(EXPANDED FROM 10/9/2020) When I think of Mercedes-Benz, the car that comes most quickly to mind is the W123. Introduced in 1976, this was the automaker’s entry-level offering up through 1982, when the smaller W201 […]
“The hubris of its executives related to consumer needs, an obsession with big cars, garish designs coming from its studios, the neglect of safety and air pollution matters, and rising prices all played into the […]
When a team of copywriters was assigned to produce the print advertising for the 1971 Ford Maverick they were told to be honest. Come up with an approach kind of like the Volkswagen Beetle’s refreshingly […]
“The small cars that Detroit had produced, [Hal Sperlich] believed, had been bad ones, reluctant efforts at best. If anything the companies had brought out inferior, unappealing small cars to prove their own thesis that […]
“GM’s old critics were sharpening their knives. In January [1992] David E. Davis, editor and publication director of Automobile magazine, gave a biting speech to the Washington Auto Press Association in which he blasted past […]
Ole stopped by to respond to the post, “Gordon Buehrig on Ford’s attitude about small cars circa 1960.” It wasn’t until the early-1960s that the entire European auto industry produced more cars than Chevrolet or […]
(EXPANDED FROM 8/2/2021) Some buyers of the 1977-79 Lincoln Mark V waited up to eight weeks to receive exclusive designer-series models . . . that turned out to have defective paint. At least that’s Jack […]
“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 […]
“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 […]
“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 […]
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