Over at DailyKos, diarist DarkSyde writes:
I wonder if proponents for a Big Three bailout are going about this the wrong way, at least from a PR perspective: Imagine an America with no more Corvettes! No more Caddies, Trans Ams, Camaros or Mustangs. No Ford or Chevy pick up trucks; no Jeeps or Suburbans. Not one PT Cruiser.
With all due respect, that already happened 30 years ago. The real turning point in the fate of the Big 3 really happened during the gas crisis in the 70s, and they failed that test miserably. It’s not that far fetched to think that we could have come out of that with one of the Big 3 leading the way with a fuel-efficient small car that was well made and inexpensive. After that, American cars have been a major crap-shoot that has just gone downhill for them. Consider the cars of the 80s, like the K car lines. Sure, they were cheap, but they were shoddy. Who would want to drive one of those things? Even when there were forays into things like the electric car (incidentally, the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? is fascinating), they teetered out. Let’s face it, the only things that ever really sold for the Big 3 were their trucks and SUVs, so of course that’s where they poured most of their money and marketing. Even now, as they’ve developed smaller more efficient cars that may compete well with their foreign competitors, it’s really a case of too little, too late. The battle for the American consciousness in terms of car sales came and went 30 years ago and was frittered away in a callous disregard for the reality of the situation. It is for this reason that Japanese Steel really is better.
