Australian Dealer entering US Market

westernrvparkowner wrote:

fj12ryder wrote:

westernrvparkowner wrote:
A whole lot of revisionist history regarding Japanese autos in America. What actually happened is Toyota, Honda, Datsun all imported pieces of junk that Americans laughed and joked about for years. Then we had the Arab oil embargo, fuel shortages, gas lines and a huge rush for anything small. The American auto industry stuck their heads into the sand, ostrich style, and continued to make only land Yachts and small vehicles that somehow were even worse than the Japanese (Chevy Citation or Vega anyone?) That gave the Japanese auto industry their foothold, quality came much later.

Wow, I lived through it and didn't even know it was revisionist history. Sure glad you're here to straighten me out.

The original Japanese imports were cheap, small, underpowered and rust prone. It was the oil embargo of 1973 that created a seismic shift in America's automobile habits and tastes. Japan never attempted to compete with American cars and trucks in the beginning. They created a new niche, but it wasn't considered a niche built on quality, it was a niche built on providing what the consumer wanted at a specific point in time (cheap and fuel efficient). The idea that they somehow out competed the US manufacturers in quality large cars (the industry norm before 1973) is just plain wrong. Until Lexus, introduced in 1989, the Japanese never even competed in a size class above mid-size. While the Japanese obviously propelled modern vehicles forward, the idea that they swooped in with high quality autos that caused the US public to cast aside their Cadillacs and Lincolns for Honda CVCCs because they were of vastly superior quality is just not true.