The Roller-Coaster ride continues.

By Peter M. De Lorenzo

Detroit. That this business is a crazed, fuel-injected roller-coaster ride has been well documented. In boom times – like right now - it provides a high that is damn near unequalled. Higher transaction prices, big grosses and laudatory media coverage are a powerful elixir that never gets old for upper-echelon executives in this business.

And with cars and trucks flying out of the showrooms and inventories more than manageable, it’s hard to maintain perspective, even though perspective is something that’s sorely needed at this very instant.

But perspective in the automobile business is hard to come by and it only seems to appear after years of seasoning. Those who have been around a while know that those highest of highs come at a cost. Yes, the profits are gaudy and the bonuses are equally impressive, but for any given action in this business there’s a contrasting reaction. And on the other side of that exhilarating rocket ride is a different kind of ride, one akin to being strapped to a rocket aimed straight at the ground.

Experience that a few times and it’s remarkable how much perspective can be gained.

Despite the exuberant headlines, this business is still brushing itself off from the most dire and difficult times in its history. It wasn’t so long ago that two of this country’s domestic automakers had to go through the public humiliation of bankruptcy. Whether you attribute it to a combination of relentless incompetence and a modicum of economic calamity, or the other way around, to have two of this country’s auto companies show up flat broke and busted was a tumultuous event.

But today I run across people all the time who, after digesting the steady stream of rosy headlines about the business in terms of profitability and flashy sales numbers, think everything is fixed.

Oh, if it were that easy.

The reality is something else altogether. Yes, there are myriad positives. The domestic automakers have taken the small car segment and fuel efficiency seriously and responded with some exceptional products, to the point that the traditional smaller car superpowers like Honda, Nissan and Toyota, as well as relative newcomers Hyundai and Kia, have taken notice. And consumers have too. The domestic manufacturers are no longer being ignored, and their smaller entries – especially from Chevrolet and Ford - are showing up on consumer shopping lists all across the land. This is a very good thing and a sign that the domestic manufacturers not only get it, but also are more than capable of delivering excellence in a segment that they had more or less given up on long ago.

The domestic manufacturers have stepped-up their game all across the board in other areas too. They’re competing in multiple segments offering genuine quality, a refreshing design point of view and overall operating efficiency that bears watching. In short, they’re not phoning it in anymore. And that is a very good thing as well.

But this is the toughest business in the world and the pressure of new and ever more stringent fuel-efficiency and safety standards – and the added pressure due to the relentless competitiveness of manufacturers clamoring for success in the same segments – has made the margin between success and failure razor thin.

Given all of that there is still one overriding constant that, more than any other, defines success for the domestic manufacturers competing in the American market. And it’s really no big surprise that it’s the crucial driving force for profitability for Ford, the Italian-owned Chrysler and General Motors too.

We’re talkin’ trucks. Pickup trucks to be more precise. And with apologies to Paul Henning, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs (the men behind “The Beverly Hillbillies” theme song), we’re talkin’ Black Gold. Texas Tea. And in Ford’s case with their vaunted F-150, The Franchise.

Economists with even modest ability can paint an accurate picture of the economic health of this country just by looking at how pickup trucks are selling. And right now they’re red hot. As in flyin’ out the door, gimme some more (in dealer speak) H-O-T.

And therein lies the rub.

The car companies based here in this town can talk all they want about their ability to deliver excellent small cars, the future of electricification and their participation in the coming Green Autosphere, blah-blah-blah. But make no mistake - they wouldn’t be able to address any of that without the profits gained from trucks. And that may or may not be a problem, depending on how you look at it.

Some people in this business actually insist that we are undergoing a transformational shift, that the days of the domestic automakers’ reliance on pickup truck sales (and their variants) are rapidly drawing to a close.

I say that thinking smacks of unmitigated bullshit.

In spite the fact that some people in the touchy-feely enclaves in various parts of the country view it as their divine right to dictate what the rest of us in the country drives, the fact remains that pickup trucks are the essence of the American market.

It’s who we are.

The pickup is America wide open. It’s so befitting of a country with endless spaces, big skies and spectacular vistas that it’s silly to pretend otherwise.

The last time I checked we didn’t grow up in a claustrophobic country suited for pipsqueak cars with exhaust pipes the size of soda straws. I know that’s difficult for certain politicians in Washington and northern California to understand - while they’re being driven around in pickup truck-based SUVs, no less – but it’s the reality.

Take the time to get out of the city and roam the country a bit – I know, the idea is anathema for some big-city denizens but trust me on this, you should try it sometime - and you quickly realize that there’s more to America than having a Starbucks on every corner and the obligatory sea of fast food joints blotting out the sun.

We like to spread out in this country. And we like to haul our stuff while we’re doing it. And the pickup truck is the perfect vehicle to do that with.

Yes, I will admit that this country’s fascination/infatuation with pickup trucks may border on being crazy at times, and the vehicle is not my particular cup of automotive tea – Texas, or otherwise - but it’s who we are. And I’m just fine with it.

And as long as everyone in this business understands and reminds themselves of that simple fact of American automotive life, we’ll probably be a lot better off for it and save ourselves a lot of collective hand-wringing.

And this exhilarating, death-defying, heart-stopping roller-coaster ride will continue.

That’s the High-Octane Truth for this week.