The rise and fall of the Ford Taurus

or, the rise of Japanese manufacturing

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Four countries have dominated automobile manufacturing for about as long as automobiles have been around: Japan, America, China, and Germany. 

Japan, the land of precision engineering, sushi conveyor belts, and square watermelons, seems a natural fit on this list. That wasn’t always the case. In 1950 Japan wasn’t a manufacturing hub, it wasn’t an innovation hub, it wasn’t a hub for much of anything when it came to global commerce. So what changed?

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Tokyo in 1964 vs. today (source: kyodonews)

Japan’s ascendance to industrial prominence and its relation to the Ford Taurus, which was for years the world’s best selling car, is the topic of this week’s post. It’s a remarkable rise that involves an exasperated General Douglas MacArthur, Robocop, the creation of the Japanese Census, and more.

This week’s format is a little different - I collaborated with Jason from Company Insight to create a video-essay. Let me know what you think!

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