Design Is the Key to Detroit’s Future, Study Says

FROM NY TIMES:  In the 1920s, Alfred Sloan, who was the president of General Motors at the time, committed the automaker to the annual model change. But today, model changes are far less frequent than annual, and a recently released economic research paper argues that Detroit automakers have suffered because of it. Detroit’s share of the auto market fell from roughly 73 percent in 1996 to 47 percent in 2008.

Written by three economists at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business, in Richmond, Va., and published by the Journal of Business Research, “Non-Price Determinants of Automotive Demand: Restyling Matters Most” argues that Detroit has lost market share because it does not change its cars often enough. MORE>