Rating: 
Summary: Dog's love trucks
Review: Will Nissan make a come back after experiencing a near failure. The Nissan Altima's engineering and design are impressive. Halberstam historical account of Nissan injection into American Automobile industry makes one fact clear: Nissan wanted a car with power and appeal. The original CEO realized Americans wanted a car with power. He eventually convinced Japanese management of this fact, and changed the profile of automobile industry for the next forty years. Halberstam explorers the humble beginnings of Nissan Corporation, Japanese management's unwillingness to provide a non-tokyo type model, new bright marketing minds, celebrity endorsement of their product, and the rapid rise of Nissan sells reaching the number three position in the world in a matter of years.If the Altima is a reflection of Nissan's philosophy then it would seem Nissan will continue to prosper. The value of luxary automobile continues to drive the prices up as more customers covent these type of vehicles. Next, Iacocca correctly saw the automobile technology shifting to front wheel drive, but the change would not come easily. Halsterstam described the internal politics, vendors countering a possible financial collaspe, the financial condition of Chrysler when Iacocca become CEO, the technical and manufacturing line problems confronting front wheel drive, the demoralized state of the workers, and the political battles between the visionaries. Nevertheless, Iacocca forged the way for the Mini-Van brand line. A very successful move with robots and workers building millions of min-vans. The world would fall in love with the mini-van; and after a long reign eventually be lured by a more attractive vehicle the SUV. Ford's brillance was realized how to increase profit margins with new lines of SUVs (Expedition, Explorer, and Excursion). Increasing profits and wealth more than any time in history, the SUV provided a vehicle with the same structure as a truck but the functionality and moving capacity of a van. The cost of the vehicles were staggering, sometimes costing two-three times as much as a mini-van. The profit margins on the SUV were an incredible wealth creation device. Ford's assembly lines didn't need significant reinvention to create the SUV. Now, big was better. No loss of interest was experienced with America's love affair with large trucks and SUVs. The rich loved these vehicles. Resell values for these trucks continued to be marked by high resell values. It seems the automobile industry continues to offer better engineering and quality and the counter result is reduced profit margins to entice consumers to buy. As the margins decrease from intense foreign competition the automobile industry is at risk. It seems the automobile industry will continue to operate like a utility experiencing some upward and downward cycles. Innovation can cause extremely distruption and rapid redistribution of demand. For example, changes in environment regulations could cause the automobile industry to reinvent itself again. The reinvention causes companies who are slow to change to go out. This phenomenia would become the true reckoning.
| 
