CTS-V: Misdirected Genius. Now if they could just build the car we NEED.
American mechanical engineering ingenuity lives! This is certainly something to celebrate because there have been times over the last twenty years when our zones of competence seemed have diminished to (1) Tech, (2) “Services” and (3) Bubble Building. The combined results of numbers 2 & 3: Real estate collapse, financial market chaos, & almost $1 trillion in bailouts.
While there’s nothing wrong with riding the wave of active contemplation all the way to the bank, there is a real danger that all that mentation may boil down to nothing more than hot air and trillion dollar hole in our collective pocket.
So it is good to read Dan Neil’s review of the CTS-V in today’s LA Times. Those who negatively critiqued his 2004 Pultizer win have a something to learn about the art and role of cultural criticism. This guy has a fierce genius that he’s chosen to apply to the domain of automobile reviews. I do believe that it’s about time that this level of intellectual horse power has been consistently devoted to one of the primary objects of American desire – the car.
Back to the CTS-V, America and staving off Armageddon.
The CTS-V is the physical incarnation of a mid-level deity. A harnessing of power which our ancestors achieved only by way of dark incantation and virgin sacrifice. It’s a reminder of what humans can accomplish in the absence of the supernatural. Of that critical nexus of Idea and Will. Conception and Action.
While I think a very sound argument can be made that this accomplishment deserves a round of applause, some derision is definitely in order as well.
Why has Cadillac built this car? A 556 horsepower Ferrari-Towncar. This car was built for boom times. It was built for lawyers, doctors, dentists and other guild members. It was built for real estate developers and mortgage brokers circa 2006. It’s price was to be paid for by Lehman bonuses and hedge fund gurus.
It’s a misguided beauty. Please have no doubt as to whether or not I want one of these. I do want the CTS-V. I want one very, very badly. My passions urge me to forgo morality and good sense in order to get behind the wheel of this brutal machine[1. Please note that I have not come to this place of deep desire by my own will alone - I've been sent here, in large part I would argue, by Road & Track, by Porsche posters, by Cannonball Run, by a long process of aculturation. That slow cooking that trains the mind to pursue certain designated trophies. I'm no mindless sheep but neither am I foolish enough to believe that I operate completely outside our elaborate systems tradition and convention.].
The energy is admirable. The engineering is remarkable. The result is questionable.
We need this same level of excitement and drive to be focused on solving fuel efficiency, not just 0-60 and the Nurburgring[2. a quick intro by way of Dan Neil: "One stat of note is that the CTS-V rips a quarter-mile in under 13 seconds. But that's a rather old-school metric. For connoisseurs, the true measure is the Nurburgring time. The 'Ring is a slightly terrifying, 14-mile asphalt roller coaster of a racetrack in the Eiffel mountains in Germany. The current production-car record is held by the Corvette ZR-1, at 7.26 minutes. The Corvette-derived CTS-V lapped the course in 7.59 minutes, which is apparently a world record for a production sedan.
To put that in perspective, it would take a 1980 Cadillac Eldorado about a day and a half".]. In this, we all play a part. Our psychology and system of rewards must be adapted such that we lust after fuel efficiency, sustainable design, and those other principles that will ensure both bare survival and quality of life.
This is our current conundrum – performing the alchemy of making boring, sexy.
A savior does exist, one clarion call rings true: that of money.
If you reward them, they will come. But… money is failing in its role as a signaling mechanism – a carrier of information. Markets work best when they bundle all of the available information up into a neat little package called price. Traditionally this has been the best option available but our pricing system is failing us because our political system is failing us. The incentives all are bungled – concentrated interests are beating out public interest. Price is being distorted because it is serving another master.
Our next step is re-building our market system so that it functions more efficiently. As a coordinated system of exchange that insists on transparency and a level playing field[3. Of course these terms, "transparency" and "level playing field" must be defined - that's where the game of democracy comes in. We need an effective and well functioning democracy to be able to define these terms in a way that properly and efficiently reflects the public interest and net social welfare. And…. (in case you hadn't notice) our system of government and democracy is even deeper down the rabbit hole than our financial system :) It's a project that needs real attention, real soon. Government 2.0 or Bust.]. If any part within you still believes, after the last year of bailouts, that we live in a free, fair and open market I beg you look deep, deep inside yourself and at the root of that belief. Our version of free markets has become nothing more than a propaganda line, paraded out by marketers to fleece us.
Nationalize risk, privatize profits.
Enough whining – let’s start working: Government 2.0
So… the people, the public has got to jump back in the game and build a system of government with markets and regulations that meets our goals. We built the OG version of democracy – let’s get on this new shit. American innovation, technology, ingenuity and energy – all dedicated to a 21st century pursuit of Life, Liberty and Happiness.
To be sure, this is no easy task but in some sense we’ve got no alternative – if we keep letting “them” build it for us we’ll meet a crisis that we can’t fix. A time will come when this counrty is NOT too big to fail and the rest of the world will NOT come to bail us out. There may come a time when they will not buy our bonds and finance our debt. Instead they’ll stand by and watch us sink.
I don’t venture out on any thin limb in saying that my generation has been handed a basket of shit. Fortunately there are still a few golden eggs floating among the sewage. Fixing this will be an ugly, long, dirty slog but I’m not about to let this country die on my watch.
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