From Chapter Thirteen:

Why Automakers Could Never Sell You a Car
. . . and Why You Would Never Want Them To


“Most people spend more time and energy going around problems
than in trying to solve them”
 
—Henry Ford
Founder of Ford Motor Co.
& Innovator of Assembly-Line Manufacturing (1863–1947)
 
"...Very few factory programs stick, because they are devised in boardrooms a billion miles away from dealer retailers and retail customers. In addition, it seems the initiatives that work the best are pulled off the table the fastest. It’s the job of the District Managers (DMs) to sell the dealer cars, keep their warranty costs down, and get dealers to take inventory. Of course, a major focus on their plate is dealer sign-ups for new executive-inspired programs.
"Factory middle-management doesn’t get it either. Why should they? Factory middle-management is made up of former DMs somebody promoted. Zone managers fill DMs heads with expectations and attitudes about every dealer in their district. Their bosses before them did the same. Since DMs do not know enough to object, they go out and do what DMs do. Only most of them swing with a swagger of attitude to beat the band. And guess what? They eventually get promoted.
 
"Next thing you know, they’ve got a big job with the automaker, overseeing the next generation of DM minions. Today, we have two or three management tiers of uneducated factory policy makers driving the industry off a cliff, dealers first. If automakers would just send these folks out for some education before they become the next generation of power brokers, we would be looking at better ideas that sell more cars. Instead, manufacturers rely on the detachment of their senior management—raised in this culture I am describing—to come up with the ideas. Just like their bosses before them, they hold the DM kids responsible for jamming those ideas down car dealers’ throats.
 
"DM kids just hang in there waiting for the day when they can move up the ladder. At that point, they won’t have to take so much guff from dealers while implementing their boss’ programs. They know full well how their employers’ corporate politics work. They aspire, to one day “earn” a promotion where they get to create programs in a vacuum and pass them down the line for DMs to jam into the dealer network. They figure that this is being promoted to a nirvana job; hiding behind a desk, setting policy, enjoying the immunity afforded their bosses before them..."