Lessons of the Square Watermelon and the State-of-the-Auto Industry

Written by General Staff    A square watermelon might be an apt description of the seemingly impossible challenges before the auto industry these days. How do we provide vehicles people want with good fuel mileage? How do we continually make them safer without making them far too expensive? How do we get all this in a package that is styled to be appealing and distinctive?

The auto industry continues to do all these things. GMC Yukon with dual mode hybrid drive and great fuel economy for a large vehicle. Turbocharged small engines with good horsepower in mid-size vehicles give them previously unreachable mpg figures. Side curtain airbags and now knee airbags continue to let us survive crashes that would have been life threatening not long ago.

The key throughout this is creativity, tumbling the Rubik’s Cube every which way to figure out the best way to solve the riddle. Market Probe brings similar creativity to addressing the business questions before our clients. We can combine various elements of the research process for unique solutions to the situation. Yet, like the constants of vehicle space, mpg, and horsepower, Market Probe builds its solutions on solid learning and foundations. It is a new solution using proven elements in a different way. Our founder and CEO, TR Rao, is a very restless individual, having never owned the same car brand twice. That restlessness is part of our approach to solving research puzzles.




http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/east/06/15/square.watermelon/index.html

http://leanthinkingnetwork.com/2008/02/27/lessons-of-the-square-watermelon/