Comments on: Auto Show: A Day with David Cole

By: Stu Simon

Stu Simon — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:28:22 +0000

Congratulations on another example of exceptional journalism from the Ann Arbor Chronicle. Keep up the good work.

By: Rod Johnson

Rod Johnson — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 02:24:16 +0000

Yes, I knew he was Ed Cole’s son–I’m interested in what (if any) part that connection has played in his career. And Gary, my “influence” is pretty meager–I’m lucky if I can get my kids to listen to me. I certainly have no beef with Cole, I’m just intrigued by his relative anonymity locally compared with his high profile in the industry.

By: Ken Burkhalter

Ken Burkhalter — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 17:46:26 +0000

Thanks for the nice article!

Dave and I were fraternity brothers at U/M in the early 60′s, and I have always admired him greatly for his wisdom and great integrity. As the son of Ed Cole (GM President 1967-1974) Dave could have exploited the connection for financial gains, but has instead dedicated his career to advancing the automotive industry for the good of all.

Way to go Dave. I’m mighty proud to have known you.

By: Gary Salton

Gary Salton — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 13:33:27 +0000

@1Rod & @6Rob: Yeah, he is Ed Cole’s son. His aversion to local exposure might be a survival issue. A lot of people probably want to get to him to promote one cause/issue or another. As far as I can tell, Dave is and has always been an objective assessor of the industry. Dedicating that capacity to people who can affect outcomes is probably a good idea. Sorry Rod, maybe your influence is in areas that are not of a major concern to Dave.

By: ROB

ROB — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 04:45:33 +0000

@Rod – I believe he’s related to Ed Cole, past President or similar top executive at GM. Maybe his son?

By: lorie

lorie — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:37:42 +0000

This article was fabulous and thank you.

It highlights for me what I have seen as the basic gap between what management says and what really happens. I addition, just think, this is guy speaking quietly in the US auto leader’s ears. Its, uh, challenging.

What we really don’t understand here is that this industry has been run with straw hat labels without real meat to back ‘em up. Look at the leadership of GM – then you read what the real business analysis of the company what and all that education and supposed brain power didn’t do VERY SIMPLE math.

Its not that complicated. It never really has been unless you are trying to game the systems.

By: Alan Goldsmith

Alan Goldsmith — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 20:03:11 +0000

Touche!

By: jcp2

jcp2 — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:03:52 +0000

I think you mean horse buggy whip. Early cars were indeed horse buggies with an engine somewhere. Even now, the Landau top pays homage to the days where the carriage driver sat out front, while the passengers sat in the coach, protected from the elements.

By: Alan Goldsmith

Alan Goldsmith — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:40:31 +0000

I’m sure there were lots of horse buggy factory owners just like Mr. Cole back in the 19th Century too.

He thinks just the way upper management of the American autos companies have for decades, which is the reason for their near failure.

By: Rod Johnson

Rod Johnson — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:27:27 +0000

This is a good article, but it would be more interesting if it were a profile of David Cole, who is kind of an enigmatic figure in some ways. I’ve worked down the road from him for years and even spent time at UMTRI, but all my exposure to him has been through the national media. How did he get to be the go-to guy on everything automotive? Is it the family connection?