A lot of Japanese manufacturers like Toyota and Honda, some of the brands with a reputation for the highest quality and longest lasting cars, have factories in the US… and they’re cheaper to buy than a lot of US comparable vehicles. Why can the US not figure out how to make a high quality car that is affordable and one that lasts as long as these other manufacturers?
In: Engineering
It mainly comes down to culture differences and how different manufacturers prioritizes different things. The recent story that comes to mind is the development of the latest Toyota Supra, it’s not Japanese and US, but the comparison does show how the culture differences reflect in the end product
[Here’s an article on it](https://jalopnik.com/how-bmw-and-toyota-overcame-a-culture-clash-to-design-t-1827831415)
in essence, BMW wanted to work with Toyota. A good BMW can be pretty damned reliable but the star of the show is how they drive, not much can match the full package it can offer. And a good Toyota, as the history goes, is bulletproof.
They were both surprised at essentially how good each other was at what they did. Toyota was amazed at the seemingly infinite budget BMW had for R&D, the amount of simulations and diagrams and man-hours thrown at every aspect of car design and tuning.
And on the flipside, BMW were amazed at the quality control lengths that Toyota went through and their efficiency. Every part and fastener sent to Japan for multiple tests and analysis at Toyota.
They were both normal things that each respective company did when designing a car but when they looked at each other they both went “Wow, you put THAT much effort into that department”
And the last tidbit from the engineer does sum it up nicely. BMW design their “package” first. What’s the car going to have in it, when we have that we’ll make a car around that package. “We’ve made this drivetrain with these features and this interior, let’s wrap it up in a car shell”
Latest Answers