Re: [DML] Detroit, US government, and DeLorean

[mike.griese@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Nice conspiracy theory.  It just doesn't add up.  It is 
not rational for the major auto companies to worry
about somebody like DeLorean when they were 
absolutely floundering against the more established
foreign auto manufacturers.  It's simply not worth 
their time and effort to deal with a company selling
8000 cars a year in a market they really didn't 
compete in at the time when billions were at risk
from other competition.  

I can't pretend to know the mind of Margaret 
Thatcher, but she came to power just as the 
company was reaching a crisis.  It was to her
political advantage to refuse to continue financing
a risky and failing project started by a previous
administration.  The same thing happens in the
US defense industry all the time.

DeLorean was done in by unfortunate market timing, 
poor planning, poor financial management, and by
unfavorable financing terms that forced him to build
cars that had no customers in order to maintain his
cash flow.  His overly-complex corporate structure
was also a key contributor in that it looked like he 
was trying to hide the real financial story.  The product 
was a problem too, with a reputation for poor build 
quality and relatively poor performance at a very 
high cost for the time.  The fact that every one of them
looked exactly alike played no small part.

As far as the drug sting attempt is concerned, this was
brought on by the company John kept.  Opportunism
on everyone's part is what brought this to pass.

You don't need some deep, dark international conspiracy
theory when there is ample evidence the business failed
for traditional reasons.  Of course - that's not nearly as
entertaining.

--
Mike


-------------- Original message from Marc Levy <malevy_nj@xxxxxxxxx>: -------------- 


> 
> 
> This is a matter of opinion. 
> 
> JZD had a lot of forces working against him. Most of 
> it was financed by Detroit (IMHO). 
> 
> Thatcher pulled the British funding, and Thatcher was 
> good buddies with Regan, who was funded by Detroit. 
> 
> Similar political pressure was likely used to entrap 
> JZD in the drug deal. 
> 
> The shame is, thousands of jobs were lost and the 
> man's (JZD) reputation was destroyed all in the 
> interest of profit for a group of private companies 
> with a lot of money in Washington.... Meanwhile the 
> American *AND* British taxpayers had to foot the bill 
> all to protect the profits of Detroit. 
> 

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]






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