The Death of Detroit

I have a friend who is a very talented automobile designer who has recently been laid off at Chrysler. His severance package is ok but what is he going to do when Detroit dies?

I read an op-ed piece by Thomas L. Friedman in the New York Times today about bailouts for G.M. and found this interesting little tidbit halfway through the column:

Not every automaker is at death’s door. Look at this article that ran two weeks ago on autochannel.com: “ALLISTON, Ontario, Canada — Honda of Canada Mfg. officially opened its newest investment in Canada — a state-of-the art $154 million engine plant. The new facility will produce 200,000 fuel-efficient four-cylinder engines annually for Civic production in response to growing North American demand for vehicles that provide excellent fuel economy.”

If the heads of these American car companies: G.M., Chrysler, Ford, etc. would have had a little foresight, listened to some analysts, and done some research on their own, they would have figured out what type of cars American's would be buying. I don't know many people who can afford to fill up a Jeep Grand Cherokee, Ford Explorer, or Chevy Aspen, on summer gas prices. How are they so far behind Toyota and Honda in 'innovation'? I'd chalk it up to ignorance.

Click here for Forbes list of the world's worst gas guzzling cars.