Ford Beats Toyota in Quality for 2007

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/06/AR2007060601431.html

 

The trick for Ford will be maintaining the quality. Can they do it or
is it a flash in the pan? Quality has been the norm, rather than the
exception as it has been with the Little Three, for Toyota and Honda.

 

Perhaps if one does not look at the growing number of serious Toyota recalls
and does not include all the sludge, brake, tranny gasket and head gaskets
problems

mike

 

Lets see, America made or rice burner.

 

"Ripcord" ...

Until they show quality for *much more* than 90 days, it'll be rice burners.

Natalie

 

Well, if you consider that JD Powers is the one giving the awards....

JD Powers awarded Scottrade as the best online broker for a few years in
a row. If you ask the trading community, Scottrade is far from the best
online broker.

In the past I also found akward some other awards that were given to
other companies and at the time I asked myself if JD Powers awards were
for sale. Just my opinion and my thoughts.

 

Toyota/Lexis got 4 of 8 truck/SUV awards and Honda got one.

http://www.jdpower.com/press-releases/pressrelease.aspx?id=2007088

Jeff

 

JD Powers is the same company that has been proping up the japanese
companies for the last 15 years...so what is your point.

 

Okay, first I'm going to say that SOME of the foreign branded cars
make an excellent car and that SOME of the American named cars need a
little improvement in quality. Does everybody understand that first
sentence? Good. Now bear with me.

About 20 years ago I was reading about the initial overall quality of
two cars. One was a Japanese car and the other was an American car,
both of these compared side by side. The Japanese car got rave reviews
for initial quality and component fit and the American car had a lot
of initial problems and a lot of new car complaints. Now this wasn't
just one car verses one car, it was thousands of reviews from both
models of cars. Even the owners quotes summed it up real well. "I
bought a Japanese car because of the quality that I wanted and I'm
glad of my purchase". For the American buyers, a lot of quotes were
"As usual, the American car had a lot more problems than if I'd
purchased a Japanese car". This article stated that even Lee Iacoca
(spelling?), had problems with this statement, because the American
car that they were bashing was the Plymouth Laser. Now what was the
car that thousands of buyers were praising??
It was the Mitsubishi Eclipse..........

The real irony is that these cars were identical in about every way
and even produced in the same factory and they were probably made one
car in front of each other. The only difference between the two were
the make/model badges on the dash and on the bumper. THAT'S what
Iacoca was peeved about, the perception of difference.

Once again, is there a difference? Probably.
There certainly is in people's minds.

 

Actually, it's been more like 25 years, only slight less than Consumer
Reports. But I understand where your coming from.

 

Maybe they're starting to fell bad for their own domestics;0

 

That is true... if you perceive people or things a certain way, they
will often seem to conform.. or rather you continue to see them that way.

 

I read the same type of thing when the Pontiac Vibe / Toyota Matrix came
out. According to the article, the Matrix was gold, and yet the Vibe was
trash. I guess no one bothered to tell them they were the same cars. Now, if
I could only find that damned article.

 

test

 

If they are just reporting the results of surveys, how can they be
propping up the Japanese, who won 5 of the 8 awards for trucks and SUVs?

 

First, JD Powers ia a highly biased source and their survey's are
rarely (never?) statistically valid. This one is no exception.

Second, Iococa deserves what he gets for producing the k-car

 

Selective surveys have always been used to make the payer look good.

 

Can you demonstrate that's the case with JD Powers? For example, did the
Vibe get worse reviews than the Matrix?

Jeff

 

In your opinion. Can you back this opinion with evidence?

Jeff

 

They are not the same car - the Vibe is built in California, the
Matrix in Canada. Who puts it together can make a lot of difference.