Detroit's focus must be mobility

FT 5 November 2008
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There is much debate about whether the US car industry should be bailed out（救済）. Some argue that lame ducks（破産者、役に立たない者） should be left to die.Others point out that if GM, Chrysler or Ford fail, millions of indirect employees could lose their jobs too as the colossal（巨大な） supply industry falters（よろめき）.
So, I would recommend that any bail-outs from Washington be contingent（条件として、付随的な） upon Detroit's re-invention（発明）.
Clearly the 20th-century auto industry business model is broken. Designing, mass-producing and selling cars yields a sad or at best, sporadic（時々起こる） return on investment( unless your name is Toyota or Honda). However , the demand for personal mobility and transportation continues to rise.

Detroit might not be good at heeding（心に留めない） advice but its design and engineering teams are spectacularly（目覚しく） good at developing and manufacturing complex, extremely reliable and durable（丈夫な） products at a very keen price and on massive scale. So imagine how this prowess（武勇） could be utilised to create and build much-needed alternative transportation and infrastructure, such as personal rapid transit systems.