Moscow, 2002:  During my visit I noticed that the city streets contained a strange mix of automobiles.  The police and government as well as many taxi drivers drove fume-spewing  small Ladas that seemed to have a top speed of around 40 mph.  Meanwhile, the new wealthy as well as (or including?) the criminals drove fancy imports, with BWMs being the most popular. 

The message was clear — if you could afford it, you did not want a Lada.

The Lada, for those of you too young to remember, was the Soviet Union’s car for the masses (also known as AvtoVaz or Zhiguli).   Although the government-owned company made a few different varieties, the FIAT-inspired box was the most common.  The Lada has had only limited success outside of the former-soviet block, likely for the dual reasons of poor quality and aesthetics.

As it appeared in 2002, the only way for the company to stay alive and continue to provide jobs to the masses who build them was for the government to be the main buyer.

I fear the US government and General Motors are re-inventing the Lada.

Thinking ahead… (my social-economic science fiction effort for this year-end).

Washington DC, in the year 2015: – all police, and government vehicles will be built by General Motors.  Private citizens will be driving the likes of Hondas, Toyotas and of course, BMWs.

Actually, in any American city, you’ll be able to spot a police or government vehicle.  It will lack both quality and esthetics.   While the other companies will move forward in their designs, GM will remain stuck in the 1990s and just as Ladas do today, those vehicles will “stick out.”

Because of the massive jobs involved, the goverment is likely to become a major shareholder in GM.  As investors, they will soon realize that the consumer generally doesn’t want their vehicles.  So, in order to keep the company afloat, or otherwise justify their investment,key government officials will lobby (and event demand that) any tax-payer funded service that uses motor vehicles only buy GM products.

Once GM obtains a captive market for their products, their innovation will fall further behind the competition, and sales to the public will fall further.  To keep the jobs alive, GM then engineers the 1-year disposable vehicle that works great until 40,000 miles, and then breaks down forcing the purchase of another vehicle.