Customer Reviews

Comeback: The Fall & Rise of the American Automobile Industry

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is pretty good, but it spends too much time, I think, describing everything that the auto companies did wrong, and not enough about what they did right. An interesting feature of this book is that in the portion about what went wrong the book details almost exclusively the foibles of the CEO and Vice Presidents of the car companies, while the section on the "comeback" details the activities of lower rank managers and engineers. Coincidence or intentional? The message seems to be that when CEO's get out of the way, the workers can succeed. Overall, this book was good, but I thought that Mary Walton's "CAR" was a better car book.

This book is excellent. It reads like a novel -- managers and executives are described in terms of their personalities and their accomplishments/failures. The "plot" progresses from the early 1980s when Honda entered the American automobile market to the mid-1990s when the Big Three finally got their stuff together and cameback from near failure to become true competitors again. I would recommend this book as a must-read to anyone interested in the automobile industry and a good read for anyone else.

This book was spectacular: the amount of detailed facts combined with unprecedented inside information never before gathered from the dungeons of the Big Three amount to a fascinating account of greed, complacency, and eventually recovery. Some of the information contained therein will make the hair on the back of one's neck stand in disgust or elation. Anyone who is interested in automobiles or American Industry or who just wants a good read should pick up this book.

This book is a well written record of many key events in the history of the major domestic auto manufacturer in the period from 1984-1994. These events include the hiring and firing of CEO's at all three companies. The authors also tell the stories of the development of the Fiero, Neon, and 1994 Mustang as well as the establishment and impact of the Nummi manufacturing plant.

The unfortunate message of the book is that the domestic auto manufacturers had learned many painful lessons in the late 1980's and early 1990's and by 1994 had made sufficient strides in labor relations, new product development, product quality, use of automation, lean manufacturing, and organizational flexibility to successfully meet the challenge posed by Japanese auto manufacturers. Clearly their victory lap was premature.

The authors noted in their epilogue that during this period the domestic manufacturers blamed their problems on the government, unfair trade, blockheaded workers, snooty American consumers and the media. Bob Lutz is still making exactly those same complaints today.

Finally finished this book which has been on my bookshelf about 3 years with slow progress. It is primarily about the US auto industry from 60s to early 90s and covers big 3 companies and many people who made careers with the once thriving industry.

This is my second book on the auto industry history after 'My Years with General Motors' which I particularly liked as a story of market evolution from fragmented one to mature one.

The book is composed of two parts, old lions and new lions. In addition to learn how new Japanese players played the game which is different from how the incumbents' played, it is also very informative to see the market history of FIAT's long aspiration on entering the US market and how VW played in 90s. Almost like watching 'Rashomon' - the same story told by many other players.

What I can take from the book in addition to detailed historical knowledge of the US auto industry is that how each people described in the book made their career - love what you do, do hard work, take a calculated risk, and survive politics. This can be used as a good reference to other maturing industries as well as fledgling industries whichever level we play in the game.

This book proved to be an eye opener on American cars. I had always thought it was shoddy workmanship that caused their demise. I am more than chastened to see how wrong I was. It was marketing and engineers being replaced by bean counters. This is a must read and very entertaining and accurate. Reality vs. the hype that most of us apply to the reasons for the downfall are corrected in this terrific look at the Industry.

Provides an interesting historical perspective on a failing industry that turns itself around only to make the same mistakes again.

The book provides an excellent insight into the auto industry of the early 90's and you provide the epiloge.

It would be like reading a vintage book that offered a look into the politics that lead up to WWII in about 1946.

Given the current woes of the American auto industry, I find it surprising that people take this book seriously. It is merely a puff piece for the "We're number one" Americans who prefer self-satisfaction to facing reality.

This is the best book on the American automobile industry I have ever read! Full of interesting details on where the big three went wrong and their spectacular comeback. A can't put it down book!

This book was excellent. It examined the ins and out