Indeed, many credit Detroit with winning the war. But back then there was a tremendous amount of crossover technology between automotive and military equipment. For example, airplanes had piston engines and automakers could help develop them. With some simple re-tooling, automotive assembly lines could be converted to make tanks. Today there is almost no crossover technology between these industries.
Automakers barely make any military equipment.
Yet, the U.S. military is still very concerned about the role the auto industry plays in national security. Many industries want to go off on their own and globalize without really thinking long-range and thinking about the repercussions of what could happen. American auto companies need to think through their long-term strategic plans for globalization and what their individual foreign policy is going to be, he says, just as any nation would. Companies such as General Motors or the Ford Motor Company have annual sales greater than the Gross Domestic Products of many nations. And they wield enormous economic and political clout around the globe.