Friday, April 23, 2010

Home Sweet Home

Detroit: Can the once proud Motor City be saved?

It's no surprise that Detroit's rise and fall can also be plotted on a chart by the ebb and flow of American automobile manufacturers and suppliers. Today, there are three large automakers that operate on a global scale that are based in or around Detroit, Michigan. That's a far cry from how things used to be in the city. Nameplates like Packard and Hudson once grace many an automotive plant within the Detroit city limits, but all that's left of these great manufacturing sites are now piles of rubble and abandoned buildings in various states of disrepair.

Even the Big Three automakers, namely General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, are relics of their former selves. After 77 consecutive years as the largest automaker in the world, General Motors was passed up by Japan's Toyota in 2008. Similarly, Ford is now the third largest seller of automobiles in the United States, and Chrysler was recently passed for the number four position by Honda, also out of Japan. And we're all familiar with last summer's bankruptcies of both GM and Chrysler.


The rest of the article here.

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