Once upon a time, there was a Big Three far, far away . . . in merry olde England. In a move eerily similar to the pending GM-Chrysler merger, two of the automakers united to form British Motor Corp. (BMC). The folks in Detroit should learn a lesson from it, before history repeats itself.

这些是美国汽车工业的怪异时间。谁能想象，通用汽车将在政府援助中寻找100亿美元的“救援”克莱斯勒？

而且，就像滴特罗特出现的情况一样，更多的外国竞争对手即将进入美国，进一步分散曾经由大三次控制的市场。明年，几家中国和印度汽车制造商将通过小美国经销商网络销售车辆。

例如，Mahindra＆Mahindra Ltd.（孟买，印度）已经声称通过一个名为Global Vehors USA Inc.（Alpharetta，Ga）的子公司注册了300多名经销商。它将营销一系列中型柴油拾取卡车。

Until recently, it was hard to imagine that the Big Three would ever go the way of full-service gas stations and public pay phones. But, recent events have me starting to wonder if the once-proud U.S. auto industry will some day just wither away.

If you doubt that will ever happen, just consider what transpired once upon a time in a land far, far away . . . merry olde England. That country had a thriving auto industry for much of the 20th century. Today, there’s no major domestic automaker in Great Britain. Even niche players, such as Aston Martin, Bentley, Jaguar and Rolls-Royce are owned by non-British companies.

在第二次世界大战结束时，英格兰是世界第二大机动车生产商。而且，它拥有自己的三大国内自动化制造商 - 奥斯汀，莫里斯和Wolseley。

1952年，奥斯汀和莫里斯合并创造英国汽车公司（BMC）。英国政府批准合并为公共利益。这听起来很熟悉吗？如果GM-Chrysler交易经过，因为一些聪明的人预测会比以后更早发生，历史可能最终重复。也许我们可以从英国中借用页面并致电新实体GMC。

I’m sure most people have never heard of BMC, but a brief history lesson reveals why that is. In 1965, the company became British Motor Holdings. A few years later, the name was changed to British Leyland Motor Corp. Today, British Leyland is long gone. The last remnants of the company were acquired three years ago by China’s Nanjing Automobile Corp. The only place you’ll now find an Austin or a Morris vehicle is in a museum.