Car Wars: Fifty Years of Greed, Treachery, & Skulduggery in the Global .....

by Mantle Jonathan

An "astonishing...eye-opening chronicle" (Publisher's Weekly) of backstabbing, infighting, and industrial theft and espionage in the world's biggest business. It makes empires; it destroys economies; it shapes history. Welcome to the world's biggest business--the automobile industry. A hundred years ago there were six highly experimental cars. Today there are close to 400 million cars on the planet: set bumper to bumper on a six-lane highway, they would stretch well over 200,000 miles, more than eight times around the earth. With hundreds of billions of dollars at stake, is it any wonder that the major car companies wage a relentless war against one another, where (almost) anything goes? Here is the story of all the schemes and deceits, treacheries and shady deals in the battle for the world's car markets since the dawn of the global economy fifty years ago. The first true biography of the automobile, Car Wars gives us the automotive history as seen through the windshield of the car--with stories so spectacular they are often hard to believe. From Gianni Agnelli's deal to make Fiats in the USSR at the height of the cold war and Jose Ignacio Lopez's defection from GM to VW, through Pehr Gyllenhammar's foiled attempt to merge Volvo and Renault, and on to Nicolas Hayek's deal with Mercedes-Benz to build the Swatchcar in 1997, Car Wars is a roller coaster ride down the freeways and the back roads of the world's premier business, and an eye-opening history of the world's best-known and most-loved cars.

Hardcover

First published October 1, 1997

Reviews

[Aaron Clement · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is book for car lovers who already have a decent background on automotive history. The book mostly covers the car from WW2 to the mid 90’s when the book was finished. Interestingly enough, it talks a lot about the then-current history of cars in the 90’s. That decade pales in comparison to the history of the decade afterwards with the bankruptcy of the Big 3 (save for Ford), though the author couldn’t help being a decade early.

Overall, it’s a pretty interesting read and I can walk away knowing I learned a lot more than I’ll ever be able to regurgitate in casual conversation.

[Eddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting information, but I didn't think it was presented in a very compelling way. I know there was a "people's car" thread he was trying to weave throughout the book, but I think he missed the mark. I've read longer tomes on the history of other industries (Daniel Yeargin's "The Prize," on the oil industry, for example) that did a much better job of maintaining coherence and continuity of the narrative.

[Maurice Setton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book, if you are into some industrial historics.
Nice to see how this industry has evolved from small individual companies to large global players. All cross links between different companies and the important people involved, gives a nice insight in how few people have put a stamp on this complex global industry.
I gave it three stars as I found it a little hard to read, because the way of writing is not that triggering. A lot of facts and figures and a pretty flat way of telling, but historical/chronological correct.
So all-in-all, for the interested readers a nice-to-read.