Repeat History, or Learn From It?(NEWS)

Byline: Kevin A. Wilson

With government funds to rescue the domestic auto industry, an executive-level automotive "task force to oversee their operations and a reinvigorated focus on energy and environmental policy, can the government-designed car be far off?

One can stand four-square behind the notions of hope and change over fear and the status quo, wish devoutly for a coherent national policy regarding energy and its use and still worry about the pros-pects for cars tailored by politicians and regulators to meet perceived societal needs. At least, this one can.

Government does not have a good track record when it comes to automotive design and development. Consider the Henry J, a compact car built nearly 50 years ago. Its maker, Kaiser-Frazer, was founded in 1947, financed largely by the wartime earnings of Kaiser Steel. By 1949, the company was on the ropes and borrowed $44 million from the government to stay afloat, promising to deliver the kind of small, efficient car that the government decided the country needed. Sound familiar? Taxpayer money came with regulatory strings attached, the big one being that the car under development had to be priced at less than $1,300.

When it arrived in 1951, the Henry J was indeed so priced. To make the target, the company did things it never would have done otherwise: There was no trunk lid, for instance, so access to the cargo area was only through the rear seat. Neither was there a glovebox. This Spartan approach applied throughoutthere even were tiny little tacked-on round taillights on a design with tail fins meant to house lights. Kaiser-Frazer was out of business by "54, though the car survived a bit longer, sold by Sears as the Allstate, with more of the amenities that car buyers expected.

The messagethat consumers do not necessarily share the priorities expressed by regulators and government planning authoritiesdoes not register with those who would dictate rather than offer incentives, mandate rather than encourage. An honest version of the joke-umentary Who Killed the ...