I know this isn't Detroit-specific, but for the entire area and the auto industry...this is huge.

http://www.freep.com/article/2011021...xt|FRONTPAGE|p

I can remember training the very first executives Mazda sent over to staff that plant how to drive in the snow. It was 1985, and I was a salesperson at Seaway Motors in Dearborn. We were tasked to shuttle some 323s and 626s from a garage near the now Park Bar that had been used at the Auto Show down to the Ford Flatrock plant.

The guys almost couldn't speak any English at all, but I was able to learn that they had never SEEN snow...let alone tried to drive in it.

So when the first real storm hit, I went down there and showed them in that huge parking lot how to recover from slides and spins...THAT was a blast! A half-dozen Japanese middle-aged gents giggling with glee as they learned basic FWD rallye techniques with the hand-brake.


And now, after 25 years, they are moving on...it would be curious to know what the breaking point was for them. Taxes...unions...quality of manufacture...one can only wonder for now. I suspect a tax break expired...


No cheers on this one...