For automakers, Detroit's Dream Cruise should be prime turf to recruit engineers, designers

August 16, 2016 01:00 AM

Reporter covering technology, engineering and Jaguar Land Rover for Automotive News

When the Corvette was introduced at the 1953 Motorama, GM rushed to get it into production. It set up a temporary factory in Flint, Mich., and built 300 for the 1953 model year. The cars were put in the hands of celebrities and executives to build word-of-mouth enthusiasm.

The 1957 Corvette.

The 1960 Corvette. Styling evolved significantly during the first generation of the car but many design cues that would become synonymous with the Corvette were established, including the long dash-to-axle proportion, dual round taillamps and a dual-cockpit-style interior. All first-generation Corvettes were convertibles.

The 1963 Chevrolet Corvette. The second-generation Corvette – dubbed Sting Ray, after a concept race car that influenced its design – represented a revolution in design, engineering technology and performance. Where the first-generation Corvette was based on a modified passenger sedan platform, the second-generation was a clean-sheet redesign based on a dedicated architecture. It enabled a lower center of gravity and lower, sportier seating position, while supporting an all-new independent rear suspension that dramatically transformed the car's road-holding performance.

The 1965 Corvette

The third-generation Corvette -- beginning with the 1968 model -- was the longest and the car evolved significantly during an upheaval in the auto industry. It was introduced for 1968 as the Stingray -- one word vs. two words with the second generation. Aficionados generally call these cars “shark” models, for their aggressive styling. From a performance standpoint, the C3 generation was transitional. Big-block engines rated at 435 horsepower were initially popular but the auto industry's shift to unleaded fuel, tighter emissions standards and changing consumer attitudes affected output over time. In 1975, the standard 350 small-block was rated at only 165 horsepower -- about 20 percent less than the original 195-hp small-block from 1955.

The 1977 Chevrolet Corvette. The sports car set an annual U.S. sales record of 42,571 in 1977 that stands today.

The 1979 Corvette.

The 1984 Corvette.

GM

Retired General Chuck Yeager poses with the 1986 C4 Corvette Indy pace car he drove for that year's 500-mile race.

The 1990 Chevrolet Corvette

The all-new 1997 Corvette was larger overall than the outgoing C4 yet weighed nearly 100 pounds less.

GM

The 2003 50th Anniversary Chevrolet Corvette C5 was featured as the official pace car of the Indy 500.

The 2005 Corvette featured a return to fixed headlamps.

GM

The Corvette vision concept was introduced at the Chicago Auto Show in 2009 and previewed the character Sideswipe in the movie "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen." The concept was the creation of Corvette designers at GM and heavily influenced by the original Sting Ray race car introduced in 1959.

The 2011 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport.

GM has standardized its information technology architecture at all of its plants worldwide, including the Chevrolet Corvette plant in Bowling Green, Ky.

The 2014 Corvette

The 2020 Corvette is equipped with Chevrolet's next-generation 6.2-liter small block V-8 LT2 engine. It is the only naturally aspirated V-8 in the segment and generates 495 hp and 470 lb.-ft. of torque when equipped with performance exhaust — the most horsepower and torque for any entry Corvette.

GM

The 2024 Corvette E-Ray became the first with all-wheel drive and to be electrified, heralding a new era for the famed sports car. The car's eAWD system — combining a 160 hp electric motor over the front axle and a 495 hp, 6.2-liter small-block V-8 powering the rear wheels, for combined hp of 655 — made the E-Ray the "Swiss Army knife" of Corvettes, Chevrolet officials said. It was also the quickest Corvette to date, according to Chevy, zipping from 0 to 60 mph in just 2.5 seconds.

Richard Truett covers technology and engineering for Automotive News

Earlier this year, Automotive News launched a new publication, Fixed Ops Journal, which covers the issues facing managers of the parts, body shop and service departments at new-car dealerships.

One central theme that appears over and over again in the magazine, as well as in Automotive News’ reporting on the auto industry, is that from the new-car dealer to the manufacturer -- and suppliers, too -- everyone needs more help. Few companies, it seems, can find enough new employees to design, develop and engineer tomorrow’s vehicles, advanced powertrains and components. New-car dealers have been in constant need of technicians for 20 years. Suppliers need every discipline from battery experts to chemists to code writers.

The auto industry, it seems, no longer has a glamorous reputation.

But if you are in the Detroit area this week, you won’t detect a lack of enthusiasm for automobiles. Of course, the auto industry is part of the culture here in the Midwest, and communities around here take real pride in the vehicles they make.

For example, over the weekend, roughly 30,000 people turned out in Toledo, Ohio, to celebrate Jeep’s 75th anniversary. Just north of Detroit on Sunday, thousands turned out for a cars and coffee event at a racetrack and car storage facility called the M1 Concourse in Pontiac, Mich. Customizable car condominiums -- man caves -- sell for six figures and up. The idea is you can store and work on your classic or modern sports car and then go drive hot laps in it on a racetrack.

RICHARD TRUETT

Some of the lineup at the M1 Concourse in Pontiac, Mich., on Sunday.

This Saturday, the giant Woodward Dream Cruise -- billed as the world’s largest one-day automotive event -- takes place in the Detroit area. People come from all over the country to attend it.

As in years past, about a million people will line up on both sides of a 16-mile stretch of four-lane road as all manner of antique, classic, sports, exotic and especially muscle cars roll by.

Automakers set up corporate tents and displays for consumers, but each year, the industry blows a golden recruiting opportunity, one that could open the eyes and minds of design students, future engineers, computer programmers and kids who just happen to have a knack for fixing things.

I can’t think of a better way to impress potential new employees than by bringing them to the Dream Cruise. There they can see the passion people have for cars, and not just old ones. New muscle and sports cars are also part of the Dream Cruise.

This could be the best recruiting tool the industry has against the Googles and Apples of the tech world that are draining the talent that used to almost automatically gravitate to the auto industry.

For an industry struggling to attract top engineers and designers, automakers are making a mistake by letting events such as the Dream Cruise pass them by each year.