Labor unrest at Ford’s (F) auto supplier plant in India has prompted the company to shut down its Oakville, Ontario, plant for the week, which employs 3,000 workers in two shifts. The closure would cost Ford 5,000 vehicles. The idled employees would get 65% of regular pay from a combination of funding from the company and employment insurance.  The strike at Rico Auto Industries in the state of Haryana in India turned violent after an employee died recently during a protest. It has triggered a shortage of transmission parts to the Canadian plant. The plant produces Edge SUV, the Flex and Lincoln MKT seven-passenger vehicle and the Lincoln MKX.  Last week, labor trouble had erupted at some of Ford’s plants when some members of United Auto Workers (UAW) declined to ratify the modifications to its 2007 labor contract. The modifications include banning strikes over wages or ...

Big media has been beating the drum that if Detroit built more fuel-efficient vehicles, buyers would flock back to their showrooms. But there is an inherent lie in this line of thinking. And if investors buy into this lie, they could end up on the wrong side of the trade when it comes to considering the major American auto makers any time in the future.

Detroit seems to be suffering from decades of reliance of fuel-guzzling behemoths that fell out of popularity as oil hit historic highs. The champions of green, including big media, now say that if only Detroit could follow in the footsteps of Toyota, Honda and other hybrid pioneers, then American buyers will return to the showrooms in droves.

This is not entirely true.

The issue is not confined to high mileage. The other factor ignored in this green wave of propaganda is quality. After all, what if Detroit did

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