Internal 1970s Chevrolet film casts blame for the foreign car invasion

From The Old Motor

(August 21, 2019) This 1970s video titled “The Bug and The Beetle” is a somber internal corporate film where Chevrolet takes a look at how it thought the foreign invaders, “The Bug” and the “Japanese Beetles” (Toyota and Datsun) could put the automaker out of business.

The narrator of the film in a somber and down to business tone unravels the story of how the Volkswagen, which was first imported in January of 1949 and other imports had managed to capture a large percentage of Chevrolet’s market share in a little over 20 years.

Instead of taking an honest look at how General Motors and its officers and management, designers, engineers, and bean counters had contributed to the situation, it openly blames the blue-collar workers and lower-level office workers for not doing their job very well and for excessive absenteeism.

It's interesting to note that Chevrolet officials had recently approved and introduced the Vega, one of the most problematic vehicles ever built. That had more to do with the sales of Chevrolet products than anything the workforce — who was handicapped by cars like the Vega — had to do with foreign cars taking away sales.