You Gotta Know the Territory (Updated)

In an op-ed this morning in the New York Times professor of environmental design Robert Goodman demonstrates how much bad advice is being given to the automobile industry or those who’d like to control it these days:

The Obama administration should ask the companies, as a condition of financial assistance, to begin shifting from being just automakers to becoming innovative “transportmakers.” As Barack Obama’s new chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, recently said: “You don’t ever want a crisis to go to waste. It’s an opportunity to do important things you would otherwise avoid.”

As transportmakers, the companies could produce vehicles for high-speed train and bus systems that would improve our travel options, reduce global warming, conserve energy, minimize accidents and generally improve the way we live.

It might help to know what business the auto makers see themselves in. They actually have a rather narrow view. They seem themselves as making trucks and automobiles to sell to dealers. Not “transportmakers”. Not toymakers. Not companies who sell to drivers. They make trucks and automobiles to sell to dealers.

The auto makers do not have the knowledge, expertise, or distribution chains to get into that business.

We already have “transportmakers”. For example, see here. And here. It’s a well-developed market and, frankly, I doubt that there’s any room for more players in it.

If Dr. Goodman is actually interested in changing our economy from one of individual transport to one of mass transport, he should be interested in letting the companies in the individual transport collapse and giving the $50 billion to companies who are already positioned in that business.

Update

There’s an additional complication: what union represents the workers at locomotive manufacturers’ operations? My guess it that it’s not the UAW.