What are your opinions as to the cause of the downfall of the North American car industry?

I’ve heard that poor quality/engineering, high pay, legacy costs associated with pensions, and slow responsiveness to consumer trends were the main culprits.

Your opinions please?

Capitalism itself.

The very essence of capitalism is to set one group against another in competition.
As everyone knows there cannot be several winners and so someone has to lose.
Thus the cycle of ‘ boom and bust ‘, although not exclusively confined to business companies as illustrated by the huge economic crisis currently ongoing, is being played out.

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4 Responses to What are your opinions as to the cause of the downfall of the North American car industry?

  1. Low Boy says:

    my opinion all of the above. mostly poor quality, why pay high price for something that will maybe last 4 years versus a lower price foreign car that could last 10 years.
    References :

  2. Epinions Reviewer. says:

    Low boy is spot on, plus foreign countries pay more for gas so their companies have more incentive to come up with more fuel efficient cars or no fuel cars.
    My mom had a 71 Toyota Celica that she had no problems with & had for 15 years. Then she gave it to a friend as an errand running car. It is still on the road to this day.
    When our American car companies start mass producing cars like the Tesla from California or the Japanese hybrids than they can brag.
    For now they have to get their act together. I won’t hold my breath.
    References :

  3. R R says:

    the bloody gold fish tenders
    References :
    mr burns

  4. Vardise says:

    Capitalism itself.

    The very essence of capitalism is to set one group against another in competition.
    As everyone knows there cannot be several winners and so someone has to lose.
    Thus the cycle of ‘ boom and bust ‘, although not exclusively confined to business companies as illustrated by the huge economic crisis currently ongoing, is being played out.
    References :
    My minds interpretation of Karl Marx.