2004 DETROIT AUTO SHOW - First Results Of Flexible Manufacturing - Will Woodward Look Like Kioi-cho, Chiyoda-ku

Snide's Remarks: After traveling to Japan and seeing a plethora of car and truck models whizzing through the streets, I always believed that it would be just a matter of time until the North American manufacturers took some good old American advice and adopted Flexible Manufacturing. Then they could match Japan's manufacturing flexibility and economically build a variety of different models on the same line using the same assembly personnel.

Well it looks like this concept will soon become the foundation for the future of car selling/making here in North America.

For those of you car guys who haven’t stood on a street corner in The Ginza counting the minutes until you saw two of the same cars... the future will be a blast, as well as an entomologists dream because there will soon be as many car models as insects...but please don't Raid on the Parade.

DETROIT, Jan 2, 2004; Justin Hyde writing for Reuters reported; From mini coupes to brawny sport utility vehicles, an unprecedented surge of new vehicles will begin hitting the U.S. market this year, as the global auto industry targets American consumers as one of its best hopes for profits.

The first edge of the wave, which will hit the Detroit auto show next week, comes as manufacturers adopt techniques of Asian automakers to reduce the cost of building new models, hoping to add variations that appeal to increasingly fickle buyers.

At the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, automakers will unveil 23 new production vehicles, from Toyota Motor Corp.'s small Scion tC to the full-size Infiniti QX56 SUV from Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.

Unlike the past few years, the hometown team will get in the game as well. General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler arm will roll out roughly 40 new or updated models in 2004, giving them their best chance in years to prove they can compete head-on against foreign automakers in the United States.

"We're convinced more than ever that the United States is going to enter into a continual fragmentation, and you can see it in everyone's plans," said Phil Martens, Ford's head of North American vehicle development. "The issue is, do you have a flexibility and capability to respond to the market in a real-time manner?"

The blitz comes because U.S. consumers have kept buying vehicles over the past few years, thanks to low interest rates and high incentives, while European and Japanese markets have struggled.

To capture more buyers, foreign automakers have been forced to widen their vehicle lines, entering higher-priced segments such as full-size pickups and SUVs, where margins are higher than on small cars favored in other countries.

"Since few automakers can realistically compete by being cheaper or by being better than others, most are choosing to be different, and that has meant a flowering of innovation in the industry not seen since the 1920s," says Merrill Lynch analyst John Casesa.

Over the past 13 years, automakers have launched an average of about 34 new models a year in the U.S. market. This year, Casesa says, they'll launch 52 new vehicles, and the rollouts will build to 73 by 2006.

CARS TO THE RESCUE

The new models from Detroit's Big Three will target segments where foreign companies dominate, and many will replace vehicles that have been neglected over the past few years.

At the Detroit show, GM will show off its new Chevrolet Cobalt small car, the replacement for the ancient Cavalier, as well as the Pontiac G6, the long overdue replacement for the Grand Am. Ford will unveil its Five Hundred sedan, designed to be the new flagship of its lineup, as well as its first entry into the hot market for midsize car-based SUVs, the Freestyle.

Chrysler will tout its two new rear-wheel-drive cars, the Dodge Magnum and Chrysler 300C, along with freshened minivans with fold-flat seats -- a feature that's become a market requirement over the past few years.

Foreign automakers will show fewer production models, but offer a glimpse of their future plans through truck concepts from Nissan and Toyota.

FEWER PIECES OF THE PUZZLE

What's making this possible is the widespread adoption of platform sharing and flexible manufacturing, techniques Asian automakers have used for years.

They regularly use one "platform" -- a group of basic vehicle parts, from axles to electronics -- to build several different models. For example, Nissan uses the same platform for its two-seat 350Z roadster as it does for the much larger Infiniti FX45 SUV.

Engineering an all-new platform can take five years and cost more than $1 billion, but building a new model on an existing platform can cost far less and take as little as 14 months.

Flexible manufacturing allows automakers to build several models off the same assembly line, increasing efficiency and saving cost. While this has been standard practice for Asian automakers, U.S. automakers are only now beginning to rebuild older plants to handle flexible manufacturing.