What the heck happened with the US Car Industry and why did our elected leaders pay so much of our money to bailout two sinking ships? These are all questions that leave us scratching our heads, but to get to the bottom of it all, you have to know a bit of the history and some of the recent history to understand what really happened and why.
For those who know the reality behind the "The Deming Years" in Detroit and watched as books like "Collision Course" hit the scene, then watched the fall of Chrysler and the US Taxpayer Bailout; you know the challenges that the Big Three have faced over the last 4-5 decades.
Of course, we all know who that story ended, and we are waiting for Part II of the Trilogy as we Taxpayers hold the bag yet again.
But this is not your father's car companies anymore, and this was not Lee Iacocca's Chrysler or the GM we once knew and believed when we said; "What's good for GM is good for America!" Let me recommend a very good book for you to read that will bring you up to speed on the Big Three Automakers, and how they battled through the last recession and emerged stronger, only to find themselves in a worse mess, the one we have now.
The book is called; "The End of Detroit; How the Big Three Lost Their Grip on The American Car Market," by Micheline Maynard; Published by "Currency Book" a Double Day Brand and Division of Random House Inc.
; New York, NY; (2003); 327 pages.
ISBN: 0-385-50-769-0.
This book is extremely well foot-noted and written by someone who knows all the inside information on Detroit, she has written extensively on the Airlines and Auto Industry, and highly published in News and World Report, NYTs, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Fortune Magazine.
Interestingly enough, she is also the author of the book "Collision Course; Inside the Battle for General Motors.
" This book is really worth reading and understanding.
Please consider it.