Question: What giant multinational company has managed to lose one-fourth of its U.S. market share in the past decade and become a paradigm of America's failure to compete with the Japanese?
Answer: General Motors.
Tougher question: What is the fastest-rising car company in Europe, a manufacturer whose product line is so sophisticated, so sensitive to shifts in market demand, that it has outperformed all its rivals in the past year?
Answer: General Motors.
More specifically, the Cinderella company is GM Europe, a Zurich-based subsidiary that makes and sells 1.5 million West German-designed cars a year bearing the nameplates Vauxhall in the...