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I remember thumbing through the CR car ratings book in the early 1980s and the track record of American cars was terrible (by comparison) even then. The Japanes
by eej71 7y ago
I remember thumbing through the CR car ratings book in the early 1980s and the track record of American cars was terrible (by comparison) even then. The Japanese cars were consistently good. So I don't think it's 30 years of wage stagnation either.
- ChrisMarshallNY 7y agoMy thoughts exactly. Those of us “of a certain age” will remember that this is not new at all. I can’t speculate on the reasons, but I agree about standard quality levels being higher in Japan and Western Europe; but so are costs.
- Someone1234 7y agoI'd speculate that it is because people still buy them regardless. That may sound overly simplistic but I think there's an element of truth to it. Foreign vehicle companies needed to fight to gain market share in the US, often needing to be much better just to be compared as equals. Look at KIA recently doing so, now they're doing very well reliability wise and offer a substantial free warranty, but ask random people and they'll be described as unreliable foreign cars. The real mystery is why Americans still buy American made cars. The foreign competition has eclipsed them for whole generations at this point, but yet demand remains.
- VintageCool 7y agoAmericans generally don't buy American cars, right? We buy American-made trucks. The US imposed a 25% tax on imported light trucks and has for decades (the "chicken tax"). I think that this has resulted in a weird distortion where American auto makers focus heavily on that one more profitable market segment, and advertise most heavily on that one market segment, and have done so for generations.
- ChrisMarshallNY 7y agoI think the Ford F-150 is the best-selling vehicle made by US companies. There's a reason that Musk is building a Tesla truck.