Car firms in Europe and the US are off-loading once-essential non-core operations as they face tougher competition, pension troubles and shareholder pressure.
"Putting aside castles and things, there has been a trend towards focusing on the core business," says Adam Jonas at Morgan Stanley. "It's no coincidence that divestitures started as credit rating downgrades and pension pressure grew."
In 1996 GM sold EDS, the IT consulting business, to fund a $7.93 billion pension black hole. A year later it sold its defence electronics business and in 1999 it spun off its car-parts operations.
Last year GM sold the rest of Hughes Electronics and its remaining defence operations, raising $7 billion. "Basically, we've sold off a lot of assets, right down to the GM building in New York," said the company.
Ford has spun off its component operations - and Chrysler, part of DaimlerChrysler, has sold or put into joint ventures almost all its component businesses. "We had to sell everything to get through the bad times," it said.
The process has been going on for some time. GM sold Fridgidaire, the refrigerator maker, in 1979. Ford lost its stately home and 3,000-acre farm bought by Henry Ford, founder of the company, after seeing it on a visit to England.
Now the flotsam of the industry's history remains with a handful of companies. Apart from the Sestriere ski resort near Turin, Fiat owns an 18th-century palace in the city, a Swiss bank and La Stampa newspaper.
Most carmakers are now under shareholder scrutiny, so few are splashing out on castles or ski resorts. But there are exceptions. A decade ago, flush with cash, VW built an upmarket hotel and theme park next to its Wolfsburg headquarters in Germany, which it still owns. Munich-based BMW, at present very profitable, is building a BMW theme park.
The motor industry is a big research and development spender as it strives to turn new ideas into money-spinners. Companies are spending billions of dollars developing hydrogen power. But other technologies are on the way.
Ford and Toyota are now beginning to develop plastics made from plants. Others are looking at alternative fuels and increasingly sophisticated satellite navigation systems. The motor industry may yet find itself acquiring another crop of strange assets.