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Old 07-02-2011, 04:47 PM   #38 (permalink)
cfg83
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Old Tele man -

Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Tele man View Post
...exactly! enough so that the asian car companies overtook Detroits Big-3! In other words, Detroit, literally 'gave away' their market dominance through short-sightedness and blindness.
Yeah, I look at Ford Falcons and Chevy II 4-bangers in 1960 and they were *reasonably* small. By 1970 the smallest Chevy was the Nova with a V6.

But I also think context helps explain the story. We had Texas oil fields for the longest time. Japan *always* had to conserve energy and other resources because it has no raw materials. Japanese guv'ment regulations discouraged large gas hogs and encouraged thrifty Kei cars since the end of WWII.

European cars have also been influenced by via high fuel taxes, so there is *again* a guv'ment regulation encouraging thrifty small cars.

I readily admit to the huge blunders the Big-3 has made, but we could have *legislated* them into being more competitive for their own good.

CarloSW2
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