FROM THE EDITOR
You’ve got to give it to the ‘car’ companies. They have certainly not shied away from the challenge of electrification, autonomous driving , and the ever- increasing demand from legislators around the world for more and more sensor-based electronic ‘ Safety Equipment.’
I know ours is a tiny, insignificant lit tle market, tucked away on t wo relatively small ( main) islands way down at the bottom of the world. However I do wonder sometimes, how different the ‘car’ scene would be globally, if there were ( to put it colloquially) ‘a few more Kiwis running the show.’
Like her or loath her, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, has proved a real breath of fresh air on the international stage for that so-t ypical Kiwi trait of ( simply) telling it how it is.
We’ve all got a mate, for instance, who is a ( more often than not self-taught) mechanical genius. You know, the t ype who can – and regularly does – turn his hand not only to fixing, but also improving on what he considers disdainfully as either a ‘ full- on factory f... k- up,’ or
‘some f…kwit at the factory’s attempt to cut costs.’
I’ve watched in awe as blokes like this go about their business. And can only think they are wasted on their ( usually lowkey and therefore low-paid) day jobs and after- hours/ weekend missions here.
Imagine, for instance if a company like – better not mention names here but I’m sure you will be able to guess – finally decided to get serious about the ‘sensor issues’ which so blight the ownership experiences of those who buy older version of its flagship model second, third, fourth, fif th etc, hand.
The fact that these ( problems with sensors) continue to occur ( check out any owner forum on the internet) suggest that the company is not overly concerned. Throw an enterprising Kiwi into the mix though, and I’m sure that with a lit tle time, some budget and the odd Friday afternoon off to do some ‘ field testing,’ an answer could be found and within a buying generation all the company’s models would be enjoying a Toyota- like reputation for reliability.
I think this because I know what a Kiwi is like when presented with a problem. We – as a group of like- minded chaps and chapesses – might not say much. But that doesn’t mean we are not thinking – hard – about something.
At our heart we are problem-solvers. And that, in a nutshell, is what I think the car industry desperately needs right now. Not uber-talented designers. Or sharp-suited corporate t ypes, gaining experience marketing ’ fast-paced consumables’
( or whatever the latest buzz phrase for selling cars is these days) before moving on to selling beard care products to their fellow hipsters.
The problem for the car industry as a whole, though, is that we are not on anyone’s radar because our market is so small, and we are situated on the ‘other’ side of the planet, at least a day – by air – away from where most of the world’s manufacturers are based.
Parallel advances in communications mean that it would, of course, be easy enough to set up a video conference. Though if, like me, you know the odd hands- on ‘genius’ you will also know that – how can I put this diplomatically? – corporate t ypes they are not.
‘ Calling a spade a spade’ might be perfectly acceptable here. However, telling the boss of one of the biggest car companies in the world – in front of a boardroom full of fawning sycophants no less – that his latest model is ‘shit’ and is going to sink as fast as Ford’s ill-fated Edsel unless he acts fast to sort out the engine/ transmission/ interior/ exterior/ whatever, is hardly going to see a contract forwarded, let alone extended!