@obrhoff

Applies to GM and their transition from product driven to marketing driven company in the 1960s-70s.

GM had solid engineering and would try new things, first to turbocharging in 1962 with the Oldmobile F85 and then Corvair, flexible propshaft in the rear transaxled Tempest, fuel injection in 1957, etc.

But those R&D programs cost money. Marketing was cheaper, and the marketers were moving up in the corporation and by the end of the 1960s basically controlled things.

R&D budgets were cut, the different brands were forced to share platforms and then drive-trains and so on.

With new EPA and NHTSA regs the company was struggling to adapt with the new, lower R&D budgets, so corners were cut. Quality declined. New products were copy-pasta from other divisions. Customer satisfaction tanked.

GM saw its market share drop from 50% to 30% in the 1970s, and continue to decline into the 1980s.

It's the same arc whenever marketing and accounting get control of a corporation and they lose focus on product.