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My sense is that German automotive companies dealt with Japanese competition better than American ones did, though I'd love for someone who knows about the hist
by scarmig 4y ago
My sense is that German automotive companies dealt with Japanese competition better than American ones did, though I'd love for someone who knows about the history of the industry to chime in. Germany had strong unions and was a market leader then, similar to the US, so it suggests something was wrong with American automakers, labor unions, or the American government that led to the disaster.
I wonder if Germany was more aggressive with tariffs to protect automakers from competition.
- Aunche 4y ago> I wonder if Germany was more aggressive with tariffs to protect automakers from competition. It's somewhat the opposite actually. Germany taxes imported cars, but at least it still allows them. At the behest of automakers and unions, the US banned imported cars entirely in 1988. This allowed American automakers to profit despite stagnating. It wasn't until foreign subsidiaries started capturing market share from the US that American automakers were forced to innovate again.