Economics

GM, Ford, and Chrysler: The Detroit Three Are Back, Right?

GM, Ford, and Chrysler are setting sales records. They’re even making profitable small cars. Is the revival built to last?

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By Drake Bennett

April 6, 2013 at 12:16 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

BusinessWeek Cover Image (13_15, portrait_2x)

This article is part of the April 8, 2013 issue of businessweek.

“You can call me Alicia or Lady Stingray. I answer to both.” Tall and slender, in a minidress that could have been designed by Miuccia Prada for Marvel Comics, Lady Stingray towers over her lord, the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. Both are being ogled. It’s the opening day of this year’s New York International Auto Show, which runs through April 7. Lady Stingray circles the sports car, trailing one hand along it, talking about extruded aluminum and paddle shifters and carbon fiber. The crowd that forms around the car pays close and silent attention. A middle-aged man in a cloth cap asks how much the car will cost: less than $60,000, comes the answer. When the presentation is over, a young man wearing sunglasses and large white headphones sidles up to Lady Stingray and asks in a low voice if she could open the trunk for him. The request sounds disconcertingly intimate in a conference hall with thousands of people.