A Trabant in Every Garage
May 4th, 2009When the federal government completes its nationalization of General Motors, it will have a golden opportunity to reshape not only the company, but the entire American auto industry. To do so, it should look to the past — when another struggling nation took over its automobile production and created what would become a legendary vehicle, the Trabant.
And it needn’t just look at what the East Germans did a half-century ago — it can replicate it, by reintroducing this same fine car.
In 1958, the German Democratic Republic — like contemporary America — was on the path toward socialism, and needed a car that reflected the ideals of the country. As the government controlled the means of production, it was able to turn this need into reality when it introduced the humble and inexpensive Trabant — a car of and for the people.
True, it wasn’t pretty or fast or reliable, but it didn’t matter — no one had any real choice. And because of this, there was market stability. They knew exactly how many cars they’d sell every year. The vehicle didn’t need to change or improve during its entire thirty years of existence.
Unfortunately, when the dream of the people died in Eastern Europe in the late eighties and early nineties, so did the people’s car. But just as with Frankenstein’s invention, the Trabant, too, can be resurrected. The plans still exist. In fact, in the past decades a number of advanced countries, such as Uzbekistan, have considered reviving the vehicle. We could probably obtain the rights from HQM Sachsenring GmbH — the current owner — for very little. Why, they’d probably even pay us to take them.
Establishing the Trabant here would be simple. If the current proposal for restructuring GM comes to fruition, a cartel of the federal government and the United Auto Workers would control nearly 90% of the company — and hence would be able to do anything they want, including switching all production to this little Wunderwagen.
And not only could they restore the car, they could also restore all the wonderful policies, methods, and standards of the former East German company. Employees would be given a job for life, without fearing any consequence of their action; or lack thereof. Cars would no longer be rushed, even if it means consumers must wait fifteen years to receive one (we could even recreate the Avenue of Winners in Detroit for the lucky few that do.) And no longer would the company be controlled by the whims of the marketplace — the company would control the marketplace, just as in the glory days of old.
The only problem might be getting people to buy these cars. But this really won’t be much of a problem at all. The remaining American car companies are collapsing. Either they join this new government concern or die. And the foreign car companies? We can just smother them in tariffs to the extent that even the Trabant will be a good deal.
If we are going to return to the ideals of the past, we might as well return to the car from this long-lost era as well. And then, we can drive off into the sunset with style.
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© Copyright 2009 by Colin Cohen. All Rights Reserved.
