Why Steve Jobs Can't Save GM

Why Steve Jobs Can't Save GM

Pundits have pointed to the Apple chief as a possible savior for the auto industry.

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BURLINGAME, Calif.--Note to the auto industry: You want Steve Jobs? You can't handle Steve Jobs.

It's a cliché by now to suggest that all the U.S. auto industry needs is someone like the Apple (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) chief executive. On paper, the idea makes sense. At Apple, Jobs turned a struggling has-been into a world-beating innovation factory. Wow, just think what he could do for General Motors (nyse: GM - news - people ).

The problem: The idea is completely idiotic. That's because if Jobs actually were installed at GM it would be the most chaotic day in American history since Gettysburg, except more people would die.

The suggestion comes amid doubts about Jobs' ability to continue running Apple, let alone a car company. Jobs will likely miss Apple's annual shareholder meeting Wednesday for the first time since rejoining the company in 1997, due to health problems. Last month, Jobs announced he will be taking a medical leave of absence until June. Moreover, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is said to be investigating what Apple has told investors about Jobs' health, even as his appearance became increasingly gaunt at public events throughout last year.

In short, if anyone thinks Jobs should run a car company, we can start with the fact that he is very much unavailable right now. Jobs is working on getting healthy again, one hopes, rather than thinking about his next career move. Blogger Robert X. Cringely reported Saturday that Jobs has not been online for weeks now, worrying his closest cronies.

But even if Jobs were to take the GM gig, how would he make a domestic car company more like Apple? Well, he could start by sending all the factory jobs to contract manufacturers in Asia. That would go over well with the United Auto Workers. But that's part of what makes Apple such a profit machine. It doesn't have to worry about the fixed costs involved with owning and operating a factory the way GM does.

What else would Jobs do? At Apple, he used secrecy to turn every new product launch into a media event. Jobs had few resources, and he knew he had to make the most of them. The result: Only a handful of Apple employees would know what Apple was about to introduce until Jobs unveiled it, usually only days before it went on sale. The move allowed Apple to get the most from radical, attention-getting designs like the 2002-era iMac G4. That, of course, would go over great with the federal regulators who oversee highway safety.

 

In short, the reason the auto industry doesn't need Jobs is that he wouldn't be able to make the Apple playbook work at a car company. To be sure, the suggestion does work as a sort of Swiftian vote of no confidence in the domestic auto industry. If read as a critique of the way the U.S. auto industry works now, rather than a serious suggestion, the idea has some merit.