27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Timely, but incomplete, February 15, 2005
"The End of Detroit" covers a very timely subject - the long slide and decline of the market share of the Big Three, as well as the decline of their ability to effectively compete.
Micheline Maynard covers the successes of Japanese and Korean automotive manufacturers in great detail, as well as BMW as an example of European manufacturers. A particularly worthwhile read are the areas covering the the North American manufacturing plants that the import brands have built - covering not only the obvious financial advantages but also their long term strategic benefits. She also covers the state of the big Three in detail - the focus on high-profit trucks and it's inevitable backfire, and especially the overhead costs of the very powerful (and very entrenched) labor force: uncompetitive (costs and work rules), overpaid, excessive benefits, and enormous financial overhead both when working, when laid off, and continuing on through retirement. All of these labor issues competitively impact the bottom line of the Big Three - not only in the price of the vehicle, but in their ability to drive down costs (both manufacturing and labor) to be competitive in the market.
I actually finished this book and then went back to review it again a couple of months later. Its a very timely book, and I highly recommend it. However, I can't say I agree with everything the author states, and I do feel that several of the topics deserve more detailed attention.
For example:
- Nissan has made some very serious errors, almost going out of business. Now the recovery is well underway, and the product lineup is very aggressive and bold (too much so in some cases?). However, there are some serious quality issues in some of the cars (the many issues of 350Z owners comes to mind).
- Mitsubishi is a real sad sack - with one or two exceptions (a brilliant exception in the case of the Evo) the lineup is dull and pointless, offering nothing to distinguish itself. With the exception of the Evo, you can literally ask yourself "would anybody notice of they disappeared"?. The sorry state of their dealers (terrible service reputation) isn't covered at all. And, the recent issues with bad car loans is barely covered at all (although to be fair much of that information fully came to light after the book was published).
- Mazda has had an interesting history in the last 10-15 years, again almost driving themselves out of business. Now they're doing well - innovative products and growing sales. Although major issues remain: lack of differentiation between the Tribute and the Escape, poor service reputation of some dealers, and the lack of dealers in certain prime market areas. What's particularly interesting, though, is the fact that Mazda's recovery was led by Ford executives over the last several years - and not by "old-style" managers from traditional Detroit, but by internationally experienced executives from other worldwide locations. This alone ought to be the subject of an entire book, and it didn't even rate a chapter here.
- Ford's success with it's Premier Automotive Group (made up entirely of formerly fiercely-independent European brands) is a very interesting topic that was all but ignored. While not particularly profitable at first (each had it's own problems, such as Jaguar with it's aged manufacturing plants and stubborn labor force), it's blossomed in the past two years and is now a very clear winner for Ford. Contrast that with GM's own experience with Saab (amounting to little more of a strategy than simple rebadging of corporate platforms - even a technologically backwards American SUV!). Neither were covered in any significant detail in this book.
- The Korean manufacturers are growing quickly. However, they were (at least) initially propped up by Korean government subsidiaries - a fact she missed entirely and a prime example of unfair competition. She does cover some of their initial (and very serious) quality issues. She barely covers how they are in the process of taking over the extreme low end of the market - edging the Japanese into higher (and lower volume) markets areas - areas which of course are at great risk in times of economic troubles. And there is very little discussion of the Chinese, who could very well end up dominating the lower end of the market and taking it entirely away from the Japanese as well as the Koreans - leaving both countries with an aging and very expensive workforce (sound familiar?).
- She believes that one of the Big Three will cease to exist by the end of the decade. I completely disagree with this for several reasons:
- the Big Three are improving their ability to compete, although very very slowly (a: have to learn how; b: the UAW is still in the way).
- this book - whether you agree with it all or not - helps raise these issues in the public eye - and the entire issue of American labor is slowly (but not quickly enough) becoming a campaign issue. This issue is also directly related to outsourcing issues in the software industry, as well as to the Government's ridiculous (and ultimately dangerous) meddling in Microsoft's ability to innovate. The dominance of the Unites States in nearly every facet of the software industry is also at risk. We've also seen some serious issues in the ability of Boeing to compete in the worldwide aerospace industry recently. Better awareness and discussion of the entire range of American competitiveness could help better position us in the world economy.
- the industry is shifting - slowly but surely - into alternative powerplants. Each of the Big Three has a somewhat different strategy here (Ford is probably the best positioned), although again the ability to execute is the major issue (it will be interesting to see if the benefits of the upcoming 2005 Hybrid Escape are fully realized - assuming of course the quality and reliability of it's all-new powerplant are fully delivered as well). This area by itself will take until well after the end of the current decade to fully play out. Toyota is certainly best positioned worldwide.
Automotive enthusiasts will find many of these topics to be familiar ones. I follow the industry closely and certainly are very familiar with them all. However, the book is still a very worthwhile and interesting read because this is a topic which hasn't been focused on by the general public, it's an interesting read for followers of the software industry because it's a preview of what could happen to it one day, and it's a timely read given the upcoming 2004 Presidential election. Certainly this is the type of topic that should be focused on, rather than the continual and bombastic grasping for ways to hurt our President over the Iraq topic.
The book is indeed more than a bit meandering, and you may not agree with with every point the author makes. However, this can be a very polarizing topic - the more you explore it the more you find that it's a lot more complex than simple 1-or-0 answers. It's not solely the fault of the unions. It's not solely the fault of the executives. Etc. Etc. Furthermore, because the book was published several months ago, it is not able to address the "Year of the Car" theme in this year's North American International Auto Show. While I certainly don't believe that a shift back to cars and away from trucks is actually under way in any measurable way, shape, or form, I would certainly like to see her reaction to this years theme. Better yet, I'd like to find a serious discussion forum where I could discuss all of these issues in greater detail.
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16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Been Done Before, October 13, 2003
By A Customer
Certainly with the problems facing the Big Two of Detroit and the company formerly known as Chrysler, I was looking forward to an enjoyable read while attempting to add one more person's perspective on Detroit's problems and whether or Ms. Maynard's reporting of the same might well be insurmountable, in turn leading to disaster for one or more of our American manufacturers.
Sadly, Ms. Maynard should have asked the Society of Automotive Historians if they would volunteer their time to proof read her book, as the numerous little factual errors built up to become a huge disappointment to me.
Additionally, Ms. Maynard falls into the trap that so many would be automotive analysts do, oversimplification of the issues at hand. By claiming that Japanese companies like Toyota never make mistakes in determining want the customers want in new products or overstating the German's abilities to capture the mood of the American public's automotive desires, she overlooks vehicles such as the Toyota Echo or Volkswagen's "soon to come to America" Phaeton.
As an automotive analyst and historian and a very harsh critic of many of Detroit's missteps along the way, I'm always on the lookout for another person's viewpoint on the present crisis. However, Ms. Maynard's book sheds little new light on the subject and many of her conclusions are simply wrong.
That doesn't mean that Detroit isn't in serious trouble, but by my analysis, the current situations that are likely to cause permanent damage to the American automobile industry has little to do with her oversimplification of the market dynamics and how Detroit is reacting to them. And because of her many small but significant mistakes in factual items that should have been corrected by a knowledgeable proofreader, I found it impossible to continue on to finish her book.
(For those who don't recall, Brock Yates wrote a similar book on Detroit's problems in the early eighties, only to find his entire thesis discredited within three years of publication by Detroit's resurgence in the market place.)
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