Tucker may have lacked business savvy, and he may not have been as maligned by the Big Three as the Coppola film suggests, but Tucker did not do himself in as this article tries to claim. Undoubtedly, there was dirty-dealing that brought him down. Would the company have prospered and rivaled the Big Three if not interfered with? It’s impossible to know. Almost every company operates with losses when it begins.

The author of this article neglects to state one of the unwritten laws of economics: money protects itself. Those, such as The Big Three, who have large market shares and high revenues will fight to protect and increase these, or more specifically, their profits. In business, there is no such thing as enough money: more is always better. With more demand than supply, it was easy for the established automakers to continue producing the same designs with little advancement or innovation, and to charge high prices: it all meant more profit for those in charge. While one up-start entrepreneur might not be a threat, several of them with new designs–whether innovative or gimmicky–could present a potential cut of profits. It doesn’t matter that there would have been room for a bunch of little guys or for a fourth big guy; the big guys who controlled the market didn’t want to share. This will always be true, but people seem to think that big businesses know what enough is and are content to have simply enough.

Specific details on the car itself: pop-out windows were never used with other cars because safety glass was developed, making the windows into a protective barrier. Before that time, a broken windshield created jagged shards of glass that would often cause horrible lacerations, sometimes fatal. Tucker was the first with standard seatbelts–nobody calls this a gimmick, but this was conveniently ignored, while the fact that the Big Three made the cars America bought is somehow supposed to make them good (what do you want: safety or sales?). The cyclops light sounds like a useful idea more than a gimmick–how soon before Lexus or Mercedes-Benz introduces one? The use of parts made by other manufacturers is by no means shady or unprecedented. In fact, it’s quite common now for car manufacturers to sell entire cars made by someone else (i.e. Chevrolet Aveo and Pontiac Vibe). Also, it matters not what Detroit was capable of doing; the fact remains that they had not yet introduced padded dashes, seatbelts, aerodynamic designs, and fuel efficiency.

It’s important to note the author’s affiliations, too. Definite bias against in favor of the Detroit auto establishment.