A few weeks ago the hashtag #slatepitches flourished on Twitter, with users mocking the site’s tendency to publish contrarian, counter-intuitive pieces on just about everything. Joke pitches included ideas like “Soccer: It’s time to let players use their hands,” “Lead pipes and your genius baby,” and “How the ridiculed Aztek Pontiac could end up saving General Motors.” Oh wait, that last one’s real:
It’s easy to berate GM for always failing to see where the market is going. But in this instance it was the first to recognize the need for a new kind of vehicle to fill the crossover segment, which would grow rapidly in subsequent years. A crossover is basically a 21st-century station wagon. SUVs are usually built on the same platform used for trucks—and they often feel that way when you drive them. They also inhale gas. Crossovers, by contrast, are built on platforms used for cars, so they have better road manners, and they’re more fuel-efficient. There were some crossover-ish vehicles before the Aztek, such as the Subaru Forester, but these were seen as neo-wagons, or small/compact SUVs. With the Aztek, GM created something that had SUV size, minus the SUV stigma. [...]
In terms of innovation, the Aztek shares DNA with some surprising relatives, like Apple’s early, failed PDA, Newton, or its first stab at a portable, proto-laptop Mac. Apple (AAPL) didn’t succeed with these products, but the company began to define new markets with them. Obviously, laptops and notebooks would eventually become huge part of Apple’s business, and while Palm came to dominate the PDA market, Apple’s experience with Newton set the stage for its move into smaller personal devices, such as the iPod and iPhone. GM could banish all recollection of the Aztek, but the vehicle’s controversial design could be just the ticket as GM seeks to define how hybrid gas-electric-crossover technology derived from the Chevy Volt will appear.
Six years in and I still like my Aztek. I just wish it came with a convertible option.
[Thanks to Quasim for the link!]
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Oh, the indignity! I’ve taken my share of knocks for driving a Pontiac Aztek, but today is a new low. Readers of the Daily Telegraph have voted the Aztek the ugliest car of all time out of 300 nominees. The kicker? The Aztek was never even sold in Europe. As Edmunds puts it, “Even from well across the pond, Britons can see that the Pontiac Aztek is hideous.”
The car ranked well in consumer satisfaction values and has the highest humor value in its class. It’s moved me from Houston to DC to Nashville and back to DC, and soon from DC to Portland. It may look like a rhinoceros, but it’s a heck of a good car on the inside.
Previously:
A car that’ll make children cry
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Ford has a new, fuel efficient diesel car going on the market called the Fiesta ECOnetic:
If ever there was a car made for the times, this would seem to be it: a sporty subcompact that seats five, offers a navigation system, and gets a whopping 65 miles to the gallon. Oh yes, and the car is made by Ford Motor, known widely for lumbering gas hogs.
The bad news? It’s only for sale in Europe, not the US. Though there are multiple reasons for this, the Business Week article claims that taxes are a big one:
Diesel vehicles now hitting the market with pollution-fighting technology are as clean or cleaner than gasoline and at least 30% more fuel-efficient.
Yet while half of all cars sold in Europe last year ran on diesel, the U.S. market remains relatively unfriendly to the fuel. Taxes aimed at commercial trucks mean diesel costs anywhere from 40 cents to $1 more per gallon than gasoline. Add to this the success of the Toyota Prius, and you can see why only 3% of cars in the U.S. use diesel. “Americans see hybrids as the darling,” says Global Insight auto analyst Philip Gott, “and diesel as old-tech.”
The New York Times’ Ideas blog repeats the part about taxes making diesel so much more expensive than regular gasoline. But do they? The American Petroleum Institute says that diesel excise taxes averaged only about 7 cents more per gallon than those on gas. The federal government’s Energy Information Administration suggests that a rise in global demand for diesel fuel and stricter environmental standards in the US have done more to contribute to the higher price:
Historically, the average price of diesel fuel has been lower than the average price of gasoline. However, this is not always the case. In some winters where the demand for distillate heating oil is high, the price of diesel fuel has risen above the gasoline price. Since September 2004, the price of diesel fuel has been generally higher than the price of regular gasoline all year round for several reasons. Worldwide demand for diesel fuel and other distillate fuel oils has been increasing steadily, with strong demand in China, Europe, and the United States, putting more pressure on the tight global refining capacity. In the United States, the transition to ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel has affected diesel fuel production and distribution costs.
The Business Week article is correct to note that diesel taxes are higher than for gasoline and that the cost of the fuel is much higher. But it’s not clear that the first is causing the second. If there’s evidence for this, I haven’t found it.
It might be true that, given improvements in technology, cutting diesel taxes would be an excellent spur to green innovation. I’d certainly prefer that to the doling out of favors politicians usually engage in. However it looks like Ford’s decision not to sell the Fiesta ECOnetic here might have more to do with other business factors, not anti-diesel tax bias. Note also that Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, and Honda all plan to introduce diesel models to the US despite the higher tax.
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The Aztek has been out of production for two years, but it’s still tearing up the sales charts. 25 cars sold in 2007! That probably ties it with back issue sales of the equally strange-looking Aztek: The Ultimate Man comic. Clearly, Aztek is a name with branding issues.
I’m a proud member of the group AutoBlog describes as those “who appreciate the practical design of the Aztek’s interior layout, smooth ride and the world’s best built anti-theft device (i.e. its looks).” Its humor value is also a big bonus.
Hat tip: Courtney, closet Aztek lover.
Previously:
The Aztek that should have been
A car that makes children cry
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Jacob Grier is a freelance writer, barista, mixologist, and magician in Portland, OR. He writes, eats, and drinks a lot. His articles have appeared in The Washington Post, Reason Online, The Oregonian, and other publications.
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