Re: Navistar SUV

[kimsol <kimsol@domain.elided>]

Looking at some of the comments about the Navistar light diesel contract to supply
Ford, and that this is doubtful to lead to a Navistar SUV because 1) no dealer
network or that 2) the dealer network failed to market them 25 years ago, a couple
of observations. It is true that the old line truck dealerships didn't have the
resources, expertise, incentive or physical locations to sell a consumer product
and did a poor job of it. The same dealer who dealt with commercial operators with
large fleets and hundred thousand dollar accounts sometimes couldn't quite get
down to dealing with Fred and Marge and their Scout with a loose shock absorber
taking up valuable commercial shop space. The problem for the dealerships, and IH,
was that commercial shops charge about twice as much, or more, than auto dealer
shops for service and repair work. This made routine maintenance of Scouts for
customers kind of a problem for the dealers. Plus, if you wanted a Scout, you had
to go looking for them in the industrial district, and not too many people did
their family car shopping there. The very few Scout dealerships that were
non-heavy truck dealerships really kept the line alive. Bob Post Chrysler-Scout of
Denver probably sold more Scouts than the top ten IH heavy truck dealerships put
together, and that's why there are so many Scouts in Colorado to this day. So, if
Navistar were to start from scratch, with no SUV dealer network, that would
probably be a big plus compared to the old setup. They could contract the rights
to bidding dealers and probably come up with a very credible mix of existing
successful dealerships for marketing a new SUV. After all, a large part of the
reason for the original Scout concept was an available engine family that would
work in a light vehicle and an engine plant with excess capacity. Ironically,
Navistar now has the production expertise to utilize composite materials
effectively, which was the original idea for the Scout but that IH could never
quite make work, although it looked like the Scout III was finally going to make a
go of composite materials technology. Navistar is probably poised exactly where IH
was when the original Scout production decision was made, basically, it's got the
engine family that will work, again. Two things are different: there is a mass of
SUVs out there and it would not be a unique product anymore, but 2) the mistakes
IH made in marketing the first time around were big ones, but well understood and
avoidable. My own opinion, for what little its worth: I wouldn't be surprised if
Ford put a non-compete clause in the engine contract, so, no Navistar SUV. Best
regards, Kim Sol, 1980 Scout II. "Copper."