This is the time for introspection in the auto industry, and for racking up a last batch of frequent flyer miles. The increasingly expatriate management of global automakers is filling the Delta flight from Shanghai to Detroit, Lufthansa from Beijing to Frankfurt, ANA from Guangzhou to Narita. In Europe, executives traditionally max out the calendar (take 5 days off, gain two weeks of holidays) and won’t be back before January 6th. In America, they celebrate the first real you-know-what since carmageddon. Even in busy-beaver Japan, they will stop working for 5 minutes , to celebrate oshogatsu (New Year) with mochi (rice cakes) and perhaps the ritual hime hajime (NSFW in the U.S.).
Only the Daily Kanban won’t rest.