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

(EXPANDED FROM 11/1/2018)

“Grosse Pointe myopians” is a pejorative term that automotive journalist Brock Yates (2018) gave to the management class of domestic automakers in a groundbreaking essay published in the April 1968 issue of Car and Driver magazine. This piece was later expanded into an equally important book, The Decline and Fall of the American Automobile Industry (Yates, 1983).

Yates, a long-time writer for Car and Driver, argued that the leadership of U.S. automakers lived such an insular life in the exclusive Detroit-area suburb of Grosse Pointe that they failed to adapt to dramatic changes in American society. The automobile — at least as build by Detroit — was becoming less of a “shiny dreamboat” and more of a “pain in the neck” to an increasing number of people.

The luxury of hindsight suggests that U.S. automakers should have paid attention to Yates’ warnings despite the bombastic coloring of his argument. Instead, an auto executive argued that he “was worse for the industry than Ralph Nader” (1983, preface). 

Yates pointed to the seeds of Detroit’s destruction

Yates’ essay was exceptionally long for a car-buff magazine — around 4,000 words. That was more akin to the long-form articles run in middle-brow magazines such as The New Yorker. This gave Yates room to develop a sprawling argument that, for all of Detroit’s efforts, it was failing to meet the moment.

For example, Yates (2018) argued that the “dollars that used to automatically flow into Detroit’s till for a new car are going elsewhere.” This included purchasing less-costly imports or delaying new-car purchases altogether. This was because U.S. automakers had not adequately addressed the reasons for a growing dissatisfaction with the American car, such as that it had “become costlier to drive, maintain, and insure” and that the “lack of safety and its contributions to filthy air has doubtlessly tarnished its glamor.” To make matters worse, “Detroit’s fumbling, often arrogant, attempts to counteract . . . adverse publicity have only complicated the problem.”

Yates (2018) went on to suggest that “few auto executives understand the motives for purchasing an import.” Although a lower price and operating costs might be acknowledged, many leaders are “still convinced that a majority of Americans aspire toward the ownership of a Cadillac (or replica thereof).”

Interestingly, Yates didn’t further flesh out his critique of American cars beyond noting the diminishing returns on Detroit’s proliferation of models and options. However, in his subsequent book Yates offered a pithier summary statement: U.S. automakers emphasized cars that “were too large, too heavy, too clumsy and too inefficient to meet the needs of the modern driver” (1983, preface).

Yates argued that provincial attitudes stifled criticism

The auto industry had been slow to adapt because of “provincial attitudes” that “stifle self-criticism.” The result, Yates (2018), concluded, was that industry leaders had “become as passé as the men who committed their lives to the manufacture of buggy whips.”

Ouch — no wonder that this essay elicited controversy within the auto industry. This was an all-too-rate example of accountability journalism in the postwar automotive media. That said, some aspects of Yates’ (2018) analysis have not aged terribly well, such as his lauding of Pontiac under general manager John Z. DeLorean for selling cars that lure “your neighbor’s wife into the sack.”

Also see ‘Data on imports sheds light on their dramatic gains from 1964-80’

In addition, Yates’ vision of the future could be otherworldly, such as suggesting the potential of “computerized, electronic vehicles or underground transportation networks, and other ultra-sophisticated, mass-transit systems.” Would you give him credit for anticipating exotic ideas such as autonomous vehicles and Elon Musk’s underground tunnels?

In a subsequent book, Yates stopped using the term “Grosse Pointe myopians” and instead made reference to “Detroit Mind.” This may have partly reflected a geographic shift whereby upper-level executives migrated away from living in Grosse Pointe to another exclusive suburb — Bloomfield Hills. Nevertheless, Yates would flesh out in much greater depth his criticism of the U.S. auto industry’s insularity even in the face of imports continuing to grab ever-larger portions of the market in the late-70s and early-80s.

NOTES:

This article was originally posted on Nov. 1, 2018 and expanded on Jan. 15, 2025.

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RE:SOURCES

• Yates, Brock; 1983. The Decline and Fall of the American Automobile Industry. Empire Books, New York, NY.
• ——; 2018. “The Grosse Pointe Myopians.” Car and Driver. Posted May 2.

ADVERTISING & BROCHURES:

• oldcaradvertising.com: Cadillac (1968); General Motors (1967)
• oldcarbrochures.org: American Motors (1969)