Well yeah, but why can't they? Why are the Big Three so bad at designing cars? I don't get it.
[WS:] My hunch is that it has something to do with intra-company politics. The subdivisions manufacturing big gasoline engines, SUVs etc. have been most profitable in the past and also most powerful. Therefore, it is the interest of the honchos of these subdivisions to maintain the status quo, even if it will sink the whole thing in the long run.
This was my reading of the film "Who killed the electric car?" And this is what many organizational theories would predict.
Wojtek