Last night President Obama delivered a rousing speech to a joint session of Congress and to the nation. But he made the following statement when speaking of reviving the US automotive industry:
As Matt Yglesias already pointed out on his blog, the automobile was not invented in America. In terms of a commercially-viable, gasoline-powered vehicle, Germany was the home of the invention:
Since those early days, German and American automobile producers have been fierce competitors, but have also partnered and in some cases merged. It has been a roller-coaster history. Volkswagen went through a great deal of turmoil when it tried to manufacture the Rabbit in Pennsylvania in the late 1970's, only to shut down the plant in 1988, claiming American workers could not produce the same quality car as German workers. Now, VW is trying again with a new plant in Tennessee, scheduled to start production in 2011. Daimler has had better success building Mercedes in Alabama, but was damaged by its ill-fated purchase of Chrysler, one of the worst M&A failures in recent history. General Motors has had success with its German Opel subsidiary for many years, but now the problems in Detroit are threatening to bankrupt the German company. Some German politicians have suggested nationalizing the German company, separating Opel completely from its American parent.
No doubt, thanks to the global economic crisis, the landscape of the German-American automotive business enterprises and investments will look very different a year from now.
I noticed that too. But I think the mass manufacture of autos was Ford's invention.
Posted by: hattie | February 26, 2009 at 02:42 AM