The American Automobile Industry's Road from Glory to Disaster
January 4, 2010
Pulitizer-prize winning journalist Ingrassia offers a timely look at the dramatic history of the auto industry in the wake of the meltdown of General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler-America's Big Three car companies. Ingrassia, former Detroit bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal, brings enviable first hand knowledge and perspective to this fast paced narrative, which spans more than a century of volatility-while Americans have conducted an on-going love affair with the car, our leading auto companies have been on the brink of collapse countless times. Beginning with Henry Ford's early years, onto Alfred P. Sloan's mass marketing genius and on to the formation of the UAW in 1935, the author chronicles how the Big Three came to dominate the marketplace. From the post-war boom years to the style driven, fin-laden muscle cars in the 50s and 60, Ingrassia traces the mushrooming mismanagement, hubris, safety issues, union struggles, and failure to innovate which threatened the industry. From the 1970s, with the entrance of foreign cars, to the rise of the SUV and numerous mergers of the 1990s, we are led through the industry's rollercoaster ride, lurching toward what seems, in retrospect, the inevitable crash. A fascinating, superbly crafted, and entertaining read.