Collision Course: Inside the Battle for General Motors

Until the late 1970s, GM's dominance of the American auto market was unquestioned. The company was not only the biggest car manufacturer in the world, it was America's largest industrial corporation. But GM's slowness in adapting to changing market forces, brought about in large measure by the oil shocks of the '70s, resulted in large losses for the company. Concerned by the inability of top management to reverse GM's declining fortunes, in 1992 the GM board engineered a coup that replaced CEO Robert Stemple with vice chairman Jack Smith. With access to most of the major players in the drama, Maynard, Detroit bureau chief of USA Today, provides a well-documented account of how GM executives sought to deal with the company's problems and how internal politics and traditions often intruded on proposed solutions. And while she gives Smith high marks for the changes he has initiated, Maynard stresses that the turnaround for GM is far from complete. Photos not seen by PW. (Nov.)