(UPDATED FROM 12/30/2022) A few years ago we had a debate in a comment thread about the importance of scale in the U.S. auto industry (go here). I thought I would add another layer to […]
(EXPANDED FROM 9/8/2023) The 1975-80 AMC Pacer may have been a memorable car, but it was also a key factor in American Motors’ demise as an independent automaker. What’s particularly tragic is that the Pacer’s […]
(EXPANDED FROM 9/29/2023) The 1970 Plymouth Barracuda and its sibling the Dodge Challenger proved to be a costly mistake that epitomized Detroit’s slowness in responding to changing times. Indeed, the Chrysler Corporation’s early-1970s pony cars […]
(EXPANDED FROM 2/16/2022) The Beetle was such a hot commodity in 1959 that total Volkswagen registrations almost topped 120,000 units. That may have been tiny by Detroit standards, but back then it was unprecedented for […]
(UPDATED FROM 8/30/2023) Predicting the future of the U.S. auto industry has always been fraught with peril. Popular Science’s Detroit Editor Jim Dunne got a lot of things right in his reporting during 1970, but […]
(EXPANDED FROM 7/31/2023) American Motors’ purchase of a four-cylinder engine from Volkswagen was one of CEO Roy D. Chapin Jr.’s last big decisions during his 10-year leadership of the automaker — and arguably his final […]
(EXPANDED FROM 15/19/2023) The 1933-42 Willys gets far less attention than it deserves. The model 77 and its successors were important because they anticipated the American compacts of the 1950s and 1960s. In addition, the […]
(EXPANDED FROM 1/22/2021) Toyota has had an enviably strong track record here in the United States, but it has had a few misses. They include its mishandling of the ill-fated Scion subbrand. Although one could […]
(EXPANDED FROM 9/25/2023) Should I be embarrassed to admit that the first car magazine I subscribed to was Motor Trend? When I was around 11 years old I was enticed by one of those promotional […]
(EXPANDED FROM 3/20/2023) Back in 1963, advertising executive Fred Manley presented a slide show parody about how to improve Volkswagen’s legendary “Think small” ad. The “best practices” he presented look hilariously misguided when applied to […]
Copyright © 2022 Olympia, Earth Media, LLC | All rights reserved