Norman Dietz’s wise-guy delivery works well with this memoir/exposé by one of the most productive and confident innovators the auto industry has ever known. Bob Lutz, whose 49 years in the industry were marked by remarkable product initiatives, tells how he repeatedly battled the myopic profit obsession that destroyed U.S. car quality and squandered customer loyalty in the last century. He says the principal forces in the decline of U.S. carmakers included negative media bias, intransigent unions, and headstrong corporate leadership that underemphasized quality and marginalized creative people. Dietz has a knack for making technical anecdotes sound accessible. He also moderates the author’s bravado well enough to keep it from overpowering the narrative, which is full of important lessons for American business leaders.
Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2011
Duration: 9 hrs, 30 mins
Publisher: Tantor Media
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
The readers can't compensate for the unbearably pompous prose style of this extended parable about corporate politics and strategy.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 3 hrs
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
An engaging experience.
This audiobook deals with everything from the historic investments that led to world-dominating companies, such as the Chinese technology company Tencent, to predicting the products and services of the future. An audiobook of such complexity requires a narrator who can handle the task, and David Thorpe manages it admirably. Thorpe uses his masterly voice, which sits somewhere between that of a BBC World Service presenter and an easy, relaxed Home Counties accent, to guide listeners through a sea of numbers, acronyms, and terms such as YP, RPS, and market cap. Rather than simply reading, Thorpe presents the work with excitement and enthusiasm, and this enjoyment transfers to the listener.
An engaging experience.Pub Date: Feb. 20, 2026
Duration: 13 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781668103425
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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