This is a reposting of the article I wrote on WeSeed.com today.

No one is happy to see the demise of the domestic auto industry, but it’s pretty easy to see the cause: decades of greed, ignorance, and a lack of innovation. The Big Three have been making strides recently to build cars and trucks that fit America’s demands for smaller, more efficient vehicles. That said, it may be too little, too late.

Let’s take a look at what’s been done recently, and peer into the very cloudy future of what may be coming down the road.

GM: General Motors celebrated their 100^th anniversary last year, but not the way they’d hoped. In addition to losing market share, GM was also bleeding cash. So the company began focusing less on trucks and SUVs, and more on hybrids and smaller vehicles. The result: an award-winning full-sized hybrid SUV, the award-winning Malibu, a Malibu hybrid sedan, a hybrid version of their Silverado truck, and the award-winning plug-in electric hybrid called the Volt (which is slated to hit the streets in late 2010). GM has even partnered with Segway to create a unique concept called PUMA. Think of it as a Segway that seats two, complete with windshield and rollbars.

But on the minus side, GM recently announced they would shelve the Pontiac line by the end of 2010. Currently, GM is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and is battling to remain viable.

Ford: Like every carmaker, the company that started it all has suffered during this recession. But the signs seem to indicate the company might weather the storm. Vehicles like the Escape hybrid and Focus are two ways the company is trying to meet American consumers’ wants. Ford is garnering rave reviews on their new Fusion hybrid, which is America’s most fuel-efficient mid-size sedan.

Ford is also noted for its presence in the social-media space: Besides a successful twitter effort, Ford is in the middle of an intriguing social media experiment dubbed “The Fiesta Movement.” Ford commissioned 100 volunteers from the Internet to test the re-born Fiesta for six months and encouraged them to blog/tweet/post videos about their experiences. Ford has not needed government loans to continue operating, and says they won’t need them in the near-term.

Chrysler: The automaker has merged with Fiat and filed for bankruptcy in the past few weeks, but opinions still range on whether or not Chrysler will even survive. If Chrysler does remain, they stand to benefit from Fiat’s technology and experience with smaller vehicles. Chrysler has their own plug-in hybrid technology called ENVI, but the first vehicle won’t be available until 2010, with other models following in 2013 – hardly the near-term.

Meanwhile, Chrysler could be hoping its GEM Peapod takes off (GEM is an electric-vehicle division of Chrysler). The all-electric “car” – which resembles a golf cart more than a roadworthy vehicle -  is focused on being a fun, emissions-free way of getting around (think smart car with iPod ignition key). The original plan was to make Peapod to be available by 2009, but it will hit production this October.

Chrysler actually pitched an electric minivan concept to the U.S. Postal service recently, which could become a new source of revenue.

The next six months will be very telling for the domestic car industry here in America. The recession as a whole will have a large hand in the outcome, but whichever automaker keeps the confidence of citizens and the government will likely walk away from this in the best position.