GM And 1980

In nineteen-eighty it was the new dawn for the Rising Sun. Just the year before gas prices went up and many car consumers (and probably the majority were commuters) were looking for better gas mileage from their car. This entailed buying what would be the only game in town, which were the Japanese automobiles.

Simultaneously it was noticed that the Japanese makes were superior in quality to their American counterparts. This was definitely the case with the small makes, but as far as the bigger make American autos, this was dubious. Front wheel drive also became the rage and Detroit was caught off guard for these three items (gas mileage, quality in small cars, and FWD).

GM went from 50% of the market share in the U.S., to 37% in 1985. This was a catastrophy. Resources were not being used right in manufacture of autos. The old Sloan method would have to be put out to pasture or would it?

(More To Come)