10 Cars That Sank Detroit

US News:

The global financial crisis is suffocating the Detroit automakers, but the problems at General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler have been festering for years--even when the mighty "Big Three" were earning billions. Aging factories, inflexible unions, arrogant executives and shoddy quality have all damaged Detroit. Now, with panicky consumers fleeing showrooms, catastrophe looms: Without a dubious federal bailout, all three automakers face the prospect of bankruptcy.

There will be plenty of business-school case studies analyzing all the automakers' wrong turns. But, as they say in the industry, it all comes down to product. So here are 10 cars that help explain the demise of Detroit:

Read the whole story: US News

Comments

[Chicagowill]

It wasn't just the Ford Explorer, but the way it interacted with Firestone tires, giving us the "Ford Exploder". Say what you will about the Toyota 4Runner and the Nissan Pathfinder; they didn't blow up at 65 mph.

I would also give honorable mention to the original VW Beetle. It didn't kill Detroit, but it introduced us baby boomers to the idea that we could get good value at a cheap price from an import, a habit many of us never unlearned.

Finally, I would mention the early 1970's Datsun B210. It was reliable, cheap, and had an engine with 96 hp in a 96 cu in engine, a benchmark most muscle cars of the era couldn't match. And, boy, what a shade tree mechanic could do with that engine!

[Keith52]

Sorry it's not the cars. It's a lack of that "vision thing" that sank Detroit.

Instead of following the marketing analysis reports, trends in buying etc, how about doing a little thinking on your own? Look into the future like Toyota. Actually it wasn't the American cars that sank Detroit. It was innovators like Toyota, Honda, Nissan.

[truthyguy]

Industries in trouble:

Auto
Airline
Banking
Retailing
Health Care
Manufacturing

Add to that that the federal government and most States and Cities are deficit spending, and it makes you wonder if there is anything positive that can be said about the economy resulting largely from the Bush administration decisions and its policies toward regulations and their enforcement. I can't think of anything positive.

[EinChicago]

At the end of teh day, it comes down to 2 cars: the Hummer and the Prius.

The sheeple see what they want to see and to many sheeple, the Prius magically made all of Toyota's gas guzzlers invisible (Landcruisers, FJ Cruiser's, Sequiaos, LX series, RX series, Tundra's, Tacoma's). It made Toyota's made in china cars and poor labor practices ignorable and the sheeple suddenly decided all Japanese badged made in China cars were the second coming of the messiah.

Conversely, the sheeple decided that the Hummer was teh antichrist, the nuclear bomb, the holocaust and the plague, all rolled into one and it magically made all the fuel efficient US made cars equally ivisible (Focus, Ion, Malibu, Escape Hybrid, Aveo, etc). To the sheeple, the mere existence of the Hummer made domestic production using domestic, unionized labor deplorable and teh sheeple suddenly decided that all US made cars were the coming of teh apocalypse.

Of course, the sheeple are extremely dumb.

[AZdesertdog]

boy, you hit the nail on the head. let's mention the Chevy Astro, but we'll skip the Toyota van from 1984, with a truck chassis as well, plus the added propensity to tip over in turns. it was replaced by the Previa in 1990; it had it's engine behind the passenger seat, under the floor, on it's side. another loser. and don't forget the Nissan Van of the same era; Nissan bought ALL of them back, and destroyed them. they tended to catch on fire.

this articles's author obviously doesn't know a damn thing about the car business. he mentions the Explorer as though there wasn't a single Japanese company offering a similar vehicle. what about the Nissan Pathfinder, and Toyota 4Runner? or don't those fit into your narrow view of trashing Detroit?

[JeffersonState]

Its amusing to me that all of Japans flops are overlooked. They get to quietly fade away while Americans that cheer on the demise of one of the largest employers in this nation resort to 30 year old models to bash American companies.

The Previa is a prime example. Remember the Del Sol? How about the Passport? Element? ES250, M30, Corona, Echo, Vigor, Pulsar, CRX, Tercel, (yeah yeah great cheap car- how many still running?), the list goes on....

[MilwaukeeDan]

EC, I finally agree with you on something. Has anyone looked at the Toyota lineup lately? 385 HP monster trucks and 280 HP Camrys. They spent millions developing a cam in block V-8 just to compete on the redneck NASCRAP circuit and to shill their monster trucks that NASCRAP fans seem to love. Toyota wants to be GM, and with $2.00 per gallon gas, it can. Back in the stone age, I owned a 1976 Celica GT liftback with a 20R motor and 5 sp., one of the best cars I ever owned, even though, as with most cars from that era, it rusted to death. The Japanese cars were the worst when it came to rust. This article brings up the Pinto but doesn't mention the Vega rustbucket and its junk motor or the Dodge Duster(ruster). Remember the Chrysler lean burn motors or the Caddy 4-6-8 engines, how about the Olds 350 diesels that usually blew up. Right now, GM and Ford have some good products, they also have some very cool cars they sell in Europe and some very economical diesels. They need better management and they need to get some of those products made here for American consumers. As for Chrysler, one word, Caliber, RIP Chrysler.

[research]

Toyota makes cars in the US:

http://www.isa.org/InTechTemplate.cfm?Section=Technology_Update1&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=63330

and they last a lot longer the the US junk.

[JeffersonState]

"and they last a lot longer the the US junk."

Yeah, I see classic Japaneese cars at auto shows all the time.

Oh wait, no I dont.

The fact is, there are far mor 30+ year old American cars on the road than any all the foriegn cars combined.

[Ranta]

I'm very busy. I'm in my car all day. I just don't have the time to be running an American car to the garage for repairs and recalls.

[KarateKid]

One of the "Big 3" should go out of business, Chrysler. Then turn one of the remaining two into manufacturing military vehicles: armored personnel carriers and other road vehicles; government vehicles, like armored limousines, and try to sell them worldwide; and other miscellaneous vehicles that are non consumer, like taxis and limousines.

There is already a thriving U.S, consumer auto industry: Honda, Toyota, Mazda, Subaru, Hyundai, Mercedes Benz and BMW. Let the one surviving US company try to compete.

At any rate, any bailout should be done under these conditions, and with the departure of the executives with NO golden parachute. Otherwise, no bailout; let them go into bankruptcy. They've mismanaged for decades and don't deserve a break.

[djeremy]

Chrysler should be bailed out by the company that ran them into the ground, Daimler/Mercedes. Chrysler had decent vehicles and substantial cash in the bank that kept Mercedes afloat a couple years after the "merger of equals."

[MilwaukeeDan]

KK, Mazda(Ford), Subaru(GM), Mercedes and BMW. Have you looked at the J.D. Power/Consumer Reports quality rankings on these brands, especially long term quality? I thought not.

[AngelaQuattrano]

I really liked my pinto, though thanks to my ex-husband's crack mechanical work, I was always in fear of my life. It's the only car I owned that I had to wear a bra when I was driving it.

[Ranta]

My dad had a Pinto. Only car ever made more poorly than it had to be the Yugo.

[raker]

Cars don't sink cities; auto executives do.

[Keith52]

That's right.

[gorideabike]

The Big 3 failed to innovate and serve a ready market. Their "planned obsolescence" strategy has caught up to them. They are no longer needed. Any government money sent their way will be wasted.

[djeremy]

I'd rather give them 25 billion and hope they survive. That money will be a tiny drop in the bucket compared to the 2 million people that will be out of work claiming unemployment benefits.

Remember, they were making money hand over fist on SUVs because that's what the consumer wanted and was buying. Yeah, they should have paid more attention to their small car lines, but they were producing what people wanted at the time.

[leftLibertarian]

I will let you do that if you mail me a check for a mere 1 million dollars.

[Hare]

American cars are very comfortable. They are spacious and have ammenities that you have to pay extra in foreign cars however, maintenance is a huge issue, also gas per mileage has to improve. I just bought a new car and after a lifetime of owning American cars had to buy an import because it made more economic sense.

[schicklett3]

Excellent article.

[bby328]

". . . GM has been trying to sell the division for six months—with no takers, so far. "GM wanted to make Hummer a signature company brand. . ."

Uncle Sam will buy them, up armored of course.

[JBS]

Not likely. The civilian version is an even bigger piece of crap than the military HMMWV.

[theborg]

Why was my post from yesterday not allowed? It was not offensive, unless standing up for Ford trucks is considered a crime.

[bby328]

. . . anything's possible, on this site.

[JBS]

Huffpost uses flaky software for the comment system. It's far more likely your post just got lost than "not allowed".

[TakeSake]

They happened to be borrowing the White House email server that night.

[sisterdebmac]

I'd love to buy American, but American automakers don't give a crap about my needs. As a single person with not a lot of money to waste, I prefer something economical and zippy. I'm in my 4th Honda Civic since 1990. I haven't owned an American car since I was a kid. Detroit has quite obviously sunk itself.

[JBS]

Depending on which Civic model you're driving, it was probably manufactured in Alliston, Ontario Canada (about 100 miles or so east of Detroit) or East Liberty, Ohio (about 100 miles or so south of Detroit).

[EinChicago]

However, much more likely, it was made in China along with the majority of Toyotas and Hondas.

[sonoffestus]

The Big 3 .......ano­ther myth. When a consumer goods company puts greater value on marketing rather than r&d, design and product development they lose. The Big 3 are losers. Many US companies are selling fluff, folks are tired of fluff.

[canucklivinginUSA]

Indeed. When you look at the European automakers such as Volvo and the Japanese automakers such as Honda, you can see how much they have learned from utilizing their R&D department to its fullest. This is why I think economists need to counsel managers; they need to understand the purpose of endogenous growth and how research is key to continued productivity

[motoGpifupleez]

Honda did indeed kill the big 3. When the EPA emission regulations wre laid down, Detroit took the easy way out and lowered engine compression (from 10:1 down to 8:1)and added catalytic converters to use the new unleaded fuels that would be required. Honda, on the other hand, realizing these regulations were now a fact of life, ceated an entirely new engine series-the CVCC. this engine was able to meet emission standards, deliver excellent performance and fuel economy all without the catalytic converter. This cylinder head design became the foundation for all the spectacular high performance motorcycles we have enjoyed for the last 30 years and they all are capable of running on 87 octane pump gas even though they have compression ratios of as high as 11.5:1. Never underestimate the value of a small group of very smart, motivated people.

[EinChicago]

"The Big 3 .......ano­ther myth. When a consumer goods company puts greater value on marketing rather than r&d, design and product development they lose."

Worked for Toyota. They put out the deathtrap on wheels that is teh prius, marketed teh heck out of it and presto... you get teh modern day Yugo, which gets very very slightly better mileage than a Geo Metro, and with much worse performance but because of marketing alone sells for almost as much as an entry level porsche.