[Part I] Outstanding design as well as the failures are a global phenomenon. This of course, also applies for industrial and car design. While America has once turned out some of the most stunning, sexiest and iconic car designs ever, it also laid out the foundation for a troublesome future. To this day the country never really focus on or made efforts towards a switch to energy efficiency. Large sized vehicles with massive horsepower running on gas guzzling engines, come at a huge price as we see now, in times of CO2 emission awareness.

While during times of classic cars, such a fuel consumption was justifiable and totally OK or even appreciated, it has become a real issue in recent decades because US car manufacturers refused to acknowledge and react to the signs of the time. Today, the typical US car is far from a classic yet still requires way too much fuel because of its size and engines. Tesla and it’s line of appealing and powerful electric cars was a wakeup call for traditional car manufacturers, not only in the United States.

Unfortunately, the foreign competition which caused the downfall of the American car industry did not implement the required changes to neither their own nor the American market. Instead, foreign car manufacturers simple adapted to the status quo, selling “American Editions” of models which would elsewhere run much on more energy efficient machines. Not smart at all, isn’t it. [Part III]