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HomeU.S. auto industry decline

U.S. auto industry decline

1979 Lincoln Continental Mark V Bill Blass Edition ad
History

Defective 1977-79 Continental Mark V showed how Lincoln lost its way

July 21, 2025 Steve 19

(EXPANDED FROM 4/5/2023) Some buyers of the 1977-79 Lincoln Mark V waited up to eight weeks to receive exclusive designer-series models . . . that turned out to have defective paint. At least that was […]

2024 Ford Expedition
Quotes

What impact could budget bill have on global efforts to fight climate change?

July 12, 2025 Steve 5

President Trump’s recently signed budget bill is big and complex enough that its impacts in just one area — climate change — have been subject to debate. For example, a Princeton University research group recently […]

Mercedes-Benz 300TD wagon
Design Notes

Mercedes-Benz W123: Back when form really did follow function

July 2, 2025 Steve 4

(EXPANDED FROM 5/26/2023) A comment by Fratzog spurred me to expand on this story about the Mercedes-Benz W123, which to my mind is the brand’s most iconic model. I get that this may be a […]

Quotes

How could mighty General Motors collapse in such a spectacular fashion?

April 12, 2025 Steve 13

Business reporters for national newspapers tend to be at their best when they provide detailed, play-by-play coverage of major events in the U.S. auto industry. Unfortunately, they haven’t been as good in analyzing why things […]

1978 Cadillac Eldorado
Drive-By Musings

Would U.S. automakers have done better if high tariffs had always been in place?

April 3, 2025 Steve 4

Automotive News has been celebrating its 100-year anniversary by running articles that offer historical context about current events. The Trump administration’s “Liberation Day” tariffs would be a particularly valuable topic for this treatment. Unfortunately, so […]

1972 Chevrolet Vega
History

US automakers made vain promises in early-1970s to beat back imports

February 18, 2025 Steve 3

In response to soaring import sales in the early-1970s, US automakers made brave promises of a counterattack. In retrospect, many of those promises sound decidedly hollow. For example, in the wake of a critical review […]

1967 GM mid-sized cars
Quotes

Maryann Keller: Postwar GM had ‘almost pathological resistance’ to change

February 1, 2025 Steve 4

Maryann Keller was one of the most astute automotive analysts of the last half century. A short passage in her 1993 book, Collision, arguably sums up as well as anyone the primary reason why General […]

1982 DeLorean
History

1981-82 DeLorean illustrates Detroit’s failure to understand the rise of imports

January 20, 2025 Steve 21

(UPDATED FROM 9/23/2022) The easiest way to sum up the spectacular failure of the DeLorean Motor Company is to say that its founder was exceptionally unlucky. I am hard pressed to think of a worse […]

1968 Cadillac DeVille
Auto Paedia

Brock Yates called postwar U.S. auto leaders ‘Grosse Pointe myopians’

January 15, 2025 Steve 0

(EXPANDED FROM 11/1/2018) “Grosse Pointe myopians” is a pejorative term that automotive journalist Brock Yates (2018) gave to the management class of U.S. automakers in an essay published in the April 1968 issue of Car […]

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 […]

Posts pagination

« 1 2 3 … 6 »
  • 2006-7 Dodge Charger
    2006-2010 Dodge Charger: A cartoonish attempt at rip-roaring nostalgia
    June 5, 2026 6
  • 1950 Nash Rambler hood ornament
    Speedreaders.info is a rare source of book reviews, but quality varies
    June 3, 2026 0
  • 1958 Lincoln
    1958-60 Lincoln: Failing to beat GM at its own game
    June 2, 2026 16
  • 1957 Nash Ambassador
    Three videos: The death of car culture, rich people’s cars and the 1957 Nash
    May 29, 2026 6
  • 1963 Mercury Marauder
    1963 Mercury Marauder: Ford tries to do a premium-priced car on the cheap
    May 27, 2026 11
  • Did 1964 Ramblers share more parts between size classes than competitors?
    May 26, 2026 1
  • Patrick Foster shows how International Harvester failed to adapt
    May 13, 2026 5
  • Internet problems reminded me of U.S. automakers in the 1970s
    May 2, 2026 1
  • 1956 Buick hood scoop
    Readers brainstorm ideas for future Indie Auto stories
    October 14, 2022 141
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