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HomeIndustry consolidation

Industry consolidation

Hudson-Willys merger idea
Media Analysis

Patrick Foster’s idea of a Hudson-Willys merger still raises major questions

January 23, 2026 Steve 7

(EXPANDED FROM 10/17/2023) A few years ago Patrick Foster (2023) suggested in a Hemmings column why a marriage of Hudson and Willys could have made sense. More recently he updated his essay, so I was […]

1953 Hudson Hornet
Media Analysis

Hudson article by Over-Drive Magazine reads like a human didn’t edit it

November 7, 2025 Steve 5

(EXPANDED FROM 10/27/2023) We haven’t checked in with our friends at Over-Drive Magazine lately, so what’s up? They continue to build a multi-faceted repository of information about American cars after initially trying to launch a […]

1954 Ford ad
Data Dive

Was the ‘Ford blitz’ to blame for the collapse of independent automakers?

October 2, 2025 Steve 40

(UPDATED FROM 10/28/2022) If I had to pick a favorite Indie Auto story, this one would be in my top five. It is one of the longest pieces I have written — roughly 4,600 words […]

Langworth Studebaker
Readings

Richard Langworth’s Studebaker book is dated but mostly still the best

September 9, 2025 Steve 5

(EXPANDED FROM 4/13/2013) When I am trying to track down information about Studebaker, I am most likely to first reach for Richard M. Langworth’s book. The reason why it that his journalistic approach was refreshingly […]

1950 Nash Ambassador
History

Did early-postwar independent automakers try too hard to be different?

August 22, 2025 Steve 11

(EXPANDED FROM 9/19/2023) The late-40s and early-50s arguably had more design and engineering variety among U.S automakers than we would ever see again. That strikes me as a mostly good thing for consumers, but there […]

1972 Chevrolet Camaro front quarter
Satire

Declassified 1970s documents spark debate among auto historians

April 1, 2025 Steve 4

(UPDATED FROM 3/30/2023) Newly declassified intelligence documents show how a crash program by American automakers to switch to eggcrate grilles for their 1972-73 models thwarted a space alien invasion. The strategy worked so well that […]

1956 Packard plant
Literature

1956 Packard booklet hints at how James Nance got too big for his britches

March 24, 2025 Steve 11

(EXPANDED FROM 11/1/2021) A 1956 Packard booklet hints at how its head James Nance got too big for his britches. A marketing piece titled, “Story of a Living Legend and the world in which it […]

1966 Chevrolet Chevelle SS convertible
History

AMC’s Roy Abernethy was increasingly hemmed in but not without options

February 7, 2025 Steve 7

(EXPANDED FROM 3/4/2022) Automotive historians, both professional and armchair, tend to beat up too much on Roy Abernethy’s leadership of American Motors. Thus, Geeber (2021) offered useful context in responding to a denunciation of Abernethy. […]

1967 Cadillac convertible
History

What if GM and Ford were broken up in the 1960s?

December 11, 2024 Steve 24

(EXPANDED FROM 8/19/2022) The topic that has elicited the greatest blowback from Indie Auto readers has been my argument that the U.S. auto industry was less able to respond to a rising tide of imports […]

1968ish Mercedes-Benz 280SL rear quarter
Current Events

Is the decline in distinctive national approaches to car design a bad thing?

October 14, 2024 Steve 4

(EXPANDED FROM 5/18/2022) Karl Ludvigsen has a website called Why Cars Are So Bad. A few years ago he posted on it the text of a speech he delivered back in 1989. Included in his […]

Posts pagination

1 2 … 4 »
  • 1954 Chevrolet was beginning of the end for GM’s brand hierarchy
    April 21, 2026 17
  • 1980 Pontiac Phoenix 5-door hatch
    Bigger didn’t prove to be better for General Motors in late-70s and 80s
    April 17, 2026 39
  • 1963 Ford Galaxie
    Might Detroit have embraced front-wheel drive earlier if McNamara had stayed at Ford?
    April 16, 2026 7
  • Cheap dealer car
    How much do Trump policies have to hurt auto industry before it supports Dems?
    April 14, 2026 19
  • 1975 Ford Thunderbird
    Ford design in the 1970s was a real step down from the previous decade
    April 10, 2026 24
  • 1981 Chevrolet Monte Carlo
    The sad story about buying a 1981 Monte Carlo right out of college
    April 9, 2026 2
  • Why the 1968-69 Javelin was not Richard Teague’s best AMC sporty coupe
    April 6, 2026 9
  • Mitsubishi dealer in Spokane
    Indie Auto is moving — although you may barely notice
    April 8, 2026 4
  • 1956 Buick hood scoop
    Readers brainstorm ideas for future Indie Auto stories
    October 14, 2022 136
Society of Automotive Historian award to Indie Auto

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