American cars have a long-standing history of not being as reliable/durable as Japanese cars, what keeps the US from being able to make quality cars? Can we not just reverse engineer a Toyota, or hire their top engineers for more money?

Question

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

Answer 1

I’m a design engineer at a 2nd tier auto supplier. We absolutely CAN make reliable cars. The short answer is *profits*. Why make a 90% reliable vehicle with a 40% profit when you can make a 60% reliable car with the same profit for less money?

Don’t blame the engineers. Blame the greedy CEOs, business strategists, and design directors for this mentality