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The Autos and Mentality That Ruined Detroit

Didn't we older folks hear all this before regarding the railroads? They are still here. They merged, used some chapter 11 protection, slimmed down, got more reasonable union contacts, etc. They also dropped unprofitable routes. Today they are considered decent investments. I don't remember how or if the GOV. participated. Someone else may be able to fill that info in.

On the upside,maybe a desparate American auto industry will finally be willing to make safe, fuel efficient cars and trucks if it's the only way they can survive. I agree with all of you that think most of the existing management has to go. To this day, they seem to believe that inundating us with ads will boost sales more than making the kind of cars we want, with the reliability we want. They demonstrate that they believe defending liability lawsuits is cheaper than making the safer vehicles we need!
The only reason we didn't have hybrid gas/electric vehicles 30 or more years ago (remember the Arab oil embargo) is because the big 3 wouldn't give us what we needed. Diesel/electric locomotives have been pulling trains for 60 years. That change involved scrapping all the coal fueling investments as well as the steam locomotives themselves. The only reason we don't have hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicles now is because auto makers WON'T make them. Fuel cells powered the Apollo missions to the moon. They're safe and reliable enough and they'd be cheap enough if they were mass produced at scale. Of course, Hydrogen is literally the most common element in the universe. Better than growing on trees, it falls from the sky as part of rain and there are actually oceans of it. If only there was a Hydrogen Lobby with money like Big Oil and The Big 3.

If the union members became partners, sharing in future profits, it might make them accept more competitive wages and benefits. Also, the effort they put into qualilty would actually pay THEM, instead of just the company .

My hall of shame car was a horrible Plymouth Volare. It made the Pinto it replaced seem great! Since then, I've happily owned a series of Hondas.

BTW, Sebring is a nice small city in South Central Florida that had a great road race.