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Why was Honda Accord the most popular in 1980s and why did Camry become the more popular choice after that?
I don't know if this is a trick question.
But I'd say it is about the quality of the driving experience and the comfort of the car. And most importantly, the feeling that you're getting a superior value for the money.
I do not think the Japanese make any decent diesel anything. Maybe i just do not know about it.
No decent vans either.
They do in Japan though. Never sold well here, so they aren't anymore.
Hino (Toyota) makes a bunch of diesels, as does Mitsubishi Fuso, but you probably mean passenger diesels. Toyota sells a few diesels in Japan and Europe - you can get a RAV-4 diesel in the rest of the world! The 2WW used in the RAV-4 started life as a BMW 2.0 diesel engine (which eventually lead to the new Supra)
Toyota sells 8 minivans and 7 commercial vans in Japan. ZERO of those come here! They don't sell a Sienna at home! Their minivans range from bare bones to S class fighters.
There are thousands of Toyota trucks and domestics in the southwest that have no frame rust. Feel free to look up domestic truck frames rusting videos on YouTube. There are plenty of them. I’m not gonna bother linking them. All from back east, Midwest northwest etc.
Nothing in the same price range/class competes with the CTS-V.
Maybe that does not count since there are o competitors without nearly doubling the price of halving the benefits.
i do not think there are Japanese cars that seriously compete with the Corvette. There are pretenders. There are more expensive super-cars. No real competition.
No Japanese cars can compare to Tesla. Nor, really to the bolt for that matter.
Ford seems way ahead of everybody in automatic driving systems.
I do not think the Japanese make any decent diesel anything. Maybe i just do not know about it.
No decent vans either.
Mostly big stuff and stuff with big power. They do better making little stuff. Japan excels at making toasters. Still the US makers toasters are readily competitive and exceed Japan in styling.
Same with pick-up trucks, the Japanese, even though they try, cannot compete with Ford, RAM, or Chevy, not even close!
If one is looking at cars, forget the Big Three, forget Japan, look to Korea. I have no experience with Honda but Toyota, in my opinion has lost its way in terms of customer service and controlling their dealerships. While Toyota vehicles are pretty reliable, if you ever have an issue, I feel sorry for you in your efforts getting it resolved.
He said that American companies will still order parts with minimal imperfection but when it came to the Japanese companies, they will not accept these parts at all and demand that these imperfect items be remade again. He said the Japanese companies will not compromise when it came to quality.
Completely different industry, but I'm an engineer and collaborate with Japanese counterparts in manufacturing, and have seen the same above difference in part component quality between the two cultures.
I've seen it also played out where a component will fail and our Japanese counterparts will immediately blame the US-made part. Cant tell you the number of times I've proven then wrong, and then our test methods come under fire.
Completely different industry, but I'm an engineer and collaborate with Japanese counterparts in manufacturing, and have seen the same above difference in part component quality between the two cultures.
I've seen it also played out where a component will fail and our Japanese counterparts will immediately blame the US-made part. Cant tell you the number of times I've proven then wrong, and then our test methods come under fire.
I’ll bet this stems/roots from things happening 74 yrs ago.
Same with pick-up trucks, the Japanese, even though they try, cannot compete with Ford, RAM, or Chevy, not even close!
If one is looking at cars, forget the Big Three, forget Japan, look to Korea. I have no experience with Honda but Toyota, in my opinion has lost its way in terms of customer service and controlling their dealerships. While Toyota vehicles are pretty reliable, if you ever have an issue, I feel sorry for you in your efforts getting it resolved.
Customer service has more to do with the owner of the dealership, and the employees they hire. The dealer I use sells both Toyota and Hyundai, and I had the same experience getting either of those serviced. The only difference was the Hyundai (Sonata) was in there a LOT more often.
In terms of dependability and overall popularity, Japanese cars have outranked American cars for decades now.
Back in the 80s, the Honda Accord used to be the popular car. Then it became the Toyota Camry. Lexus has done very well in the luxury car market for a long time now as well.
Do you think American cars will be able to catch up and compete with Japanese cars again?
The funny BS thing about all this discussion. For the most part, they all use the same parts in some model or another. Hyundai (Mobis) makes parts for Jeep and provides the same parts of use in Hyundais, GM designs transmissions for Toyota. Everyone uses ZF transmissions (a German Company that builds transmissions in South Carolina).
It is not a single supplier of a given part for every company, but there are multiple suppliers and they are used by multiple companies for various models. Not every part is that way, but so many that there is really no significant difference between the makers. It really comes down to who has selected the best combination of parts suppliers for a given model. Sometimes the same part will work well in one car and not in another.
As a hypothetical example You will find the exact same door lock mechanisms in a Chevy Impala as in a Honda Accord. they are made by company XYZ in China and both companies buy the same door lock mechanisms form the same supplier.
(For those who do not understand hypotheticals, I do not know whether door lock mechanisms are actually the same between those two cars, it is just an example of the concept.)
Maybe a better example is Takata airbags. Look how many difference companies got burned by that mess. You cannot say one mfg is better than the other in all instances, not even in most instances. They are all drawing from the same pools of parts makers. They are all even selling parts and even designs to each other.
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