For Edward Niedermeyer's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
As Tesla pursues lower retail prices and higher volumes, its ambivalent attitude toward the principles of mass production of modern cars seems increasingly likely to sabotage its powerful brand.
The auto-emissions scandal is only going to grow, destroying the capital and credibility of automakers in the U.S., Europe and Asia.
Though new technologies, ideas and companies are challenging the entire automotive paradigm and upsetting almost a century of stable evolution, the industry's ability to adapt should not be underestimated.
If the automotive industry loses the public's trust, it widens the opportunity for Silicon Valley companies to foment disruptions of the entire business.
The departure of VW Chairman Ferdinand Piech reflect a fundamental transition in the auto industry, from a tradition of romantic, product-focused leaders back toward a more rational, process-focused approach.
The Obama administration's commitment to an unrealistic environmental goal and GM's arrogance made the Chevy Volt one of the most notable automotive flops in recent history.
The global auto industry had plenty to worry about in 2014 as it navigated shifting technological and economic tides, the usual brutal forces of competition and consolidation, and a host of other threats: volatile fuel prices, the technological arms race toward battery- and hydrogen-electric ...
With General Motors' Chevrolet Volt and Chrysler's government-mandated 1.4-liter turbocharged engine failing in the marketplace, the two American automakers find themselves falling further behind in a technological arms race that has as much to do with innovation as it does with saving the environment.
General Motors' inability to look outside of itself for talent, relying on company lifers even in the face of undeniable evidence of deep cultural rot, is what you'd expect from a corporation for which sponsoring a movie about car-robots from outer space seems to ...
Perhaps the U.S. auto industry's biggest problem right now is that the usually slavish press is going crazy for the Google self-driving car prototype in ways that the carmakers haven't been able to inspire in a long time.
