Word: motoring
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After Japan's surrender in World War II, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Tokyo moved from the production of warplanes to the manufacture of motor vehicles. At the same time, an ambitious young Mitsubishi engineer named Teruo Tojo was shifting over from work on the firm's famed Zero fighter plane to the design of buses and trucks for peacetime. As things turned out, the switch from planes to cars proved a smart one for all concerned. Mitsubishi Motors Corp., now a subsidiary of MHI, has become Japan's fourth largest automaker (fiscal 1980 sales: $5.2 billion...
Meanwhile, Tojo is confident that his company will prosper. Widely regarded for its engineering expertise, Mitsubishi offers 30 different types of vehicles, ranging from buses to Jeeps. In 1975, it introduced a kind of car motor that reduced fuel consumption by as much as 20%. The company also offers a sound-reduction system with its engines that cuts car noises and vibration by 8%. Such innovations bolster the firm's reputation for engineering. Says Tojo: "We have in our company enough technology to cope with whatever Detroit might come up with in the future...
When Coleman Alexander Young laughs, as he often does, his face crinkles into a wide grin and his shoulders shake gently. But Detroit's Democratic mayor has little to be cheerful about these days. Hit by one of the deepest recessions since the 1930s, the Motor City has an unemployment rate of 16% and faces a deficit of $120 million this year. Admits Young, 63, with typical bluntness: "Detroit is in deep trouble...
McCardell, an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan and a veteran of Ford Motor Co. as well as Xerox, was brought in to give International Harvester that shakeup. The firm agreed to pay him a salary of $460,000, a $1.5 million signing bonus and a $1.8 million loan at 6% interest. The loan was to be used to buy Harvester stock, and the company promised to turn it into a gift if McCardell increased International Harvester's financial performance beyond that of the average of its six main competitors...
Japanese automakers immediately protested the agreement. Nissan Motor President Takashi Ishihara, whose firm makes Datsuns, said he feared that it would "cast dark shadows on the system of free trade around the world." Toyota President Eiji Toyoda said he was "greatly disappointed...