Rating: 
Summary: A RIP OFF OF A REAL BOOK
Review: This book is a wanna be ripp off of a great book called "COMEBACK". This woman has got to go back to high school Comp101 and learn to check her sources, or take up truck driving.Then she would be driving american wouldn't she?
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: This book is essentially an expansion on several newspaper columns related to the thriving Japanese automakers and the struggling "Big 3". I expected to gain insight into management systems and perhaps a comparison of the methods used at various automakers to understand why honda and toyota continue to gain market share and impress their customers. Instead, the book uses quotes from sources like Edmunds and company literature to demonstrate the writer's point and really tells very little about how these companies work.
Rating: 
Summary: Fasten your seat belts
Review: This book is informative, entertaining, provocative and potentially controversial. It begins with the hypothesis that the American auto manufacturers in Detroit are losing their competitive edge and market share to the Japanese, German and Korean imports who are merrily winning customers one car at a time. If the auto markets were to be segregated into three layers - top, middle and bottom, the Germans are at the top end, Koreans at the bottom and the Japanese entrenched in the middle are eating away each slice with ease. What ails the big three ? Quality or the lack of it, incomplete understanding of customer needs and the burden of legacy costs - at $ 1200 per car, appear to be the top three factors. In the process of describing the strategies of the imports, the author gives a brief historical sketch of each company. This is certainly informative. Then she proceeds to narrate their product/market strategies to conquer the biggest auto market, from its native manufacturers. Some of the anecdotes, if I may use the term, are really entertaining. Imagine a Japanese design team travelling 27000 miles on road across America , filming customers behind the wheel. On one occasion the cops were not very kind to them. That the book is provocative and potentially controversial is quite evident from some of the reviews published till date. I enjoyed them as well. The book briefly touches upon emerging technologies like Hybrids and fuel cells towards the end. In my opinion the real battle in these technologies has not yet started. Which of the new technologies are likely to be truly "disruptive" and which of the players are likely to understand and exploit their full potential holds the key to long term survival in the new paradigm, as it emerges. Extrapolation of current market shares to conclude that Toyota will be # 1 by 2010 seems premature. In the context of globalization and cross country investments, the distinction between truly native and imported products is blurred. Global companies serving global markets are certain to make global customers happier behind the wheel. Fasten your seat belts please.
Rating: 
Summary: The End of Detroit is for real.
Review: This is an excellent and well-researched book. The author described how in the past three decades Detroit has routinely lost major market niches and market shares to foreign brands due to inept management. In the seventies, Detroit lost out the compact fuel-efficient market to the foreigners. In the eighties, foreigners gained market shares in sedans. In the 1990s, foreigners gained in the minivans, SUV, and luxury car markets. In other words, Detroit has nowhere to go. Managerial mediocrity and technological backwardness has caught up with Detroit. Economies of scales are not enough to fend off foreigners far superior manufacturing capabilities. Foreigners are more efficient producers of much higher quality car, with better styling, at a lower cost. This is particularly true of the Japanese. Detroit's main competitive strategy is through various forms of price discounting, including 0% financing, rebates, and pushing high volume of cars at wholesale prices through rental companies. The author states such a strategy is a disaster. This is because it hurts the resale value of cars; and therefore alienates once-loyal customers. Customers are then lost to superior foreign car manufacturers. And, once lost, these customers never switch back. Do you know anybody who owned a Chrysler as a student, who switched to a Honda as a young professional, and then switched back to an American car? I don't think so. Foreigners competitive strategies are radically different. Foreign car manufacturers have poured millions into R&D and market research. As a result, they have developed a huge technological lead, and have a better understanding of American consumer tastes than Detroit does. Toyota has produced hybrids for over five years. Honda has already a prototype cell fueled car out on the road tested by several government and commercial auto fleets. Meanwhile, Detroit announces it will produce some hybrids next year. The problem is it is always next year. Additionally, Detroit managers have this illusion that they will one day leapfrog the foreign competition through leadership in the cell-fueled technology. They forget that these technologies (hybrid, cell fuel) are incremental. It first takes one to have a good handle on hybrid technology to be capable to move on to cell fuel technology. In this horse race, the Japanese are way ahead. They have just about crossed the finish line, while Detroit has not quite crossed the starting one. The author anticipates an ongoing decline of the American car industry. If Detroit managers have been in denial for over 30 years, what could possibly awaken them from their dumb stupor? Nothing.
Rating:
Summary: Clearly touching a nerve
Review: This is an interesting, bold and lively book that is clearly touching a nerve in the auto industry. No matter what you think of the book's conclusion, something has gone wrong with the American auto industry, and Ms. Maynard is the first author who has tried to figure out what happened. She does it in a way that is within the grasp of all readers, whether you know a lot about the car business, or just wondered why Detroit cars are constantly "on sale" while people line up to buy those from Japan and Germany. There's a reason why all those factories have closed up north, and are being opened down south, and she writes very clearly and usefully about all the issues involved. I hope what Ms. Maynard predicts won't come true: but I am glad that she published this book so that we can all see the danger that one of our most important industries is in. Maybe it isn't too late, but I agree with her that Detroit has to treat customers with respect and not just count on our business.
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