Detroit Shifts Gears Against Japanese

(CBS)  Richard and Michelle Conetta are shopping for a new car, but they've already made their decision: the chose a Toyota based on its reputation for reliability and safety — barely considering American brands. Richard believes Japanese cars don't break down.

"I think they won over the public in that respect compared to the American car," he told Sunday Morning correspondent Anthony Mason.

For American automakers that attitude has become an image crisis. A recent survey by the Detroit News found that 70 percent of buyers who avoided American cars said the main reason was concerns about quality and reliability.

David Champion, head of automobile testing for Consumer Reports, said the stereotypes about Japanese and American cars are not far from the truth. He takes reporters on white knuckle rides that compare the cars' maneuverability. He first compared the emergency handling of a Chevrolet Equinox against a Honda CRV swerving to avoid an accident. On the rain slicked road, he gave Honda the higher marks.

"That was about 5 miles an hour faster and a lot easier to drive," Champion said.

He conducted a brake test by driving the cars at 60 miles per hour and hitting the breaks at the same time. The Honda CRV scored better than the Saturn VUE.

"We've found that the domestic manufacturers tend to have longer breaking distances than their Japanese competitors," Champion said. "And really when you're looking at safety, breaking is really one of the major aspects of it."

Even looking inside the vehicles, like this Jeep, Champion finds American brands, for all of their improvements, still don't measure up.

"The whole interior is just really sort of cheap and nasty. And you know, one of the engineers said it's a bit like sitting inside an igloo cooler."

At the annual auto show last week Detroit rolled out its new lineup. But all the highly polished chrome couldn't hide the fact that Motown had another horrible year. Ford's sales were down nearly 8 percent; GM's were off even more, and both companies lost billions.

While Toyota was headed in the other direction — its sales soaring nearly 13 percent in the U.S. for the 5th straight year — its Camry was the best selling car here, while its Lexus was the best selling luxury brand for the seventh year in a row. And this year Toyota could become king of the road. If it hits its target of selling nearly 9-and-a-half million vehicles it will overtake General Motors to become the world's largest automaker, a title which GM has held for more than 75 years.

Toyota made its success right here on the assembly line. That has allowed Toyota to identify problems and correct mistakes more quickly. But Norm Bafunno, a vice president of Toyota who is in charge of this plant in Princeton, Ind., insists there won't be any celebration if Toyota becomes number one.

"There won't be any kind of fireworks display at all the plants or at the sales headquarters in California, or at our design studios in Michigan, it won't happen," he said. "That's not our goal. That's not the culture."

Steve Spear, an M.I.T. engineering lecturer who used to work on the assembly line to study the Toyota system, said that a culture of paranoia persists at the company.

"They constantly worry about who's gonna catch up. And if they can't figure out about whom to worry, they worry that they can't worry," he said.

And U.S. automakers are catching up. Toyota has been plagued by a series of recalls in recent years. In quality rankings, American cars are narrowing the gap. J.D. Powers polls buyers about problems with their vehicles during the first 3 years of ownership. In 2003, U.S. automakers trailed the Japanese by 17 percent. By last year, the gap had closed to just 13 percent, in part because Detroit's had a change in attitude.

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[mgd1943]

While your coverage was good, I thought Consumer Reports comparison of the Equinox vs the Honda CRV was unfair. This particular Honda may be better in those respects than the Chevy, but to generalize from that one example is absurd. JD Powers listed four American nameplates that beat Toyota and Honda in initial quality and/or 3 year reliability, and GM and Ford both have models competing with Camry and Accord that have reliabilty better than or equal to both. Ben Franklin said that if you have a reputation as an early riser, you can sleep till noon. GM and Ford's problem is more reputation than quality.

[bildooreilly]

American automakers just build cars to suck you into their other racket "parts and repair."

[dmorg4]

I dont think any body can say american cars are bad cars these are very good cars quality
the problem is the japanise have an unfair advatage in the market place pure and simple
the america cars are made better than japanise cars you look detriot uses real steel they are not thin as paper like the imports i think they need some tarifs to protect the america industry and if they let in the chinese cars the american industry will be gone for sure

[StanJasek]

Toyota is getting ready to announce a second genration 80 mile per gallon Prius for the 2008 model year!
The European Union and even our Washington politicians are discussing a "carbon tax" or carnon controls to reduce CO2 and factors affecting climate change.
Where is the Detroit Big Three in this conversation?
Do the Big Three executives read? Comprehend? Understand?
As Americans we have enormous oppportunities in the auto industry, and can take leadership in all these areas....where are the leaders?
Stan Jasek
Muskegon, Michigan

[zindo-2009]

American car makers are hooked on replacement part. In my life I have had two Chevys, Ford, Two Dodge cars, Jeep Liberty, Isuzu pickup, Pontiac, Honda and Toyota.

ALL and I do mean ALL the domestic cars were nothing but money pits. My 1995 Isuzu had the o2 sensor replaced at 18k miles. My Honda and Toyota have not seen the dealership since I drove them off the lot two years ago.

DaimlerChrysler is tiring from what I hear, they are buying back 3 year old cars and making the top brass drive them so they can see what's wrong with them. I think they need to get five year old cars since most people finance for that long.

[kronoo]

American automobiles and trucks are pre-designed for certain parts to fail at at specific milage. Parts like transmissions etc... Tests have been done to design parts to only last for so long so they will have to be replaced in order to maintain service revenue.

[edjohn66]

This article did a good job skipping the conventional notion that the unions are causing all of the problems. Let's face it: the Big Three suffer from engineering problems and poor decisions at the top. If the average worker had a greater say on what happens, the U.S. auto industry would be MUCH better off right now. And the average unionized U.S. autoworker doesn't really make much more or less than your average European or Japanese auto worker.

There is one big difference: health care. Imagine how competitive EVERY American industry would be if we had UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE?

[guesmanj]

Your story titled "Detroit Shifts Gears Against Japanese" was interesting and on the mark in many areas. I also agree with many of the comments posted by other readers, specifically the point of loyalty to American manufacturers and workers. But, your story failed to mention the most troubling aspect of the American automobile made today. While Asian and European manufacturers alike continue to improve quality and safety features, they offer cars that get far better gas mileage than anything American made. The best illustration of this is a chart Al Gore uses in his documentary titled %u201CAn Inconvenient Truth%u201D. The chart clearly shows not only Japanese leading the way in miles per gallon (MPG), but how European and other Asian nations to include China are catching up. Meanwhile, a lot of people here to include our automakers are still mired with the mentality that bigger is better and 25 MPG is OK. The bottom line is last year I needed a new car and searched my sole for the right thing to do. I asked myself, why should I invest my hard earned money in something lacking in reliability, safety, and MPG? My new Honda Civic Hybrid is averaging 43.7 MPG for over 40,000 miles, is a joy to drive, and I feel very safe no matter the conditions or traffic I%u2019m in. I go to bed a night feeling great knowing that I%u2019m doing my part to lessen the impact on our environment, while keeping money out of the hands of terrorist nations.

[mbartles]

The author's misspelling of braking twice in one paragraph is pretty sad.

[pjkbp]

I drive the same route to work..21 hilly miles to work .. the same as a cooworker who has a Honda CRV... I get a easy 22 to 24 miles per gallon... he said he has never gotten over 21.
I own a Buick CUV that weighs over 4,000 pounds has a 185hp v6 engine. The CRV is wieghs much less and and has a 4 cyl engine.
The Buick is much safer .. roomy..comfortable.. smoother shifting .. quiet... and after 5 years it only was to the dealer once for a minor leak in a A/C part which was fixed by GM during a routine inspection for free.

The US media refuses to bring up the most obvious topics.. since they are owned by the Japanese.

American auto makers have been kept out of the Japanese market forever.
The US autos are also kept out of the European market... while they more than freely sell in the US.