Japanese Beautiful Model

Why are American cars still lagging behind Japanese, Korean, and German automakers in terms of reliability?

Seriously, I sometimes wonder why most American cars are still unreliable, junky cars. Almost all Japanese and German cars are considered reliable, quality cars, and the Korean cars (Hyundai, etc.) have even come into their own. However, American cars are still widely regarded as being unreliable, rather ugly cars...they're not slick or refined. Why is this? Why have Ford, GM, Chevrolet, etc. not been able to improve their vehicles after all these years? Under the hood they're not nearly as good and in terms of styling, they just (in general) look cheap compared to most Japanese, European, and Korean models. What is up with the American car automakers?

Public Comments

1. Actually I think they have caught up. That is basically a myth about American cars from the 70's and 80's. And to be honest with you the Japanese cars are far from appealing and from what im hearing arent as realiable or cost effective as you would think. As for reliability I had a 96 cavalier that lasted for over 150000 with only basic maintence and now own an 01 Camaro that has been problem free for over 3 years.
2. I dont know where your getting your information from bro, but I have yet to see a import that looks slick off the dealer floor. There is nothing attractive about any foreign car as far as looks besides a couple BMW's Most of the USA sold cars are based on years of safty and refining the car. This is what the public wants, not what foregners say we need. They improved on the looks and reliablility of mostly all there products. And Ford is pretty much leading the way
3. Someone said, "but I have yet to see a import that looks slick off the dealer floor. There is nothing attractive about any foreign car as far as looks besides a couple BMW's" Now is that really a fair statement? I think American cars can hold their own against the world's cars, so why do we need to use anti-import and subjective opinions as rhetoric? So, basically, the original poster has a perception that American cars are not as reliable. Not only is this not true, but to use the Germans as an example of superior reliability is laughable. The key word here is perception! On the other hand, don't confuse reliability with how good a car is. I think that's a better issue to address - why are some American cars lagging other brands? Why can't America make an Accord-beater? I think there are few American cars that are world-class. To be sure, we're more than capable of making cars to rival the world's best, but how many of the cars in America can be mentioned in that breath?
4. with few exceptions improvements in vehicle quality and reliability have improved consistently ever since the introduction of the automobile in 1876. when Japanese cars hit the US market in the late 50's they were of poor quality, and got a poor reputation. the Japanese automakers worked hard to improve quality, and by the early 70's they were the equal of American cars. but something happened in the 70's that gave the Japanese cars the illusion that they were better than American cars. that was the Arab fuel embargo, and japanese cars got better fuel economy than american cars at the time. and since fuel economy was better, other problems became less important. for example; i have had people tell me that their american cars were junk because of all the major problems they had compared to the few minor problems their japanese cars had. when asked what problems their american cars had i go this reply; bad alternator bad ignition switch bad master cylinder various electrical system problem all these were "major" problems. when asked what problems their japanese car had, i got the same list, but they were "minor" problems. the perception that foreign cars are better than american cars is just that, a perception, not a reality.
5. american cars are powerhouse's compared to a little japanese car like the corvette scored better in the wind tunnel than the ferrari so that make the corvette better than the ferrari. we dont need these little cars unless we have a population boom like china and have 20 billion people. if you dont like american cars/trucks drive what you like it is all personal preference.