Reply #123: American auto-makers are just beginning to see the light.

[Blue Fire]

For decades, beginning with the post WWII economic boom, Detroit designed their cars with built-in obsolescence and short life spans. After all, longevity, long-term reliability, and low maintenance costs wouldn't be conducive for Americans to trade in and up every few years. Then along came foreign made cars that eclipsed American-made in every key aspect - initial cost, reliability, maintenance costs, fuel economy, but as long as Americans had money to spend and easy access to credit, they were largely scoffed at.
But the hard economic downturn has come to haunt the Detroit marketing philosophy of building cars, while Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Hyundai, already have reputations much more appealing for our new penny-pinching times. We currently have a 2000 Windstar with 140K that still runs well but needs the occasional maintenance expense, and we'll nurse that as long as we can since it's paid for. But it's up to Detroit if our next new vehicle is built by Ford, Chrysler, or GM, or made in America by one of the foreign owned companies.