No offense taken, bro. I just really like Japanese-made cars and I'm glad that Toyota is making the tC in Japan; they could have easily set up a production line in Kentucky, seeing that this is a US-only model.

 

The country, as well as company, of manufature does play an important role in the quality of a car. If in doubt, check out a copy of Consumer Report for proof.

 

OK.

Explain why Mitsubishi's all built in Japan have ____ reliability and quality, but Honda's and Toyota's built in the U.S. have excellent reliability.

Honda exports cars and parts from it's Swindon, UK plant BACK to Japan.

In some cases what you guys say is true, but there is no hard and fast rule. Mitsu____ty has managed to build utter crap in Japan for years. Lancer EVO's that rust after 1 year. Eclipses with leaky gas tanks and on and on.

I bought a VOLKSWAGEN (unreliable) made in MEXICO (should be terrible) and yet the thing had no defects I could find and it was perfectly reliable for 4 years and 60k miles. Not one warranty claim.

My japan-built Toyota T100 had the dashboard light short out within a week of buying it and then the radio stopped working and had to be replaced.

Just my 2 cents.

You should NOT assume people from certain countries take less pride in their work or are some how inferior. There is a name for that kind of thinking guys....

it's called RACISM

:?

 

Well I can't chime on what nation has the best quality but I am tired of seeing sub standard cars sold in the state and its ok because it is cheap..... I had a Focus and it was mentioned above that in Europe it is a verry well made car..... Won awards for quality build German TUV certified..... but here in the states it is a Sh@t Box..... ...... I've had mine since they came out in 2000 and I am done fixing this car...... the worse part about it is it has great potential as a drivers car... .... but my last toyota a Rav 4 gave me no problems for 130,00 mi in under 2 yrs... so that is what convinced me I need another toyota product....

 

its called statistics, not racism

 

yeah cause all those hondas and toyotas that are made in the USA just suck...

oh wait...

no they don't

 

they DONT jock american cars in japan.

they LOVE them.

drive around in a z06 around tokyo sometime

 

some hard facts on domestic reliability, and this is for US cars, not japanese cars made in the usa:

a quote from an article reporting on the results of a 675,000 car survey

"
Of course, Detroit’s average of 18 problems per 100 vehicles still is worse than the industry average of 17 and substantially worse than the 12 ranking accorded the Asians. Yes, that’s progress for the Motor City, but it’s not worthy of popping a single champagne cork."

18 problems per 100 vehicles vs 12 problems per 100 vehicles:

a small % difference.

big deal.

I would sooner worry about other issues than reliability.

 

I'm sure you would never say that unless you had some statisitics proving that U.S. made Camry's and Accords are less reliable than ones made in Japan though, right?


So we're ready for those any time you'd care to post them...

I'm not saying there is no difference ever, I'm saying it's ignorant to assume that there is ALWAYS a difference or that a car of equal quality can't be built in another place just because of the race of the factory workers, that's all.

I think the differences, where they exist, have to do with parts suppliers in the different countries and how they run their shops. One of the reasons the Japanese have such consistent high quality is because they've always had a strong relationship with parts suppliers. i.e. Toyota will use the same company to make seat fabric for 20 years, they will visit the factory. The seat fabric guy at Toyota's kids will play baseball with the seat fabric factory owners kids and so on...

In the U.S. and in other countries the parts work is often passed off to the lowest bidder. That means they might have the best factory workers in the world, but if GM or whoever is more interested in cutting corners than developing a good relationship and open communication with parts suppliers then quality inevitably suffers. That's a big part of it.

It also explains how Mitsubishi somehow manages to build crap, even in Japan. It's a management problem, not because people from other countries have no work ethic and aren't as smart as the Japanese.

Honda manages to build Civic Type R's in England good enough to ship back to Japan. How do you think they do it? Import Japanese workers to work there? No, sorry.

 

...Dont know why I bother wasting my time

 

Parts can come from anywhere regardless of where the car is assembled.

 

Ditto! Consumer Reports April 2004....
"...675,000 privately owned or leased cars, trucks, minivans, and sport-utility vehicles."
Anyone with any confusion about reliability needs to read this issue. The "domestics" got burned. The lines do get blurred but I think they are refferring to whichever country the parent company is registered in. There are a few domestic vehicles which fare better than others, but if we are going to make a blanket statement based on stats, i.e. Consumer Reports, J.D Power etc, then domestics suck! Thats the facts, not RACE. Many of the "asians" are built here in the U.S.A. and are included under the "asian" category.
Build philosphy has a lot to do with why the product scores well. I can't speak for other companies, but Toyota although not perfect, has all but 1 plant as non-union, waiting list for employment out for 3 years on average at their plants, and constantly trying to improve the enviroment and community through recycling wasted materials and donations. Given this is there any doubt to why TOYOTA is WORLDS SECOND LARGEST automaker (Forbes 11-17-03). Write back if I am incorrect thanks.

 

that artical states

18 problems per 100 cars for domestics
12 problems per 100 cars for domestics

thats not "Burning" anyone.
its hardly different at all.

 

Well, you're right to an extent. People *anywhere* are impressed by a z06. Drive a z06 in Turin, Italy and it will get some respect even there.

American cars do NOT sell well in Japan. But it is because of perceived bad quality?
Maybe, in part, but A LOT of it has to do with stupid marketing strategy. For YEARS American companies tried to sell the same product overseas that they sell here. Did you know that it's only been recently that US car companies even bothered to make right-hand drive cars for Japan? I mean...HELLO? At least start by putting the steering wheel on the correct side of the car. Is that so hard? WTF?

The other thing is they didn't develop products for that market. People in Japan don't want left hand drive Chrysler minivans with thirsty V6s, fake wood panelling down the side and column shifters. Shocking, I know...

The U.S. just didn't care enough, or was too stupid to even make a decent effort to compete in Japan. They did the same thing in Europe for years. It's only now that companies like Ford are having successes there because they began building products designed for THAT market.

You don't try to sell a Crown Vic in Germany, just like you wouldn't try to sell a tiny Focus-based minivan with a turbodiesel here in the U.S. It's called marketing.

The Japanese have succeeded here in no small part because they are masters of this. The average family in Japan would not even consider a gigantic barge like the Sienna with a 240 hp V6 that costs more than their months rent to fill with gas each week. Just like Tahoe driving soccer moms in Ohio wouldn't know what the hell to make of this:



and just try telling some Texas ____kicker in a 20 gallon hat that you're going to replace is F-450 fullsize 94 liter V-12 pick up with this....



Maybe if you throw in a free panda decal for the side, he'll go for it.

 

Probably an issue of incentive.

Is it worth it to build a new car for the small japanese market?

clearly it is worth it for japan to build a car for the huge american market.

also I believe Japanese tarriffs make exporting goods to japan pretty hard.

 

If you read the article, why is Toyota skeptical of producing any producing any cars of their Lexus line in the US?