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A very interesting comment on the marketing of autos. I was with Froma all the way until the final paragraph, with its gratuitous slam at the Japanese. She is right about Toyota, whom my wife calls the "sturdy brown oxford" of automobiles (referring to her mother's insistence that her daughter get "sturdy brown oxfords" rather than the more stylish shoes she desired). But Honda is a different matter: witness just one campaign, that undertaken to sell the Acura TL, which featured young men leaving LA to run up to San Francisco for the sheer joy of driving the car, and the young couples going places only for the same reason. That was the selling of joy in the car's performance and handling, the image of its quiet superiority. Although she did not mention Mazda, its Zoom-Zoom campaign is a perfect contemporary example of auto romance. ( Disclaimer: our garage now holds an Acura TL and a Mazda Protege. It has held the previous TL, with those dreamy road trips surrounding it, and a Mazda Miata, the parent of the entire Zoom-Zoom. )_ That said, we are in the perfect position to testify that neither manufacturer or their products (especially their service and support) have disappointed. Their ad campaign's did not lie, nor did they create romantic dreams unconnected with the car's performance, as we found the Detroit campaigns to do. Trying to paint Honda or Mazda as bland appliances is definitely not an automobile lover's judgment, however popular its chauvinism might be.

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Re: December 1 article. Recently the Medford Mail Tribune had a Letters to the Editor sent in by a gentleman who stated his wife had the answer to the Auto Industry crisis. Let the big OIL COMPANIES loan them the money. That makes sense to me. They have the huge profits from the "taxayers" so why not?

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Ma'am;... I think Uncle Sugar ain't too sweet... They really did give the imports a big tax advantage over our producers for a long time, and perhaps still do... It isn't that the competition does not have a great product, or that the big three do not have some good stuff... Older businesses will always be working against a disadvantage, and the health care issue weighs heavy on any company that carries it... Those with health insurance carry a lot of people without insurance, and if they did not carry insurance it would break the government and the health care providers... Let it happen... Some people can't figure it out until it hits them in the chops... Kill all the unions and the sooner revolution...Thanks...Sweeney

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For years the big three have done little more than was absolutely necessary to sell cars. They did nothing to improve their vehicles fuel economy unless the government passed laws to make them. They built bigger vehicles, that got less and less fuel economy, and did more harm to the environment, without regard to little else but profit. They seem to race each other on who has the biggest vehicle, and who makes the most profit. Oh, they were willing to share the wealth, instead of trying to contain some of their legacy costs, they decided it was better not to worry about them. Some of the foreign manufacturers are not much better, just about every company offers these low mileage, high profit trucks and SUV's, but you don't see them in Washington with theirs hands out. Honda and Toyota have been selling hybrid vehicles for a long time, why are the big three so far behind?. PROFITS. When Lee Iacocca asked for government for help back in the 80's, he had his ducks all in a row BEFORE he every went to Washington, he met with his union employees, got them to share in all the cost cutting along with his salaried employees, as well as the executives of Chrysler. He even put a Union member on the board of Chrysler. He knew before he went not after his second visit. He asked for a loan, and then poreceded to pay it back long before it was due. The union people are not the problem at these businesses, they are hardworking, and are anxious to help save their jobs, despite the horrendous mis-management that has been the normal way of business for so long in Detroit. Where have all the leaders gone?