6.人工貪便宜

幾十年來，底特律這些車企一直都在尋找工資低廉的天堂，因為這可以讓它們大幅削減生產成本。2002年，通用汽車接管破產的大宇公司（Daewoo）的資產時，就認為自己已經成功找到了這種天堂，同時開始在韓國生產小型車。如今通用在亞洲國家的產量占到其總產量的20%還多，而像雪佛蘭科魯茲和別克昂克拉這樣的車80%都用于出口。不過有傳言稱，通用汽車準備在韓國逐步減產，部分原因就在于那兒的人工成本上漲太快了。目前還不清楚它下一步準備去哪兒找更便宜的勞動力——南亞？撒哈拉以南非洲？通用似乎從強大的大眾汽車（Volkswagen）學到了一點教訓：德國雖然工資很高，但大眾始終固守著它在那里的生產基地。

6. Fleeing high labor costs

Detroit has spent decades searching for the low-wage nirvana that will allow it to cut production costs. General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) thought it had found an answer in 2002 when it took over the assets of the bankrupt Daewoo and started building small cars in Korea. Now the Asian nation accounts for more than 20% of GM's total production, and more than 80% of those cars, like the Chevrolet Cruze and Buick Encore, are exported. But here comes word that GM wants to start phasing out Korean production, partly because labor costs there have risen sharply. No word on where it might go next in search of cheap labor -- Southeast Asia? Sub-Saharan Africa? GM seems to have learned little from mighty Volkswagen, which remains firmly tied to its manufacturing complex in high-wage Germany.