You Want Something New ? Here it is !

One can only be overwhelmed by the increasing number of new vehicles being launched by virtually all automobile constructors. The market's dynamism in most industrialized nations, mega-mergers and alliances, and benefits gained all seem to be creating a euphoric environment for automobile firm directors to work in. Apart from the classical sedan, who hasn't dreamed of, or simply planned on, launching monospaces, recreational vehicles, urban vehicles, station wagons, coupés, convertibles, four-wheel drive vehicles, semi-utilitarian vehicles, inexpensive vehicles for people living in emerging countries, remakes of certain famous models, luxury vehciles, mini-cars, sports cars, vehicles especially designed for young people or for women, etc.., not counting conceptually hybrid vehicles (the coupéspace) or bi-fuel motorization, and numerous other versions ? Hasn't Daimler-Chrysler announced that it will turn out a new model every month ? (naturally, a version can be assimilated to a model, but still !).

Nonetheless, this astonishing proliferation can also be interpreted as a sign of unrest among automobile constructors who can't really grasp just how automobile demand has been restructured and diversified. Even though many constructors applauded deregulation in the realm of employee relations, which subsequently gave them the long-desired degree of flexibility, they were not able to clearly predict the consequences of this on the automobile market itself, both from a quantitative and a qualitative standpoint. Indeed, it now is dependent on a more competitive national revenue distribution among workers, one which is much more variable in time, and also socially more differentiated. Meanwhile, the automobile still remains one of the major distinctive signs of social integration, even more so today when the transition to a new economic and social status it demonstrates is here to stay. Work and the market go together : both interact incessantly.

The more classical demand, prudently organized in a sort of hierarchy, no longer generates sufficient volume. New types of demand are multiplying; they are different and unstable, thus requiring the conception of new products with fewer and fewer elements shared among them. All automobile constructors do not have the capacity nor the possibility to correctly apprehend and satisfy these new demands, all the while reaping profits especially in light of the "firm governing compromise" which is theirs today.

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