“The US auto industry has been perhaps the best example of a sector falling into a rut and doling out progress at the minimum possible rate for at least 30 years. It’s criminal IMO that […]
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 updating the Readings section I came across an Automobile magazine story by Rusty Blackwell (2010) that itemized the most important books in their reference library. The post is now a decade old but still offers […]
“Over the last 40 years or so, legal academics have been insisting with increasing stringency that corporations that consider anything other than shareholder value in choosing their actions are derelict in their duties. As the […]
A tendency toward groupthink has been a chronic problem in the American automobile industry since the mid-50s. This was a key driver of the domestic automakers’ dramatic decline from the late-60s onward. More recently, foreign […]
The necessity of industry consolidation has long been a popular idea among auto executives and pundits. The basic argument has been that the automotive industry — both in the U.S. as well as globally — […]
“Grosse Pointe myopians” is pejorative term that automotive journalist Brock Yates (2018) gave to the management class of domestic automakers in a review he wrote in 1968. That essay was subsequently expanded into a book, […]
This nonprofit organization has been collecting and posting on its website brochures, advertisements, technical information and public relations materials since 2010. The range of materials for American cars is less comprehensive than the Old Car […]
“Any failure to mention the 1953 Cadillac Eldorado convertible is reprehensible.” — Stephen Smith, The Daily Drive
Keith Crain’s prevously-mentioned Automotive News column illustrates how dramatically expectations have changed about industry volume. In 2014 sales hit 16.5 million units. That was only good for ninth place in the record books. Crain (2014) noted that […]
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