4% ten years later. Yet rather than examine the growing popularity of imported models, GM, Ford and Chrysler largely continued doing business as usual. This tactic proved disastrous when energy shortages in 1973 and 1979 caused a dramatic shift in buyer preferences away from overweight, inefficient, and heavily-stylized American cars. Many cost-conscious consumers drifted towards thrifty imported models. By the late 1970s, American car companies were facing serious competition for the first time: "by 1977, any street was a mix of domestics and imports," and imported cars held 21.8% of the domestic market CSS70s 317
             However, one company, the Buick Division of General Motors, showed a distinctive level of innovation and outside-the-box competitive strategies throughout these troubled times. Throughout much of the 1960s and 1970s, Buick was among the top five best-selling brands in America. The company was known for innovation, having introduced the industry's first turn indicators, electric windows and the power convertib
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