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Workshop Registration
The Reynolds Center has announced its 2009-10 free workshop schedule.
Select a workshop and register from the drop-down menu below.
Online Seminars
The Reynolds Center registration for Fall 2009 free online seminars.
Navigating Bankruptcy Courts
By Bernie Kohn
Editing Yourself
By Bernie Kohn
The New Car Company
By Jennifer Hopfinger
The Power of Details
By Dick Weiss
The New Skill Set
By Chris Roush
The New Car Company
By Jennifer Hopfinger
May 26, 2009 01:55 PM
While everyone is wondering what’s next for the U.S. auto industry, Forbes magazine is speculating that “The Next Detroit” may be 2,000 miles away from the Motor City and that the future of American car-making lies in the hands of a Danish-born entrepreneur with ambitious plans to overhaul an old business model.
In the magazine’s June 8th cover story, writer Joann Muller profiles Henrik Fisker, CEO of Fisker Automotive, based in Irving, California. His plan: to launch a new kind of American car company styled after Nike and Apple, one that keeps design and marketing in-house but outsources everything else—from engineering to manufacturing. He’s got the expertise - he’s a former chief executive of BMW's industrial design subsidiary. He’s got the financing - $200 million in venture capital. And he aims to eventually outsell Audi, Volvo, and Mitsubishi in the U.S. annually with his plug-in hybrids.
Some analysts think he has a shot since he’s focusing on designing cars instead of running factories. But what he doesn’t have on his side is history, which is “littered with the failed visions of automobile impresarios like Preston Tucker, John DeLorean and Malcolm Bricklin,” Muller writes. Fisker is also competing in a suddenly crowded field of startups with new hybrid and electric technology. “The implosion of General Motors and Chrysler has sparked a flurry of innovators like Fisker. They are reminiscent of the entrepreneurs in the car industry's early days, when Henry Ford, Ransom E. Olds, Henry Studebaker and many now forgotten dreamers competed for technological leadership.”
Which might be the real glimmer of hope for the American car business. As Fisker puts it in the article, “The biggest transition in the 100-year history of the auto industry is going to happen in the next 24 months.” Whether Fisker succeeds or not, conditions are ripe for a new kind of car company in the U.S.
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Copyright © 2009 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism
The Reynolds Center has announced its 2009-10 free workshop schedule.
Select a workshop and register from the drop-down menu below.
The Reynolds Center registration for Fall 2009 free online seminars.
By Bernie Kohn
Editing Yourself
By Bernie Kohn
The New Car Company
By Jennifer Hopfinger
The Power of Details
By Dick Weiss
The New Skill Set
By Chris Roush
The New Car Company
By Jennifer HopfingerMay 26, 2009 01:55 PM
While everyone is wondering what’s next for the U.S. auto industry, Forbes magazine is speculating that “The Next Detroit” may be 2,000 miles away from the Motor City and that the future of American car-making lies in the hands of a Danish-born entrepreneur with ambitious plans to overhaul an old business model.
In the magazine’s June 8th cover story, writer Joann Muller profiles Henrik Fisker, CEO of Fisker Automotive, based in Irving, California. His plan: to launch a new kind of American car company styled after Nike and Apple, one that keeps design and marketing in-house but outsources everything else—from engineering to manufacturing. He’s got the expertise - he’s a former chief executive of BMW's industrial design subsidiary. He’s got the financing - $200 million in venture capital. And he aims to eventually outsell Audi, Volvo, and Mitsubishi in the U.S. annually with his plug-in hybrids.
Some analysts think he has a shot since he’s focusing on designing cars instead of running factories. But what he doesn’t have on his side is history, which is “littered with the failed visions of automobile impresarios like Preston Tucker, John DeLorean and Malcolm Bricklin,” Muller writes. Fisker is also competing in a suddenly crowded field of startups with new hybrid and electric technology. “The implosion of General Motors and Chrysler has sparked a flurry of innovators like Fisker. They are reminiscent of the entrepreneurs in the car industry's early days, when Henry Ford, Ransom E. Olds, Henry Studebaker and many now forgotten dreamers competed for technological leadership.”
Which might be the real glimmer of hope for the American car business. As Fisker puts it in the article, “The biggest transition in the 100-year history of the auto industry is going to happen in the next 24 months.” Whether Fisker succeeds or not, conditions are ripe for a new kind of car company in the U.S.
Copyright © 2009 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism