In the 90s, cars from the 70s and 60s were seen as classic, but in 2022 cars from the 90s or 2000s can still be seen in daily use, and in terms of body design, many don’t even look that far off modern cars. What happened around the late 80s?

Question

Edit: great responses, Reddit. People have largely addressed the form factor aspect of my question. But am I wrong in sensing that cars from the late 90s seem to be more reliable and functionally acceptable in 2022, than most cars from the 70s were in the 90s? Was there some engineering breakthrough that made them more long lived?

In: 91

Answer 1

Japan learned how to build cars from Americans, and then greatly improved on the production process. They not only ushered in a new era of cars but also a new era of production management practices and theories as a whole. They found ways to make the cars more practical, cheaper, and safer. People really wanted vehicles to get from point A to point B, even if they were “boring.” The things that people were paying American companies for like design and style and muscle, were not needed by the average American or global consumer. Toyota et all saw this and moved in. New materials could be safer and also lighter which added to the lower price. Flexible production methodologies meant that new innovations could be added easier, to include new changes to fuel efficiency crucial with the 1970s oil shock. American car buyers, many of them suburban or urban baby boomers looking for something new and practical, not needed for the country roads, flocked to them. This greatly disrupted American corporations’ grip on the car market. For competition, instead of looking for newer design styles, a lot of things converged on a sedan or new egg shaped style for their smaller engines and curved surfaces. Some have said it’s boring and all that. Many say this is what got millions of people around safely and economically and it’s nothing to complain about.