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GM has a history worth repeating.

Detroit once led the world in quality mass produced cars. Their style and power gave mobility and self expression to middle class Americans in the fifties and sixties. Cars became the symbols of the emerging wealth and power of the nation.  They became larger and more powerful every year and like every success based on excess, a day of reckoning was inevitable.  With few exceptions, Europe was offering little but small, finicky sedans that were unsuited for North America and littered junkyards for good reason.  The French and Italians eventually left and the British should have. Of the remaining, only the comparatively expensive Mercedes and the inexpensive Volkswagon answered the quality call and remained to build their brands.

It was Americans, unheeded in their own land, that saw a different future and helped position a post-war Japan to manufacture to it. With a focus on reliability and attention to detail they made better cars and reduced waste in manufacturing in the process. The Japanese were not unlike Henry Ford two generation earlier; He was a lean, colorless man who founded an empire selling economically priced lean and colorless products.

Fifty years later, smaller, simpler designs, reliability and low operating costs again became the attractive alternative to poor quality products foisted on brand loyal followers by a bloated Detroit. American manufacturers had lost touch with their base. The Japanese grew their market share and the remainder of the world now was playing catch up. Detroit, for varied reasons was slower but no different.

Long before I owned European or Japanese cars and bikes, I was a Chevy man. Almost 20 years ago I moved away from American automobiles. We now have German cars because we like them and, until recently, there were no comparable Detroit products. Today as a result of improved US engineering and manufacturing, there are.

The fate of the American Automotive industry and the thousands of talented people who have toiled under less than inspired leadership for decades is now in the hands of our elected officials. They exhibit little sympathy for GM’s current position or confidence in its future. That few companies in any industry could survive a 40% downturn in sales, or why, seems of no consequence. They are like blindfolded kids at a televised birthday party; they are playing pin the tail on the donkey, and there are enough donkeys to go around so they cannot lose. We, of course, can and will.

Peter Bourassa