The bankruptcy of GM got me thinking about this. What was about the city that drew so many early visionaries? Why did so few other cities manage to have homegrown automobile companies?
One reason is being on the great lakes gave the companies cheaper access to raw materials.
In the early days of automotive development, other cities DID have them. The ones in Detroit were the survivors. Cleveland was home to several of the early manufacturers, such as Winton, Peerless and Baker Electric. Dig through the wiki defunct US automobile manufacturer’s list, and you’ll find that notable early companies were headquartered in many places:
As for Detroit, it was very well situated to received the raw materials it needed for production, specifically coal and steel from the Appalachian region, and other ores from Northern Minnesota.
I’ve wondered about this too. True there were other areas like Fort Wayne and Cleveland but why not Chicago or Toledo? Or other Great Lake Cities. Perhaps it was easier for car manufactures to get their way in a new city then in a major one that was established like Chicago? Union laws, were they less? Or did the big shots, just happen to live in Michigan?
Detroit is situated well to receive materials, but so are other cities.
A similar debate goes on between Chicago overtaking St Louis. Both were central but Chicago stormed passed St Louis with the railroads coming of age. (But that’s another thread)
Toledo was home to Willys-Overland Motor Company, which was second only to Ford in USA automobile production from 1912 to 1918. The corporation survived the 1920’s and '30’s, then gained its “second wind” when the Willys Jeep started rolling off the assembly line in 1941.
After World War II, civilian versions of the Jeep proved popular enough for Willys to re-enter the passenger car market with the Aero, which was manufactured from 1952-55 in Ohio. Following a succession of ownership changes, the Toledo complex is still turning out Jeeps.
As for Cleveland, this article on the city’s automotive history features this paragraph:
It actually took a relatively long time for auto manufacturing to consolidate in Detroit.
In addition to Toledo and the Jeep, Studebaker stayed in South Bend, Indiana until the company folded up in the 1960s.
AMC moved its headquarters to Detroit following the Nash-Hudson merger, but kept its manufacturing at Kenosha, Wisconsin right up until the company sold out to Chrysler.
Checker, the manufacturer of the classic taxicab, stayed in Kalamazoo, Mich until it went out of the manufacturing business in 1982.
If you want to throw in trucks, Navistar is headquartered in Chicago, Mack is in Allentown, Pennsylvania and Freightliner is still in Portland, Oregon, although its manufacturing has moved elsewhere.
Cleveland was one of the biggest cities in the US around this time period, IIRC larger than Chicago (but I’d have to double check) so it’s not new vs established in that case.
As near as I can tell, the historian Sternvogel cites has it about right. The difference was the management of the company. At the end of the day the powerhouses in Detroit led by Henry Ford, William Durant and then Alfred Sloan for GM, and Walter Chrysler, were just the best businessmen of their times in the US auto business. The geography was good, but as many have said, Cleveland, and even Buffalo, were equally good. Chicago and Southeast Wisconsin slightly (but only slightly) less good.