{"id":142,"date":"2013-04-08T02:06:25","date_gmt":"2013-04-08T02:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/?p=142"},"modified":"2013-04-08T02:06:25","modified_gmt":"2013-04-08T02:06:25","slug":"motor-city-nails-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/?p=142","title":{"rendered":"Motor City Nails It"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It\u2019s the last day of the <\/span>New York Auto Show<\/a> and lots of new vehicles rolled out \u2013 including plenty of hybrids and electrics, and the zippy Ford Fiesta. I\u2019m reminded of my report on test drives of green vehicles<\/a> at the LA Auto Show last year. As a former Detroiter, I’m glad the Big 3 rebounded. I smile when I see Chevy Volts on the road as well as Nissan Leafs and the smaller Prius. The Ford EcoBoost ads are all over TV but where’s its campaign for its\u00a02013 Fusion Green Car of the Year<\/a>?<\/span><\/p>\n

I recall an amazing trip to Detroit for the \u201cForward with Ford\u201d future trends conference almost two years ago\u2014and how the automaker was ahead of the game. The author of <\/span>The Tipping Point <\/em>and<\/span> Outliers<\/em> Malcolm Gladwell gave an inspiring keynote about the late <\/span>Marvin Miller<\/a>, the union leader who not only changed baseball players’ salaries \u2013 but reflected a significant shift in the 1970s about everyone\u2019s self-worth. His next book due out in October 2013 is <\/span>David and Goliath<\/em><\/a>, addressing how underdogs win.<\/span><\/p>\n

At dinner, I was lucky to sit next to him and asked what he saw currently as the biggest social change. He spoke of Millennials\u2019 demands<\/a> that companies be transparent and provide value added. I tilted my head, somewhat skeptical. As it turns out, he was right.<\/p>\n

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Now I\u2019m not so sure he had in mind Mustang\u2019s Revved Up & Red-y or Ford Fiesta\u2019s Candy Blue and Molten Orange nail lacquers by OPI. Though they\u2019re fun, the cross-promotional nails for the movie <\/span>Oz the Great and Powerful<\/em> (directed by another former Detroiter Sam Raimi)\u00a0dazzle with sparkles and names like \u201cWhen Monkeys Fly.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

What Ford did promote during that summer was its autos’ <\/span>sustainable interiors<\/a> made of renewable materials, innovative lightweight plastics and wireless equipped cars that will prevent accidents by warning drivers of cars coming out of nowhere. On the test track, I experienced it first hand\u2014as a car ran a red light ahead, I braced in the back seat of the Focus, but the driver was able to stop within a couple feet.<\/span><\/p>\n

I suspect auto fleets of the future will include hybrids, electrics and plug-ins to respond to drivers\u2019 habits (commuter, second vehicle, etc.) not just their taste.\u00a0Wonder what Ford is working on next? Bill Ford’s TED talk on Global Gridlock<\/a>? Maybe look for the roll out its\u00a0electric bike<\/a>?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s the last day of the New York Auto Show and lots of new vehicles rolled out \u2013 including plenty of hybrids and electrics, and the zippy Ford Fiesta. I\u2019m reminded of my report on test drives of green vehicles … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[15],"tags":[36,37,39,38],"class_list":["post-142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-green-ways","tag-auto-show","tag-ford","tag-green-cars","tag-malcolm-gladwell"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paF1nb-2i","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=142"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":155,"href":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142\/revisions\/155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}