The Demise of Detroit: Why the Big Three Lost?
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Code : COM0016
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Region : USA
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The Fall of the Titans In the 20th century, Detroit and the Big Three were symbolic of the industrial might of the US, as they introduced the concept of mass production, were instrumental in manufacturing tanks and aircraft during World War II and were the source of employment for thousands of the US citizens after the war. Despite the existence of foreign automakers like Volkswagen (VW) in the US since the 1950s, the Big Three continued to dominate the US automobile market in the 1960s, with GM alone holding 60% of the market. In the early 1970s, Detroit was the bastion of the global automobile industry and the US, with a production of 8.3 million cars, was the world's largest producer of automobiles... Detroit's Achilles Heel Despite being the forerunners of the automobile industry in the US, Motown was unable to withstand the onslaught from the foreign competitors. Although foreign companies had been active in the US since the 1950s, they were mostly engaged in importing fully assembled vehicles. In 1958, imports constituted 8%17 of the cars sold in the US market, with half of those being VW’s Beetles. It was only in the 1970s that the foreign competitors, for the first time, began to assert themselves primarily because of their economical and fuel-efficient cars. The 1970s and 1980s saw Detroit losing the small-car market to foreign competitors, which was followed by the Big Three ceding their hold on the mid-sized sedan and the luxury car market... |
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