The original intent of this post was Iaccoca's ‘outrage’ and how powerful an emotion it is for ‘transformation’ at many levels.
Allow me to explain by another story:
Ferruccio Lamborghini was born into a family of grape farmers, got interested in mechanics and after serving in the Air Force during World War II began a tractor business where he converted old military machines to tractors and other agricultural related supplies. He became very wealthy from his tractor business and like anyone who comes into new wealth he bought several luxury cars, including a Ferrari.
Lamborghini notices that when it came to racing his Ferrari was much too noisy and rough on the road and apart from this, the interior clutch needed repairing often.
So he went over to Enzo Ferrari and told him about the imperfections he had found. Ferrari was the top dog of the car business and he didn’t appreciate the young tractor mechanic telling him about the imperfections. When Ferrari told Lamborghini he didn’t want advice from the tractor mechanic, that was when their rivalry began. Until then, Lamborghini’s interest was in racing, a hobby. Now he decided to turn his hobby into a passion; Ferrari’s insult had become his driving force.
Lam experimented with different models and then revealed the Lamborghini 350 GTV at the Turin Motor Show. The show was in October of 1963. By the end of 1964, he had sold 13 cars.
When Lam brought competition to Ferrari, many people believed that he was crazy. Ferrari had years on him and was already quite wealthy by the time the Lamborghini had been built. People believed that wanting to build a car as great as Ferrari’s was too risky, if not impossible.
The inside story was based on his experience with the tractor business he was able to set up one of the best facilities for his car company. His factory was a functional structure with the manufacturing building as the central building. This allowed management to constantly monitor the shop floor from their adjacent office buildings. This was perfect for Lamborghini since he preferred to go work on the cars personally when he saw something that wasn’t being done right.
Lamborghini cars may no longer rule the world but his approach to life was recently replicated in India. When Honda Motors launched their new range of CBZ in late 1999, Bajaj Auto India may have felt threatened. Like Lam, Bajaj chose the best pieces for his bike. The company was already branded for fuel efficient engines but he formed a new team, Glynn Kerr from California, Tokyo R&D and an independent team tasked to coordinate and progressively increase the engine’s HP to match Honda’s. For the other bike pieces, his team looked to replicate what was already in the market.
Auto history:
Lam released the 350 GT at the Turin Motor Show in 1963
Chrysler released their minivan in the eighties. (against Honda’s). The time when Iacocca famously said, ‘if you find a better car, buy it’
Bajaj released the Pulsar in Nov, 2001
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The sound bite: "Throw the bums out" was taken from Iaccoca's book "Where have all the leaders gone?"
Applies to all countries & cultures, not one specific; don't you think?
Edited by
jaish
on Sat 07/06/19 12:51 AM