02-20-2014, 02:00 AM
Gentlemen,
As a General Motors dealer from 1979 to 1999 I can assure you that building anything but the highest quality vehicles possible in their respective price ranges is a loosing proposition. We all watched Toyota and Honda take market share away from the Big 3 every year and product quality was the #1 reason. Gas mileage was 2nd. The comfort, style, power, and safety of American cars was still considered superior by most drivers back then but reliability and quality lagged far behind the Japanese makers.
As it is in personal relationships, trust in a brand is easy to gain (think Saturn), and easy to loose (Saturn again). But once lost, trust is extremely hard to regain. American car makers are still paying the price today in public trust for the poor quality products they made 20 years ago but they are making headway and they are not doing it by building disposable poor quality products.
Harley Davidson and the British makers got killed by Honda "quality" in the 60's and 70's. Today HD and Triumph make world class quality bikes.
Building anything but the highest quality products in a price range is road to decline and failure. And with today's unlimited access to information that is truer than ever. All the best.
Chip
As a General Motors dealer from 1979 to 1999 I can assure you that building anything but the highest quality vehicles possible in their respective price ranges is a loosing proposition. We all watched Toyota and Honda take market share away from the Big 3 every year and product quality was the #1 reason. Gas mileage was 2nd. The comfort, style, power, and safety of American cars was still considered superior by most drivers back then but reliability and quality lagged far behind the Japanese makers.
As it is in personal relationships, trust in a brand is easy to gain (think Saturn), and easy to loose (Saturn again). But once lost, trust is extremely hard to regain. American car makers are still paying the price today in public trust for the poor quality products they made 20 years ago but they are making headway and they are not doing it by building disposable poor quality products.
Harley Davidson and the British makers got killed by Honda "quality" in the 60's and 70's. Today HD and Triumph make world class quality bikes.
Building anything but the highest quality products in a price range is road to decline and failure. And with today's unlimited access to information that is truer than ever. All the best.
Chip