Question

Is Boeing the new Pinto？Using the business regulation to explain this.

Answer 1

Boeing's in the news lately for all the wrong reasons which includes safety issues, breach of guidelines and further minor violations of the regulations set up. Looking back, Ford Pinto's sales plummeted after a series of gas explosions. So, is it a reasonable to claim that Boeing 737 could be the new Pinto? Well, yes is my opinion.

2 crashes in 5 months of the Boeing Max along with grounding its operations for over a couple of months, the passengers are not very optimistic to commute on a Max despite a surge in air travel (of course pre- Covid!). To add fuel to the fire, Boeing has not been able to come up with solid reasons for the regulation breaches and what exactly caused their jets to crash. To address this they have been actively involved in finalizing a software update which is linked to both the crashes and trying their best to put Max on air once again. The trend we need to observe is, that there are a few jetliners which has rebounded from similar situations and ensured.

You might argue that Ford survived the fiasco, but pinto didn't so where is the relation. The case with Boeing is that its reputation is on stake due to the crashes, and they are not able to restore the consumer optimism in their aircrafts. Ford is a consumer car manufacturer primarily, so their challenges are on a different paradigm when compared to Boeing. The 737 Max is such a popular jet that it represents the face of Boeing. So, probably a distrust of this magnitude on 737 Max directly affects the whole company of Boeing rather than just the sales of 737 Max. Hence, it can slip to a position similar to Pinto if the situation persists.

Hope this helps. Cheers!