Just old, I guess... Two factors, one is geography and concomitant distances -- US and European automotive needs and development differed considerably and the US domestic market was and is big enough that 'world class' is not really necessary. That factor affects many things. You in Germany, an area of 357K Km² (slightly smaller than just one of the 50 US states, Montana), can afford silky smooth, precisely engineered autobahns and you naturally want cars that take advantage of them. We on the other hand at 9.83M Km² simply cannot afford that highway quality, thus our cars must withstand rougher treatment, more miles driven and as quality to support that is prohibitively expensive, have opted for more easily replaceable cheaper and thus of lesser quality automobiles. You also want and successfully fill high speed Trains and must therefor produce the precision engineering to support that -- in the US, high speed Trains are a joke other than two or three limited areas. Different strokes, as they say. Second factor below.A BMW 750i is top notch worldwide -- for about US $85K. For most Americans an admittedly inferior Ford Mustang GT is top notch enough for US users at about US$35K. (so I can buy two Mustangs and have 10K left for other things ).I was monitoring a the European market for a specific product. Someday I got into contact with a U.S. company which said it was leading on the U.S. market and intended to export to Europe...The product was below average in quality, while they believed it to be top notch. They closed that whole business unit a few months later. Without these tests -without this exposure to competition- they would have kept producing their low quality stuff for years.
German engineering is legendary and rightly so. US Engineering is only generally adequate by design. There are a number of reasons for this, most of which you are as aware of as I. That is, of course, the second factor, adequate design versus premium design. If you want high quality stuff, US made, it is available -- and it is costly. For most of us, the cost benefit ratio inclines toward less expensive and certainly lower quality stuff. It's a trade off and one we have made willingly. You may not agree with that willingness -- and whether the US government should is a different thread -- but the majority of Americans with whom I've come in contact are comfortable with it.
Add our size and conformation, income patterns and usage factors and one arrives at a different conclusion than will one from looking at small, crowded and generally wealthier Europe.
Having noted those two factors, this:Is sort of correct. Not competence in most cases; more like both inability to foresee required changes in market patterns (due in large measure to US insularity, bred by distance...) and, even more so, unwillingness to adapt due to lack of need.That wasn't about exchange rates or wages; it was about competence. Many of your companies got smashed on the world markets by companies which had worse exchange rates, higher taxes and comparable wages.
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