Car wars: The untold story

by Robert Sobel

Behind the scenes rivalry and search for the next great idea which will leave the competition in the dust.

Genres: History

371 pages, Paperback

First published November 26, 1984

About the author

Robert Sobel was an American professor of history at Hofstra University, and a well-known and prolific writer of business histories. He was also a chess Master, who represented the United States at the 1957 and 1958 Student chess Olympiads; he defeated thirteen-year-old future World Champion Bobby Fischer at Montreal 1956.

Despite his prolific writings in business history, he is most famous for his single novel, For Want of a Nail, an alternate history of the United States.

Reviews

[Dan Albert]

This 1985 book should not be confused with a more recent book with the same title. Sobel describes how the Japanese beat Detroit in the automobile manufacturing and selling game. It is far shorter and far more accurate than Halberstam's book, The Reckoning on the same subject. For instance, Sobel looks at how long it takes the Japanese to change a stamping die versus the Americans (spoiler alert: the Japanese do it faster).