A recent article in BusinessWeek by Jeff Jarvis, suggests that the automobile industry, especially in Detroit, would be well served to adopt some of the principles open source projects already use on a daily basis. His conjecture is that the open, transparent, user-driven design will not only drive better product functionality, but also give the participants a sense of ownership (thus, brand or product loyalty):
How could a car company again win our affection for its products and brands? By opening up, by making the process of producing cars transparent so it could involve customers, by turning out cars customers want because they had a chance to say what they want.
The article is actually titled How The Google Model Could Help Detroit -- and Jarvis attempts to connect the open and transparent principles to Google, rather than open source, but the point is the same. Many companies would argue they already follow these principles by using focus groups or soliciting feedback via surveys. Jarvis thinks this is akin to children in a museum -- very narrow and specific areas of interaction, emphasis on NOT being disruptive.
Chrysler has solicited customers' ideas (in a closed forum that prevents them from commenting on each others' suggestions) and created a customer advisory board of 5,000 selected drivers. The problem with these efforts is that they don't allow customers to affect the product openly. An idea presented to Ford Motor via e-mail or to Mini in its popular online community might influence a decision that will come off the line in a few years. But we'd never know it. Indeed, these preliminary attempts at interactivity seem aimed at keeping the customer from doing harm. This is interactivity as defined by a children's museum: Here are the buttons you may push without breaking anything; knock yourself out, kids. But just as companies should hand over their brands to customers, so should they hand over their products. Let the customers make the cars.
Read the entire article on BusinessWeek's website.
