The Ongoing Collapse of the Western Car Industry, by Roger Boyd, Jan 2025

[Sunset]

If we had brought in tariffs early enough, we could all still be riding in Ox carts.

Well, I don't think the goal was to equal or surpass Japanese quality. I think the goal was just to not suck enough in order to make people go to Toyota. 70s US cars were pretty bad IIRC. My brother had a mustang at the time and it was his last US made car he ever bought. Nothing but trouble from day one.

Too bad their goal wasn't to be better Probably was but best they could do was not suck so bad.

Actually in the 70's the Toyota's had issues, the wheel panels would rust out incredibly quickly, maybe they don't use salt on the roads as much in Japan back then, no idea, but it was pretty bad.

Good thing about the N.A. cars was it gave me plenty of "opportunity" to practice fixing things.

 

[Gumby]

The last Detroit-made cars we had were the 1972 Buick Century station wagon and the 1980 Chevy Chevette we had when we got married in 1984.

 

[Qs Laptop]

While N.A. manufacturers did improve their quality, it still never hardly ever got to the level of Japanese cars, and still today Toyota and Honda lead year after year.

There are a few exceptions, like ford after 20 years of making police cars (crown Victoria) finally got the quality up to the top 10 list, then they went and eliminated that model

Well, I don't think the goal was to equal or surpass Japanese quality. I think the goal was just to not suck enough in order to make people go to Toyota.

J.D. Power's Vehicle Dependability Survey tracks issues in the first three years of car ownership. The 2025 J.D. Power VDS, now in its 36th year, covers 184 specific problem areas across vehicle categories, like infotainment systems, driver assistance tech, powertrain, and interior and exterior features, across the first three years of ownership.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lexus-buick-top-jd-powers-latest-car-dependability-survey-with-volkswagen-chrysler-lagging-behind-160004587.html

Look who is in #3, #4, #10, #11, and #12!

 

[Koolau]

While N.A. manufacturers did improve their quality, it still never hardly ever got to the level of Japanese cars, and still today Toyota and Honda lead year after year.

There are a few exceptions, like ford after 20 years of making police cars (crown Victoria) finally got the quality up to the top 10 list, then they went and eliminated that model

I guess they didn't want to ruin their reputation of Fix Or Replace Daily.

Sorry, just kidding.

 

[Koolau]

The last Detroit-made cars we had were the 1972 Buick Century station wagon and the 1980 Chevy Chevette we had when we got married in 1984.

Still driving my 2000 Buick. It's not stellar in the reliability department, but it's cheap to run and keep on the road. (If it becomes too expensive, I'll go with an old Corolla.).