September 4, 2008 8:27 AM

If South Korea Can, Why Not GM?

It is painful to watch "Detroit" struggle to even survive the gas price shock, as car purchases abandon big trucks and SUVs. Their predicament was widely predicted, thoroughly understood, but nonetheless it is horrible as literally hundreds of thousands of jobs in the car giants and their suppliers are needlessly lost. GM, Ford, and Chrysler - and their unions and Congressional supporters like John Dingell - all fought for decades the stronger fuel efficiency standards that would have saved them.

I hope that at least some corporate and union executives saw the announcement by Hyundia that it will meet the new U.S. efficiency standards of 35 miles per gallon by 2015 - well ahead of schedule.