The future of Detroit's cars - by Micheline Maynard
Walk inside the five-year-old Toyota factory here, an hour's drive from the Belgian border, and step into a world stuck on fast-forward. Yellow forklifts speed down aisles bearing fresh supplies of parts, forcing visitors to flatten themselves against the concrete walls. By contrast, the atmosphere at BMW's plant in Leipzig, Germany, is more refined. Its soaring gray and silver factory, designed two years ago by the architect Zaha Hadid, is the equivalent of automaking by Armani.
Industry executives and experts have been puzzling over what will become of General Motors, Ford Motor and the Chrysler Group. One potential answer is total disaster, with the Detroit automakers vanquished by their Asian and European rivals. This is an option that only those with a doomsday complex believe, given the Detroit companies' billions in cash and broad infrastructure. Another potential outcome is that the Big Three vanquish the competition to again rule American roads, a prospect that has faded in 30 years of fighting the imports and is even more improbable now that foreign companies hold nearly half of the market.
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