It is the rivalry that has driven domestic automotive production for one hundred years and after a long period of cooling tensions and business struggle, Ford and GM are back throwing hay makers at one another. Earlier today, the Wall Street Journal ran a cool story highlighting the rising acrimony between the two companies.
When General Motors stepped out of the pony car market in 2002, it marked the beginning of a disasterous half decade period for the company that ultimately saw it fall into the hands of the government to be saved from going out of business completely. On the other side of the street, Ford was not in much better shape opening a line of credit to float the company that included everything, even the famed blue oval Ford logo. The $25-billion cash pile was designated as the company’s turnaround fund, years before anyone saw the complete economic meltdown of the last few years.
As the saying goes, “the darkest hour is just before dawn,” and those words ring true for both Ford and GM as they have both revamped their product lines to compete with Japanese and other foreign competitors. The success of their new models and streamlined operations have given each company some mojo back. That mojo has translated into passion and fierce loyalty, which is a good thing for anybody who is a fan of domestic cars.
The recent letter from Al Oppenheiser, Cheif Engineer of the Camaro to Mustang fans, asking them to thank GM for making Ford step up to the plate and advance the Mustang is something that never would have happened a few years ago (with respect to the attitude…we know there wasn’t a Camaro before 2009). Competition improves the breed and having two of the biggest companies in America feeling their oats and getting after one another is a good sign in the topsy turvy world of the OEMs!
