WELCOME TO THE “REGRETS AND APOLOGIES” TOUR.

Editor's Note: This week, Peter exposes Ford and GM's "Regrets and Apologies" tour, as both of their CEOs backpedal and make excuses for dumb decisions and flat-out wrong assumptions. In On The Table we take a look at the 300th Porsche 911 - a 1990 911 Targa (Type 964) - reimagined by Singer. And we provide details for the Petersen Automotive Museum's annual Ferrari Cruise-In on Sunday, Feb. 25. We also take another look at Chrysler's vision for its EV future - the Halcyon Concept - which begs the question, "Why this, why now?". And our AE Song of the Week is the fabulous "The Passenger" by Iggy Pop. In Fumes, we bring you the next chapter in another of Peter's popular motorsports series with "The Muscle Boys, Part V." And finally, in The Line, we preview the 2024 F1 entries from Honda, Mercedes-AMG, Ferrari and Aston Martin, along with the 2024 Formula 1 and World Endurance Championship programs from Alpine Motorsports. We also look at Honda's brand-new livery for the 2024 MotoGP season. Onward! -WG

By Peter M. DeLorenzo

Detroit. It wasn’t all that long ago that certain Detroit automakers were awash in optimism while predicting an EV Future brimming with blue skies and unlimited profitability. The automakers in question were quite certain that they would ace “The Grand Transition” to EVs by becoming tech-savvy titans, creating digital wonder wagons that allow them to monetize everything that moves, multi-tasking their way to a New Era for the automobile industry. Detroit would become America’s new shining city on a hill, rivaling Silicon Valley in technical wonders and American exceptionalism. In turn, the two companies in question firmly believed that they would create a new breed of plugged-in, turned-on, shiny happy consumers scurrying about their day with broad smiles while basking in the glow of the wonder of it all.

Well, a funny thing happened on the way to creating automotive nirvana. The two automakers in question – Ford and GM – screwed up big-time, and now they’re paying for it in no uncertain terms.

First up on the 2024 "Regrets and Apologies" Tour is Ford CEO Jim "I'm a genius just ask me" Farley. Remember it was Farley who insisted that Ford would be the industry’s new technical wonder, a tech-savvy juggernaut that would launch wave after wave of can’t-miss EVs into the market that in turn would propel Ford into a stratosphere of riches and, oh by the way, canonize the Ford CEO and elevate him to a lofty plateau commensurate with his considerable ego. But lately, we find the CEO formerly known as the “boy wonder” stumbling over his explanations and turgid excuses for abject failure. Farley, who long ago took up permanent residence in Unctuous Prick University – despite the constant PR blather insisting that he otherwise was a decent guy just shy of being saintly – admitted that he should have paid more attention to the company's quality issues and its inability to launch vehicles with a modicum of consistency.

Oh my, really? This is all he’s got at this juncture, with Ford now reeling from Farley taking his eye off of the ball? This is the biggest "duh" of this or any other year in the history of this business. The High-Octane Truth is that Farley had one job to do when he took the reins of Ford, and not only did he not understand the assignment, he blew the whole thing to smithereens, while being woefully misguided as to the true state of Ford, which is a company incapable of launching a quality product without major missteps, and a company with such deep issues inside of its bureaucracy that it is functionally paralyzed. Instead, Farley occupied himself with chasing Big Shiny Objects like becoming an industry EV leader so he could rub shoulders with the SillyCon Valley hucksters and become lauded like one of them. Farley so desperately wanted to cement his legacy – cough, hack – and be viewed as Ford’s New Age Savior, that he has cost the Ford Motor Company dearly. Now, Farley's stumbling around, backpedaling his way through endless excuses and public mea culpas, insisting that he will do better. Sure. Like the Beatles said; “I got to admit it’s getting better, a little better, all the time (it can’t get no worse)…”

Farley clearly still has Bill Ford’s support, at least for now. But things change in this business all the time. As we like to say around here, it’s a giant “we’ll see.”

And what can be possibly said about GM CEO Mary "Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions, Zero Congestion" Barra? She bet the Silver Silos that GM could flip the proverbial switch and become a big-time player in EVs literally overnight, only to discover that it's one thing to project confidence while touting lofty goals, but it's quite another to actually be able to deliver on them.

GM's True Believers cranked flat-out to deliver on their engineering targets, dealing with challenge after challenge while trying to deliver on Barra’s endless boasts. But in the course of doing do, a lot of missing pieces were exposed, especially the company’s lack of software knowledge and the fundamental issues of EV manufacturing capability. And, of course, the problems mounted. The Ultium battery packs encountered serious assembly problems, critical software issues shelved the highly-touted Chevrolet Blazer EV with a "stop sell" order. And in its latest embarrassment, the company’s class-leading Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon pickups have been parked at assembly plants due to more critical software issues.

And last but certainly not least, let's not forget Barra’s enduring fascination with GM’s Cruise autonomous vehicle division, which Barra relentlessly touted but which has ended up costing the company billions – all of which was compounded by the fact that a pedestrian in San Francisco hit by another vehicle was thrown into the path of a self-driving Cruise car and dragged about 20 feet.

While Farley and Barra' s "Regrets and Apologies" tour churns on, both CEOs are insisting that they have gotten religion and that everything will be fixed. Farley contends that he's focused on the "right" issues now, and Barra insists that GM has the essential ingredients in place and that it's just a matter of execution at this juncture. I call bullshit on all of it. Both companies are struggling mightily to catch up with their myriad problems, and "wishing and hoping" doesn't constitute a viable strategy. In fact, it’s a giant, steaming bowl of Not Good.

And that’s the High-Octane Truth for this week.

Editor's Note: Click on "Next 1 Entries" at the bottom of this page to see previous issues. - WG