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

Funny enough, I went to a place to get my 2007 Honda Accord a new paint job. Of the jobs they get that are just old cars where the paint has worn away and is in bad shape, he said they get a LOT of old Toyota and Honda cars, as well as older US trucks. The trucks are usually guys who are driving their 30 year old truck and just want to keep it up for ever (back in the day when trucks were for regular people). But the cars, the older Hondas and Toyotas, that’s because those cars can last 20-30 years and still drive well.