For those WINDING ROAD readers who also read the acerbic Peter M. DeLorenzo’s autoextremist.com, it is enough for us to tell you that DeLorenzo’s book The United States of Toyota has gone on sale.
For the rest of you, Peter DeLorenzo’s dad was once vice president of public relations for General Motors. His brother, Tony, drove serious racing Corvettes. The DeLorenzos lived down the street from Bill Mitchell, the legendary GM styling boss who Peter knew as a child. Motor oil has coursed through DeLorenzo’s veins for a quarter-century.
He had a distinguished career as an advertising copywriter and creative director on automotive accounts and in those capacities learned how the car business works. And how it doesn’t. And why. DeLorenzo’s book is not about Toyota—though the Japanese automaker plays a prominent role—but rather recounts the grim saga of how the domestic industry fell headlong into every pitfall that Toyota managed to avoid over the past forty years. Or at least didn’t fall into twice, a feat at which the domestics have proved adept.
(Click through to read William Jeanes' review of The United States of Toyota.)
The United States of Toyota is both a lament and a restorative for the days when Detroit iron excited the envy and emotions of the world. No one commands the forces of invective, irony, sarcasm, and vitriol more effectively than DeLorenzo, whose autoextremist.com just issued its 414th weekly edition. The difference between DeLorenzo and any number of other editorial flamethrowers is that he knows whereof he speaks.
And speak he does—naming names, pointing fingers, upsetting apple carts. The whole awful story of how the U.S auto industry’s alchemists turned a gold mine into a slag heap.
DeLorenzo does, however, see at least a flickering lantern out there at the tunnel’s mouth, but the flame requires a keeper. The author’s observations, history lessons, predictions, and prescriptions are required reading for any American who does not want his or her children to drive by rusted-out factories in Michigan and ask, “What did they used to do there?
Comments
Ducati Minor
This is part of a myth that the auto press and nostalgia crowd brings up all too often. Going as far back as the 1950s, American consumers complained about the size, mileage, and reliability of domestic nameplates. There was a sharp climb in foreign makes in the United States from the late 1950s to early 1970s. It is the reason why Ford tried to take on the VW Beetle with the Falcon, and Nash tried to create a segment with the Metropolitan.
With 20/20 hindsight in our favor, we do realize the middle 1970s were the turning point against Detroit. But people often focus on Detroit's large sedans amid fuel crises as the main reason. In fact, Ford offered the Maverick and the Pinto in the start of the 1970s. In spite of the acclaim people give the Japanese, keep in mind the early Japanese compacts were just as poorly built as their American competition. The decade experienced repeated labor unrest and ruthless government mandates. Let's not forget the keiretsu and its unfair trade practices.
While there is so much praise for the Asian firms, we witness the rising number of recalls from rapid expansion. Honda's efforts at luxury car development have yet to be fruitful. Toyota is still stumbling in its place for the Chinese market (though Toyota does have the fourth best-selling car in China). Let's not forget Toyota's troubled entry into motorsports. Mitsubishi Motors' future in the USA remains in question. And Mazda and Daewoo happen to be American-owned.
Jonathan Fung [Gotakon]
$37.95. That's like two Harry Potter books, or a year subscription to Road and Track AND Car and Driver AND Motortrend. Pretty steep price for a book...but I'll make sure I read it if I go into the auto industry.
Ducati Minor
It shouldn't sell for that. B&N has probably slashed 30% off the cover price already in advance/
Mark
Hopefully the book offer some concrete recommendations and doesn't recount history. Monday morning quarterbacking and 20/20 hindsight gets real old, real quick. Peter's got a pretty big douse of that in his weekly columns, but he does understand the car industry better than 99% of the other writers out there.
Don
$37.95? Uh, no.
Don
PS--Excellent post, Ducati.
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