See post #88, right before yours. Also, the Japanese still put the car first.
If GM had the Camry platform for the past twenty years, Oldsmobile would be dominating the mid-sized market instead of being extinct, and the other GM brands would have their own versions. Instead, they had the crap GM-10 platform (Lumina).
The reason I don't blame the UAW for GM's woes is that a perfectly-built Lumina still would not be worthy to share the road with a Camry or Accord. Also, the UAW couldn't organize Honda or Toyota or Nissan because those company's managers actually know how to manage a workforce properly. Toyota proved it could profitably manage an old plant with the UAW entrenched when they made a success of the woeful Fremont, California GM plant.
In other words, the Japanese managements have kicked the butts of the American managements in the USA with American workers. Better cars, better workers, higher profits.
WHile GM/Ford had their share of truly hideous and embarassing designs, it really didn't matter. They could have been handed the Camry design and still bollixed it up.
Case in point: The Ford Contour. It was originally sold in Europe as the Ford Mondeo. It did very well there, was well regarded, and was a very reliable and well built car. Ford brought the design over to the US, and had UAW workers build it. It turned out to be a total disaster - one of the worst cars Ford has ever sold in the US because the QC and build quality was so bad.