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Why Polish people should be proud of being Polish? [370]
FSO indeed could have developed differently. A Ukrainian state compny bought it out and is assmebling Chevy Aveos there until March or April. After that???????????
Why couldn't some Kulcyzk or Guzdowaty bought it? Or maybe a mixed private/public capital consortium that would have taken part in major privatisation tenders ratehr than selling everything off to foreign interests.
Various options might have been possible. GM took over Daewoo is with only minor changes began turning out many of the same models: Matiz (rebadged Spark), Lacetti, etc.
My take on this is that each level of privatisaiton and development, there were mainly people looking out only for themselves -- grab as much as possible for their own personal careers, without any sweeping vision of how to do the country proud or upgrade the Polish image. Narrow self-ionterest reigned supreme, whislt civic virtue was nojn-existent.
That's why the Kulczyks preferred foreign investments for their millions, and no-one ever even raised the possibility of a Polish capital consortium.
Please don't reduce this ad absurdam. I don't mean FSO could ever compete with VW or BMW, but it might have found a niche for itself. There is a huge world demand mark for a low-priced, basic, low-tech Third World vehicle for use in difficult terrain for those who couldn't possibly afford a Landrover or Cherokee. That could have been a design priority for the Polish motor sector. (Think Tata Nano.)
The SEAT is a decent motorcar but it started out as a humble Spanish-built Fiat which was developed and finally got added to the VW stable. But India's Hindustan Ambassador, which started out as a 1954 Morris, has been produced basically unchanged since then and still is the last I heard. The black London taxis don't exactly win the Monte Carlo Rally, but it fills a definite niche. The Polish motor industry lost its chance, and now all this is pure fantasy about what might have been.
If some Teh Urkainian