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Year: 2021
Design Notes
How Toyota ruined the Scion xB
When the Scion xB was redesigned for the 2008 model year, it was upsized from a subcompact to a compact. That added a foot in length, almost three inches in width and more than 600 […]
Readings
Brock Yates brilliantly analyzed fall of U.S. auto industry
The Decline and Fall of the American Automobile Industry is one of the most important automotive books of the last 50 years. That’s because Brock Yates presented what may very well be the best all-around critique […]
Quotes
Why Ford rejected small cars in late-40s and early-50s
“The company’s Product Planning Committee was considering anew the question of an economy (light) car. A report on February 17 (1949) held that there were 4,000,0000 potential customers for such a car and that the […]
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Economies of scale: Finding the balance between too small and too big
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 […]
History
AMC’s Roy D. Chapin Jr. succumbed to the illusion of bigness
When writing a story about the 1974 AMC Ambassador, I came across American Motors car brochures for 1979 and 1980 that took the unusual step of picturing the company’s headquarters in Southfield, Michigan. In the 1979 […]
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Halo cars are popular but not always a good idea
Halo cars tend to quite popular — even wetness inducing — among auto enthusiasts. That’s because the mission of halo cars is mostly to generate a positive buzz about a brand rather than high sales. So […]