Compact cars became popular as a result of the energy crisis and the end of the postwar economic boom. The Arab oil embargo in 1973, organized by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), caused severe oil and gasoline shortages in the United States. Oil prices increased 350 percent in 1973; for the first time gas cost more than one dollar per gallon. Although the OPEC embargo ended early in 1974, multinational oil companies earned record profits (70 percent in 1973 and 40 percent in 1974), and inflation and unemployment also increased. Simultaneously, the auto industry suffered a recession; General Motors laid off 6 percent of its workers. Consumers refused to purchase gas-guzzling cars and turned to small, fuel-efficient foreign cars from Germany, Sweden, and Japan. Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors closed large-car, plants and retooled to manufacture smaller compact cars. By 1974 compact-car sales surpassed those of standard large cars, and imported cars...