia. Tucked away in the lobby of the NAIAS is a display from Geely. (Read more at Jalopnik.) The 7151 CK (or 7151A if you read the badging on the car) is not a pretty automobile; it's not sporty, it doesn't have any show-stopping features, and it's not even available for sale. But it is from China, and I fear it signals the end of the auto universe as we know it. Within a few years I am willing to bet that Geely will be inside the hall, perhaps using space taken by today's biggest players - all of them, domestic or not. What's scary is that a Camry is built here with 90% American content, while a Geely or Cherry would be built in China with ~0% American content. If times are hard now, what will happen when Toyota or Honda have to announce a midwestern plant closing?
Tuesday, January 10, 2006