We urge the automotive industry to look no further than the technology industry for inspiration, for best practices, for partnerships. Technology companies are fast companies. They have created a way of moving forward and placing the latest and greatest, often inconceivable, capabilities quickly in the hands of customers. Tech developers also have much to learn from the best manufacturing practices of automotive companies. Bringing these two industries together can propel the U.S. into regaining its manufacturing dominance and becoming a world leader in advanced automotive technologies, including alternative-energy vehicles. The Point of View lays out five steps that auto and tech companies should take to make it a reality.

1. Airfoil POV
Alternative Energy Vehicles, Clean Technologies
Going Mainstream – Pipe Dream or Reality?
It’s Time for Automotive and Technology Industries to Embrace
Partnerships, Best Practices and Communications to Accelerate
Clean Technology and Regain U.S. Manufacturing Dominance
By Airfoil Public Relations

2. Airfoil POV // Cleantech
Green-collar career creation. Re-manufacturing of manufacturing.
High-tech. Economic rebound. Agile. Alternative energy. Clean
technologies. Sustainable products. Green. Compare this vision of
our nation with another reality: High unemployment. Jobs moving
to Mexico. Made in China. Low-tech. Recession. Chapter 11.
Bailouts. Idle plants. Slow and bureaucratic. The internal combustion
engine. Volatile fuel prices. Trucks, SUVs and dismal fuel economy.
Non-recyclable products.
We are at a major crossroads impacting where we can take this
country—our manufacturing base, automotive industry and cleantech
sectors. We need to re-industrialize the United States; create careers
(not just jobs); cost-effectively manufacture sustainable goods; be
on the leading edge of technology; and become a world leader in
clean, sustainable products, including alternative energy vehicles.
Now is the time for all of us—Detroit, Silicon Valley and everywhere
in between—all communicators, analysts, the automotive industry,
entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, the U.S. government and states
across the country to make the appropriate investment in our future,
right here, right now.
It begins with communications and action. It begins with delivering
on promises.
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3. Airfoil POV // Cleantech
Automakers Continue to Make Promises
One of the sad ironies of the technology age is that the industry that invented
speed has come to symbolize the antithesis of the “fast company.” Despite their
rebirth and renewal in 2009 and their reinvigorated focus on clean technology,
the automotive companies—primarily the domestic automakers—still are viewed
as bureaucratic and slow in comparison with the agile tech firms that bring us
build-to-order products delivered in days or weeks, new paradigm-changing
online services every few weeks and new types of mobile phones every few
months.
Automakers have talked too long—for at least a decade or two—about the
revolutionary alternative-energy vehicles that are on the horizon. They have talked
about plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, clean diesel-powered cars, natural gas
vehicles, hydrogen fuels and fuel cells. They’ve shown us concept cars, timelines
and mileage claims; but when was the last time you passed an electric vehicle
on a U.S. interstate or pulled up next to a hydrogen car being refueled? Fuel
economy has improved slightly over the years. In 2009, according to Automotive
News, the U.S. fleet averaged only 25.3 mpg. For the 2016 model year, the
corporate average fuel economy proposal rises to only 35.5 mpg. It’s lack of
speed that is stalling the automotive industry.
“As a kid in the 1970s during the oil embargo, I remember the long lines at the
gas pump and rotating days when you could get gas based on whether the last
digit of your license plate number was odd or even,” recalls Rich Donley, vice
president and technology industry leader for the Airfoil Public Relations Cleantech
and Industrial practice areas. “Fast forward 35 years to mid-2008 when gas
hovered at $4 a gallon and sales of pickup trucks and SUVs tanked. There was
suddenly renewed interest in smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles. Surprised? Did
we not see this coming? Have we just been procrastinating?”
How much longer do we have to wait for efficiencies, innovation and cleantech/
alternative energy that will become mainstream? Will we just be replacing our
reliance on fossil fuels with other limited resources, even more manufactured
goods from overseas or other alternatives that are costly and harmful to the
environment?
From the announcements and products unveiled at the LA Auto Show in
December 2009 and the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in
January 2010, there’s hope that in time we will get there. The auto industry is
making some promising moves toward green, cleantech and alternative energy
vehicles, but we have a long way to go.
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4. Airfoil POV // Cleantech
“When I was a news reporter for the Tech Center News/Detroit Auto Scene in
the early 1990s covering General Motors, as well as reporting on Ford, Chrysler,
automotive suppliers, defense contractors and other businesses, I had the
opportunity to experience many advanced technologies firsthand, including
riding shotgun in a GM EV1 electric car,” Donley said. “There was much hype
from these companies about what was to come. Nearly 20 years later, only a
small percentage of those technologies are now in vehicles.”
Auto Industry Must Look to Technology Industry for
Inspiration and Partnerships
The auto industry needs to look no further than the technology industry for
inspiration, for best practices, for partnerships. Technology companies are
fast companies. They are built for speed and agility. They have created a way
of moving forward and placing the latest and greatest, often inconceivable,
“The auto industry
capabilities quickly in the hands of customers.
needs to look no further
than the technology “While establishing our Detroit and Silicon Valley offices and representing
industry for inspiration, numerous start-up and established businesses—including technology firms,
for best practices, for major consumer brands, software companies, automotive suppliers and
partnerships.” advanced manufacturers, I’ve seen innovations of all sorts first hand. I’ve seen
what fast companies are capable of bringing to market and what hinders their
success,” said Janet Tyler, president and co-founder of Airfoil Public Relations.
“The technology industry does not have the bandwidth for hype and concept
products and timelines—it’s too busy rolling out actual products that we can use,
right away. Automotive companies say, ‘Look at what’s coming.’ Technology
companies say, ‘Experience it today.’”
In Silicon Valley and throughout the technology industry, entrepreneurs
have developed tens of thousands of mobile phone apps in
just weeks. Seemingly within days after its introduction,
Microsoft’s Surface supersized touch-screen technology
was being used regularly by TV networks to display
weather maps, battle lines and election results. RSS
feeds became the rage and, within months, yielded
to the next generation of feeds—Twitter. Keyboards
and mice are being replaced by touch screens,
documents on CDs by digital file delivery services
like YouSendIt, and even software by online “cloud-
based” services.
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5. Airfoil POV // Cleantech
Why can’t we swap out an interior
or a dashboard display the way we
A Model Changeover: Auto & Tech Need to Work
can re-skin a computer screen?
Cooperatively and Improve Communications
Why can’t we get, for example,
It’s time for the automotive and technology industries to embrace
a Jeep v2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 over a
partnerships, share best practices and speak the same language
to accelerate clean technology and enable the U.S. to regain its period of months with upgraded
manufacturing dominance. software, extended capabilities
It’s debatable whether the automotive industry’s current development and increasingly user-friendly
model will enable auto companies to move fast enough for a given interfaces?
vehicle to avoid becoming outdated by the time it is introduced.
A major tier-one automotive
To initiate a new type of model changeover, the automotive and
technology industries need not only to work together, but also to supplier showcased a crash
communicate with each other more effectively. avoidance system in the mid-
1990s. What has taken so long for
Here’s what needs to happen:
this safety technology to recently
1. The automotive and technology industries must forge true
find its way into vehicles and to be
partnerships and share best practices. This approach is critical
if technology companies, including cleantech startups (in widely accepted by consumers?
transportation, efficiency, storage and infrastructure segments)
want to be taken seriously by automakers/industrial companies Automotive suppliers continue to
and if the automotive/industrial companies want to be on the work on these technologies and
leading edge of technology.
an array of innovations. Many
2. Automotive/industrial needs to be more agile and innovative and of these new developments
introduce new and green technologies into its products.
center on clean technology—
3. Technology/cleantech companies must understand the needs of developments that reduce weight
the well-established automotive/industrial companies to become
and improve fuel economy;
their supplier partners.
decrease environmental footprints;
4. The automotive, technology and cleantech industries need use natural fibers; help restore air,
to speak the same “language”—not only to improve time to
market, but also to make vehicles better, more efficient and land and water resources; and
environmentally friendlier, while still being affordable. create good-paying “green collar”
careers in the process.
5. Communicators should not communicate for communications
sake, but to drive action, to create and foster fast companies,
and to bridge the gap between technology/cleantech and However, suppliers need to
automotive/industrial. develop them faster, better and
cheaper and communicate their
Headquartered in the Detroit area (Southfield, Mich.) with an
office in Silicon Valley (Mountain View, Calif.) and practice areas value to OEMs more effectively.
dedicated to cleantech and automotive/industrial technology, For their part, OEMs must adopt
Airfoil more than ever supports the automakers, the Detroit
these systems more quickly and
region and Michigan. We are invested in its success and are
committed to being part of the solution. Our work with a number make them available as upgrades
of clients has enabled Airfoil to bridge the gap between these distinct to their customers as regularly as
market segments, increase the awareness of our clients’ brands and
Web social networks make new
build their business.
apps and features available to
their members.
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6. Airfoil POV // Cleantech
Glimmers of Hope with In-Vehicle Technology
Looking inside the vehicle, some glimmers of hope can be found. The convergence
of automotive and technology is quite apparent and has become more mainstream
across a number of vehicle segments. In-vehicle technology sales were expected
to top $9.3 billion in 2009, according to the Consumer Electronics Association,
which, at its annual international consumer technology tradeshow in January
2010, prominently featured the latest in-vehicle technology.
But will the auto companies continue to evolve and integrate these in-vehicle
technologies fast enough? An explosion of new technologies and capabilities,
including entertainment, navigation systems and all sorts of apps have been
developed to carry in your pocket, not just in your instrument panel. Will we
see an integration of these handheld devices right into the instrument panel to
replace the current stereo and navigation systems?
As Wired points out, Toyota rolled out its Monet Internet service in 1997 to drivers
in Japan giving them in-car wireless Internet access, but this added technology
feature has only recently been a hot topic with domestic automakers.
While differences certainly are clear in automotive and technology products—
the way they are designed, engineered, manufactured and delivered, their life
spans, durability, safety and environmental regulations (or lack thereof), costs
and number of components—they also have a number of similarities (including
technology to optimize product design and simulation) and best practices that
can be shared.
We Must Communicate and Act Now
Alternative-energy vehicles and clean technologies will go mainstream. The
transition is taking longer than it should, but together we can embrace the
partnerships, best practices and communications to accelerate the process,
act upon the plans and deliver on the promises. But we must act now. Are
you on board?
Contact Us
Airfoil Public Relations 866-AIRFOIL
1000 Town Center Drive, Suite 600 Rich Donley: donley@airfoilpr.com
Southfield, Michigan 48075 Janet Tyler: tyler@airfoilpr.com
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