Is it damn, or bloody ? Bloody football, now that's better since I'm talking about soccer - it's everywhere. I'm not really a fan, though I must say that I really enjoyed the French debacle in South Africa as a guest and treat of the Automobile After-Market-Industry for which I am an analyst. By everywhere, I mean that it's even in politics; and transport is one of the heftiest political footballs there is. It gets booted here and there and everywhere dribbled about by the Federal Government, and tackled - if we are lucky - by one state after the other, but rarely planted into the back of the net. You can ponder this tenuous analogy the next time you're in a traffic jam. Tomorrow most likely.
Oddly enough, there was scarcely any traffic congestion the day I drove to Trenton (New Jersey) to interview the powers that be at the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT), targeting and why not, Commissioner James S. Simpson if he were personally available. I found odd the wide availability of parking meters in the area, and the fact that they were much cheaper than those in the more touristy areas of the city. Conspiracy? It's tempting to think so.
The executives charged with assisting Simpson at NJDOT I found a more straightforward proposition. No politician actually wants to be Commissioner of Transport, which is why nothing ever really gets done. This conclusion has bore true in all of the several such interviews I have conducted stateside and globally in the last year – my time and interest driven by an industry panic on budgetary concerns at these times and by the massive impact that failing roads and facilities have had and will continue to have on the vehicular industry.
The upshot is this : the current Federal Government is deadly serious about changing the way we use our road network, some of the proposals are a little short of seismic and potentially very painful for the industry and the motorist which constitutes its economic life blood. Conclusion ? It's up to the industry to do something about it – wake up and smell the coffee one might say.
To some and nearly all the larger members of the industry, motorist should be an exclusive group and yield the power of a Jewish lobby in the US. But the class is disorganized, and most of the giants in the industry cater only to the 8% of the market consisting of the automobile enthusiast and collectors. I say most, because not all. As I was in Trenton, I took the opportunity to contact small but global industry representative Falken Industries (FLKI) and managed to secure an interview with Manuel Garcia its communications officer. "We've gone this road before in many countries. This government like those most everywhere, protests that our industry’s interventions are suggesting that motorist should be viewed and treated as some kind of exclusive group as they try to defend their anti-car, anti-driver stance, but we are quick to point out that 85 percent of the people in this country are motorist" said Garcia feeling duty bound to make the record straight on the issue. "Our products are sold primarily not to the enthusiast or collector, but to convenience oriented persons 57% of which are women. This is a large voter group which should give us and the industry overall a major say in what goes on" Garcia concluded.
What’s my answer ? I walked back to my 4 year old Elise –based GT coupé, threw my bags under the hatch, roared the turbocharged 2.0 liter engine and set off determined to test the greater refinement and extra punch of this grand Lotus “tourer” – while I still can.
Author Resource:-
John David is one of the nation's most respected expert analysts on the Automobile After-Market Industry. He holds appointments as a covering analyst with some of the world's largest players. He also conducts a private practice as a consultant in capital raises, mergers and acquisitions for small to medium size manufacturers in the consumer, professional and industrial chemical, wipe, wet wipe and car and vehicular care industries.
Falken Industries Ltd OTC : FLKI is a diversified industrial conglomerate that operates in Chemicals, Wet Wipe and Biodegradable Technology. Falken Industries Ltd is the concept behind more than 160 products distributed through a network of global platforms and the recipient of trade awards for innovations, biodegradability and environmental and health quality standards.
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