Quotes
Gordon Buehrig on Ford’s attitude about small cars circa 1960
“Fred Hooven was a very good friend of mine and had a much bigger job at Ford than I did. He worked for Mike Ference. Henry Ford asked Ference — this was in 1960. He […]
Quotes
Quotes
One reason why a car enthusiast is ‘falling out of love with driving’
“I despair, too, at the increasingly fortress mentality that many drivers seem to have. The depressing rise of SUVs is probably responsible for this. Drivers feel safe and cocooned from the world around them, and […]
Quotes
The Economist points to origins of ‘the biggest industrial collapse ever’
“The problem in the 1970s was not really the arrival of better, smaller, lighter Japanese cars; it was GM’s failure to respond in kind. Rather than hitting back with superior products, the company hid behind […]
Quotes
Gordon Buehrig on why the 1936-37 Cord 810/812 was unsuccessful
In the comment thread of a recent story about the Cord 810/812, we debated why this iconic car was not successful in the marketplace (go here). To add to that discussion, below is a quote […]
Quotes
Why General Motors should have been broken in two
“I think if DOJ had cleaved GM into two companies (i.e., Chevrolet and GM), we would today have a more vibrant, competitive American automotive industry. Today, we have two domestic players in an industry that […]
Quotes
Designer of 2020 GMC Sierra HD strived for a ‘pissed-off feel’
“I already had an idea of what I wanted to convey. A lot of inspirations were locomotives, really high-end and futuristic military equipment, NASA, and really high-tech objects. . . . The front end was […]
Quotes
Alex Taylor III on why GM’s product cycles lengthened in the 1970s
“GM’s product development cycles in the 1960s, which had been among the shortest, were becoming among the longest in the industry, according to GM’s own in-house history. More content dictated by federal regulations was part […]
Quotes
Peter DeLorenzo: Transition to electric vehicles can’t be dismissed as a fad
“. . . (T)he notion that the more ‘traditional’ automakers are too far ahead of the unfolding BEV transition is laughable. It’s not just traditional industry lead times at play here; it’s the fact that […]
Quotes
Halberstam: Big Three’s ‘shared monopoly’ held back innovation for years
“The Big Three in the auto industry stood virtually alone, possessors of what was in effect a shared monopoly, for the price of entry was too great for any start-up company. In an environment like […]
Quotes
Bill Mitchell on how he wielded power like Harley Earl at GM
“Oh, he was powerful. God, I admired [him]. He just knocked the tar out of anybody. He’d get it fixed. If he couldn’t, he’d call New York and say, ‘Fix these…[.]’ Then, I inherited some […]