“The K-Car program proposed a common body and chassis for all the GM cars in the intermediate and compact car classes. On the Chevrolet lines alone this meant building the Chevelle, Camaro and Nova, which […]
Paul West has offered a sophisticated counterpoint to the conclusions in my article, “Would Hudson have been Packard’s best merger partner?” I am thus elevating his comment to the front page. Nice article, Steve. I […]
DECG50 has weighed in with an additional round of thoughtful analysis about product proliferation at General Motors in response to these (go here and here) posts. Steve, thanks for furthering the discussion and for the […]
Geeber’s comment on our antitrust story significantly adds to the discussion so I’m elevating it to the front page as a letter to the editor: GM had been pushing to centralize more functions at the […]
(UPDATED FROM 6/26/2020) The Saab 99/900 proved to be the box that crushed the tiny Swedish carmaker. I grant you that this platform was hardly an immediate failure. Even so, the design of the 99 […]
“Cybertruck seems like a mistake. It’s requiring a whole new production process. The whole exoskeleton structure may turn out to work in the end but Tesla really should be looking at taking advantage of the platforms […]
(EXPANDED ON 1/27/2023) Many books, magazine articles and blog posts have been written about the independent automakers’ struggle to survive in the 1950s. Even so, I have come across a number of unresolved mysteries relevant […]
(UPATED 3/9/2023) A few years ago Lotus Rebel (2021) drew upon our AMC Pacer story to suggest alternative approaches for that car’s design in a comment at Ate Up With Motor. That website’s publisher, Aaron […]
The failure of individual automakers is invariably grounded in an inability to maintain adequate economies of scale. However, debates about what is the ideal shape of the American auto industry are heavily informed by competing […]
When writing a story about the 1974 AMC Ambassador, I came across American Motors car brochures for 1979 and 1980 that took the unusual step of picturing the company’s headquarters in Southfield, Michigan. In the 1979 […]
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