Saturday, April 11, 2009

American Automaker Hubris Then, Humility Now

America's better off with a chastened, repentant, born-again, restructured and downsized auto industry than a dead one.

It is possible only if something else dies. The hubris of American manufacturing, which in the American postwar was pumped up like the only son, star quarterback of a small town championship team who went to college only to find that he wasn't the only star on the field -- and instead of humility and hard work -- blamed the coaches, quit and crawled back home.

That happened to steel, an industry that kept forging blindly on, producing in 28 hours what it took the Japanese steel mills to produce in less than half the time.

We are overdue in taking seriously our competition and believing in our own invincibility. How overdue? Jay Leno told us about it nearly three decades. That's a long time for America's captains of industries to "get it."

At the same time, I have a request for America. Buy the cars made by your fellow citizens. I'm a Ford man, and I'm completely pleased with my Taurus and Escape. And if you're feeling hostile toward American carmakers, then soften your heart and see how far they've come in this footage from the leaders of GM.