Domestic or Import? you decide!

[Guest swank]

Toyota, Honda lead quality race while U.S. automakers struggle

By Greg Bensinger

Bloomberg News

Posted November 10 2006

Toyota Motor Corp., the biggest Japanese automaker in the United States, accounted for almost half of the industry's "most reliable" vehicles and again dominated an annual survey by Consumer Reports magazine.

Toyota built 21 of the 47 autos with the highest rating for reliability, the magazine said in its new-car preview issue. Some cars and trucks made by U.S. automakers are as reliable as Japanese autos, the magazine said, yet Asian products remain the most dependable overall.

The results illustrate the challenges facing General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler as they try to win back customers in their home market. While this and other surveys show improvements in quality, Detroit's automakers still lag behind Toyota and Honda Motor Co., the No. 2 Japanese seller in the United States.

"The Japanese carmakers really enjoy a better reputation for quality, and that's a real concern for most buyers today," said Erich Merkle, an analyst with IRN Inc. in Grand Rapids, Mich. "It's going to be very difficult for the domestics to overcome that, to improve their public image."

GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler lost a combined 3.1 percentage points of U.S. market share through October, to 56.9 percent. Toyota and Honda gained 2.6 points to 24.3 percent.

Honda and its Acura luxury unit had 11 models on the list of the most reliable. GM and Ford each had three, and DaimlerChrysler, including Mercedes, had none. Toyota and its Lexus luxury brand also ranked first in six of 10 vehicle categories.

Consumer Reports' findings were based on surveys of readers. The magazine uses that data along with vehicle tests to determine which models it recommends for purchase. The recommendations also incorporate safety data from U.S. government and insurance-industry crash tests.

Fuji Heavy Industry Ltd.'s Subaru had three vehicles on the most-reliable list. Two other Japanese companies, Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and Nissan Motor Co., including Infiniti, had two each. Germany's Bayerische Motoren Werke AG and South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. had one.

As for Toyota and Honda, "it's not an accident that they get rated this high," said Earl Hesterberg, chief executive officer of Group 1 Automotive, the fourth-biggest U.S. auto retailer, and a former executive with Ford, Nissan and Toyota. "They've been building them right for 15 to 20 years."

In last year's survey, Toyota accounted for 15 of 31 vehicles rated as "most reliable."

Among the 47 most-reliable this year were the Honda Fit small car, the Toyota Highlander hybrid midsized sport-utility vehicle, GM's Pontiac Vibe wagon and the Ford Fusion sedan, Consumer Reports said.

U.S. automakers had a combined 20 vehicles rated the least-reliable. European automakers -- including GM's Saab and Ford's Volvo, Jaguar and Land Rover brands -- also had 20. Nissan alone had five and DaimlerChrysler's Mercedes-Benz had eight.

"U.S. automakers have been making progress in reliability and quality", said John Casesa, managing partner of Casesa Strategic Advisors in New York.

"The challenge is to convince consumers to buy them," he said.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/local/sfl-zauto10nov10,0,4389958.story?coll=sfla-business-front

[Bling]

IMPORT ALL THE WAY

[Guest cire]

domestic with imported parts ... lol ... ;D

[Guest pod]

Deutschland!

[Guest swirlundergrounder]

Import for me ;D

[Guest AlanS]

I own an import and a domestic

[V. Barbarino]

Ford employs more people in this country than ALL other foreign car makers combined

GM employs more people in this country than ALL other foreign car makers combined.

I buy American and American only. The jobs in this country related to the car business are in the millions, I won't blindly say buy American, they clearly made a inferior products years ago, but now they are on the right track.

[Guest mr.miami]

here i thought this was a thread about beer :'(

[Guest AlanS]

here i thought this was a thread about beer :'(

Ha ha.. me too at first ;D

[Guest pod]

Beer? Other than Sam Adams or some local microbrews, import all the way.

[Guest Fez]

cars: german & toyota suv's

beer: not much of a beer drinker but Almaza(beer from Lebannon) takes the price...over Corona, Presidente, Heineken or w/e

[all4tribal1414779019]

my next one will deff be a lexus 8)

sporty & luxurious

8)

[Oni1414777741]

Beer? Other than Sam Adams or some local microbrews, import all the way.

I was never a beer drinker but here in the city we have so many great microbrews. But aside from that import all the way.

Favs: Harp, Hogaarden, Hefeweizen (or however you spell those) and Sapporo. I used to drink Stella but prefer the others now.

[Guest dahzel]

Beer? Other than Sam Adams or some local microbrews, import all the way.

nice taste... i totally agree. sierra nevada pale ale is great also ;D

[Guest pod]

That's good stuff. A few places in town serve Sierra Nevada.

[Guest Mattivi]

Bigravedave is right Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is domestic beer and rocks the house, i will drink it over an import anyday. Bell's Oberon Beer from Kalamazoo, MI is one of the best brew's ive ever had. but to each their own. ;D

[Guest pod]

Like I said, I'll take a microbrew any day of the week over Slopweiser. But as far as mass beers go, the imports are generally better.

[240turbo]

Well to those of us that eat, shit and breath cars. It's no surprise. I've always known that toyota makes the most reliable cars.

I've owned one domestic, and that was it. That was enough for me. All my other cars including my current one have all been imports.

[Guest yume]

"Toyota built 21 of the 47 autos with the highest rating for reliability, the magazine said in its new-car preview issue. Some cars and trucks made by U.S. automakers are as reliable as Japanese autos, the magazine said, yet Asian products remain the most dependable overall."

What is the difference between reliable and dependable? :

[Guest michael^heaven]

Ford employs more people in this country than ALL other foreign car makers combined

GM employs more people in this country than ALL other foreign car makers combined.

I buy American and American only. The jobs in this country related to the car business are in the millions, I won't blindly say buy American, they clearly made a inferior products years ago, but now they are on the right track.

Stick to your hearsay club rumors mate!!

http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/30/two-more-toyota-plants-coming-to-north-america/

[all4tribal1414779019]

Ford employs more people in this country than ALL other foreign car makers combined

GM employs more people in this country than ALL other foreign car makers combined.

I buy American and American only. The jobs in this country related to the car business are in the millions, I won't blindly say buy American, they clearly made a inferior products years ago, but now they are on the right track.

Stick to your hearsay club rumors mate!!

http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/30/two-more-toyota-plants-coming-to-north-america/

i just hope they keep their quality standards up as they have been, americans have a tendency to be classified as lazy when it comes to any labor job being in the car industry or construction. Than you will have the typical patriotic type that will scream out words like "they taken our jobs! smoke them suckas!" but that is one of the main reasons you see central americans working in the construction industry. Same goes for Japs and their cars.