The End of Detroit

04 Sep 2003 By

Figuratively, of course.

Toyota sold more cars than Daimler-Chrysler in August. The story is that this is spelling doom and gloom for The Big Three.

Toyota’s sales figures should not be a surprise to anyone. There had to have been a trend that all those marketing ninnies saw a long time ago. It’s not like Toyota came out of nowhere and jumped right to the top and outsold everybody. Chrysler has been lagging behind Ford and GM since before they were bought by merged with Daimler-Benz. Obviously people are concerned that it is doom and gloom because they knew it was coming. Besides, in the rest of the country where whole regions aren’t dependent on the industry, do people really care? They’ll still get cars, no matter what.

The critics can’t even agree on what the problem is. NY Times columnist Micheline Maynard says it’s an “industry wide strategic failure” in her book The End of Detroit: How the Big Three Lost Their Grip on the American Car Market, due out in a few weeks. Should be an interesting read (if I ever get around to it).

I have no great love for the auto industry (even though I drive an environmentally unfriendly Chrysler product). But it’s an integral part of life around here. I just don’t want to see the city collapse like Pittsburgh did when the steel mills closed. Things are just starting to pick back up around here.


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  • http://www.jozjozjoz.com :: jozjozjoz ::

    Interesting… must add to my reading list.

  • http://www.dustbury.com/ CGHill

    There once was a time when Chrysler was a solid #2; what enabled Ford to vault ahead in the early Fifties was Chrysler’s insistence on well-engineered, conservative, boring as all hell vehicles. It wasn’t until ’55 that Chrysler woke up, and then they started in the opposite direction: visionary dream machines with crappy quality control. They’d reverse direction several times more before the Germans seized control.

    The Big 2.5 have one task before them that, I think, overshadows all others: Regain the family-sedan market that they threw away with a succession of crapmobiles while Toyota and Honda evolved the Camry and Accord.

    (Disclosure: I drive a Mazda 626, a Japanese brand controlled by an American company [Ford]; it was assembled by a UAW crew in southeastern Michigan using, per the sticker, about 70 percent domestic parts.)

  • http://www.suburbanblight.net/archives/000935.html suburban blight

    The Cul-de-Sac for Monday, September 8

    Good morning, and welcome to the Cul-de-Sac, my weekly quest to see who is saying what in my neck of the blogosphere. I’m not sure – I’ve not counted yet – but I think that this could be the largest…

  • http://www.suburbanblight.net/archives/000935.html suburban blight

    The Cul-de-Sac for Monday, September 8

    Good morning, and welcome to the Cul-de-Sac, my weekly quest to see who is saying what in my neck of the blogosphere. I’m not sure – I’ve not counted yet – but I think that this could be the largest…

  • http://feministe.us/blog/ ms lauren

    my brother-in-law works for chrysler. he told me a long time ago that they were on their way down, down, down, and that everyone in the company knew it. after a few last grabs with flashy cars and upbeat adveritisng, i think eveyone else is beginning to catch on, too.

    evolution.