(first posted 4/9/2018) I ran into this article in the New Yorker last November, and found it to be an excellent look at the forces re-shaping the auto industry in the mid-late 70s, which were of course rising energy costs, government intervention, greater environmental/social consciousness, foreign competition, and globalization. The massive wave of downsizing that GM undertook starting in 1974 for the 1977-1980 model years, culminating with the FWD X-Cars, was the biggest industrial investment in the US since WW2, totaling over $20 billion (roughly $90 billion adjusted). It propelled GM’s market share and in the process almost bankrupted Ford and Chrysler. And it reshaped the entire industry in the 1980s, for better or for worse.
This article has interviews with the key decision makers, and brings a lot of insight and perspective to what were probably the most challenging years of the industry.