I don't get just WHY American car manufacturers have so much trouble making decent small and mid-sized cars.
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.
1. UAW.
2. Beancounters paring everything to the lowest price, and damn the customer's perception of the car.
3. Every time they bring over a hot small car from their European divisions, they "Americanize" it and completely ruin it. People do not want a small car that tries to ride and handle like a land barge, yet GM and Ford keep trying to do that. So, complete misunderstanding of what the customer wants.