TheBigA said:
landtuna said:
Obviously there were other factors but what permitted the imports to essentially take over the market was their general overall high quality as compared with the junk coming out of Detroit.
Not true. The battle mainly was over price. The early imports were terrible quality. Datsuns were horrible. British and Italian imports were also terrible. Same with the Yugo. People bought them because they were cheap, not because they were good. Like McDonalds and WalMart. The quality cars were still being made in Detroit, but they were more expensive. The Japanese didn't even get into the luxury car business until the late 80s. The other issue was the cost of gas. American cars were not as efficient, but that's because they had big engines. The foreign cars had smaller engines, smaller, lighter, cheaper bodies and frames, thus used less gas. Foreign cars that had comparable quality and gas efficiency were made in Germany, but were more expensive than the Japanese, thus they didn't really challenge Detroit in terms of sales.
We're getting a bit far afield here but let me submit a slight correction for your consideration.
During the period beginning in 1958 Americans began wanting less expensive cars. Detroit responded with the Corvair, Pinto and Dart. Two of the three were death traps and the Dart looked like something the government designed although it did come with an innovative Slant 6 engine. Alternatives included AMC's line of mostly small cars and an assortment of mostly terrible imports such as Fiat, Renault, Hillman, and oddities like the Isetta and Messerschmitt. At the time price was a big consideration although only the VW Beetle made any sort of market penetration. There were a smattering of Japanese cars but they were shoe boxes in size and grossly underpowered for American highways.
Halfway through the 60's the second-generation Corvair was introduced as a significant improvement over the original (although sales continued to take a beating primarily as a result of Nader's criticism of the first generation car), Pinto was on the decline due to its propensity to explode when impacted from the rear, and AMC was essentially out of business. The Chrysler K-car was the primary fleet purchase for the federal government to try to keep MoPar in business but it was not a financial bargain for anyone who had to maintain it. Meanwhile, the Japanese cars were getting bigger, with engines and transmissions more adequate for the American market and still killing on price. By the mid-70's there were more Japanese badges on the road and the quality of their vehicles outshone Detroit. During this same time Detroit attempted to address economy of operation with such epic failures as the Chevy Vega, Oldsmobile diesel and a series of renamed platforms such as the Pinto/Mustang and the Chevy/Cadillac. Japan was building innovative high quality vehicles (for the most part) and Detroit was offering up parts bin specials. The war had been lost and it wasn't until very recently that American cars, with minor exceptions, could hold a candle to the Japanese.
You can argue that it was merely a price issue and the more expensive American manufacturing could not compete on price. True enough but also remember that, in the end, people will pay for quality but most will not waste any amount of money on a piece of junk.
The last new American vehicle I purchased was a 1978 Chevy Blazer. It came from the factory severely misaligned. So much so you could follow it in another car and it rode down the highway sideways, like a dog. In contrast, I bought a '74 Mazda RX4 wagon which had all the body seams aligned, ran so smooth and quiet you could hear the analog clock ticking in the dash and could outrun virtually any vehicle in its class. 12 years ago I bought a '00 Toyota Avalon with much the same experience. Neither car ever saw the shop except for normal maintenance. My daughter still has the Avy which now has 125,000+ miles on it and still has not seen a repair shop. Last year I bought a '11 Hyundai Santa Fe and have been equally impressed with it. Interestingly, I paid just a tick more for the Santa Fe last year than I did for the Avalon 12 years ago.
During the last decade American cars have gotten much better than they were a generation ago but there is much more intense competition as well. Looking up and down my street, a fairly well-to-do neighborhood, there are only two houses out of more than a dozen with American cars in their driveway. One is an F-150 and the other is a Volt.
