CA&E: Who makes the call on something like the motorized monitor? Does the interior designer actually make that call or does the vendor who you guys work with kind of suggest these things?
JM: The vendors come to us with their potential in terms of what they can do. The designers are making all these proposals in terms of what we would like to see in the car. Then the team has decide what's the cost, can we do it, can we make any money on it? How much do we have to charge? I mean, it's the same old story no matter what you do.
CA&E: Now does it cost more to actually have a better design? I always thought, "Why does any car have to be ugly?"
JM: It doesn't. There's no reason. You know, bending sheetmetal or forming plastic, whatever it is that you're doing-there's no reason why a good-looking car has to be any more money than an ugly car.
CA&E: Then why are there so many ugly cars in the world?!
JM: (laughter) I can't answer that.
CA&E: Well, with what's happening in the economy, with the gas prices, does that have any impact on you in terms of design?
JM: Unbelievable impact because by 2020, and in fact you'll know this better than anybody, living in California, but California was really pushing for their own unique fuel economy and air quality standards. And so right now, along with every other car manufacturer in the world, we're scrambling to meet these standards by 2020 where we need 35 to 45 mpg. The cars have to be lighter. They've got to be more aerodynamic. They've got to have different propulsion systems. I mean it's reinventing the whole car from the bottom up, inside and out.
CA&E: So can we have economy cars that actually look like luxury vehicles?
JM: Why not? That's why I come to work everyday.
CA&E: What are your Top 5 cars?
JM: I love Ferraris. That's just why I was so taken with your last issue because I got that ... Oh my God, somebody finally did some 430's. How cool is that?
CA&E: (laughter) Exactly.
JM: All the Italian sports cars are just so beautiful, and they're so well done. I love all the sports cars. All the luxury cars. Some of the stuff that's coming out now is so cool. You know, some of the Benzs, some of the Rolls, some of the high-end Audis. There's just so much cool product out there that really didn't exist 10, 15, 20 years ago.
CA&E: You know, a certain segment of the car market seems to be dominated by sort of like a masculine design. I don't know if you agree or not, and if you did, I was wondering how long you think that might last?
JM: That's come up a number of times. There's always been this, I don't know, a theory that it's easier to sell a woman a man's car, than it is to sell a man a woman's car. And generally, we've found that to be true in that if you do something that's maybe not overtly masculine, but at least a little bolder, it's easier to sort of make that sale to a woman than it ever is to sell a cute car to a guy. And that may be changing now as cars continue to get smaller and you look at the Smart Car and, of course, the VW Beetle, and you look at the Mini. I mean I love the new Fiat 500. I mean that thing is so cool. And that car's not coming here, but it's such a cool car. But it's kind of feminine.
CA&E: Yeah, especially in the states. Yeah, I wonder can we ever sell a Smart Car to a guy? You know? Or especially a car enthusiast? I know there's a famous consultant who works with OEs and he talks about the lizard brain and basically trying to find design cues that tap into sort of like a primordial, almost subconscious level...