Anieros: The largest factor in the equation is the customer. This is a business and obviously we have to make a profit and return a value to our shareholders. If we don't do something that appeals to the customer, the ballgame is over. So regardless of what certain interests might want us to do, we must do whatever it takes to stand the tests of whether the customer is going to be interested in this and whether we can make a reasonable profit. We are not driven by today's customer in the sense that we don't use a lot of focus group research to help us determine what we want to do from a style, product, or feature standpoint. We do that, but we've found that they sort of tell us where they think we are today and not necessarily where we want to go. We try to stay ahead of them. We recognize that we have to guess where the customer is going to be in four, five and six years.
This is something that was primarily strengthened during the Bob Lutz era. He was a strong advocate of the right-brain approach to the problem. Rather than just look at it analytically, look at it emotionally. What would you like to do? What do you think the customer would really want? They don't make decisions all based on logic and rationality, especially when it comes to vehicles. That's the fun of life, isn't it?
Goldenthal: In 1984, the minivan and the Cherokee came out. I'd say that those two vehicles established two new segments. I think four-wheel drives have become a fad, minivans are just kind of sitting there, and sport/utilities have become a status symbol. The minivan has stigmas associated with it-people think they're driving a bus or a mom-mobile. There's a psychology with sport/utilities-it's a truck and it's sporty; it's not just a name.
How do you explain the move from cars to trucks and sport/utilities?Julow: There is a phenomenon of command position. This is really the only package consideration I see between passenger cars and sport/utilities. For example, there are few cars more comfortable on the road than the Dodge Intrepid. So I don't think there's an idea as traditional as "sport/utilities have more legroom or hiproom"; it's more the command seating position.
There are a lot of customers who walk from Intrepid to Durango to Caravan, and we want to have a reason for them to buy any of them.
Will the popularity of trucks and sport utilities decrease in the next 10-20 years?Anieros: I think we were in the forefront of segment busting and getting in between niches. But obviously the issue today is there are so many more niches. That pie is sliced up so fine that people are wedging themselves in on the edges of niches.
I can foresee in the future where the word truck is used generically but it may not mean so much. Where does a tall passenger car end and a small sport/utility begin? Who can say that? I think we'll end up knowing vehicles by their names and their attributes more so than by their segment. There are people who love pickups, love the word pickups, and love the history of pickups.
People like the idea of getting up into a truck. They feel like they're getting on board. It's almost like climbing on a horse. Once they get up there, they're in command and they can go wherever they want. Sport/utilities are sort of a modern day horse. That's an interesting concept because you come to depend on them and love them. It's a very intimate relationship and it represents freedom-the ability to do things. Whether you may or may not do them doesn't really matter-It's just that you have the ability.