this post was submitted on 20 Feb 2024
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[Dormant] Electric Vehicles
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This same thing happens every couple of decades. In the 70s and into the 80s, no one wanted to buy a Japanese car - or virtually any Japanese products. They were considered inferior to their American-made counterparts (cars, but also electronics like radios and TVs). The inferiority of Japanese products was regular material for stand up comics and late night TV. The only reason, we were told, that anyone was buying their products was that they were dumping them on us at a loss. Now, Toyota isn’t synonymous with “cheap piece of crap import” but is considered a quality product that rivals American automakers. If you can tolerate a large dose of regular old establishment racism and want to flash back to how America saw the Japanese in the 80s, check out Michael Crichton’s Rising Sun. Or really about 70% of what was produced in the 80s, I guess, but that one is a keeper.
Fast forward a decade or two and they were saying the exact same thing about Korean cars. Same with Korean electronics in general - why buy Korean when you can buy Japanese?
Now it’s Chinese cars. I’m sure in the next decade or two it will be Vietnamese or Indian cars.
Even 1955 Doc Brown in Back To The Future knocks back Japanese made electronics
We still don’t like Korean cars that much in the US. Kyundai were making some really good progress at establishing themselves as a real brand. Then the sand issues came out, followed up by the stealing, sprinkle in some bad choices all around and I’d say they’ve set themselves back a good 5-10 years.
The Japanese really stuck around by making quality cars. Mitsubishi barely exists in the US, Isuzu couldn’t make it (outside of trucks), and I can’t believe Suzuki made it until 2012. They rode on the coat tails of Toyota, Honda, and Nissan (who’s currently having a bit of a crisis). These cheap Chinese cars are not quality. I’ve been in a number of them in Costa Rica and they all start out nice, but rapidly fall apart. Some of them are even rusting away, in Costa fucking Rica. You’ll still see 1950s land cruisers casually driving around down there. But I don’t think any of these Chinese cars will make it that long.
Maybe with their luxury brands they’ll make something lasting. But from my limited experience with them, I can’t imagine Americans buying them, let alone not laughing at them.
What sand issue?
https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/2017/04/07/hyundai-kia-recall-engine/100163176/
I believe they expanded it later on to even more models.
We laughed at the first wave of Japanese imports too, but people bought them for the price. Now many of us prefer them for the quality even at a higher price.
Yugo went the other way. We laughed at them but a few people bought them for the price. However they soon found out just how bad the product was and no one was willing to see if they’d improve.
Which way will Chinese manufacturers go? It’s all a guess since it hasn’t happened yet but I know Chinese companies can make reliable stuff with decent quality. I think their chances are pretty good against legacy manufacturers unwilling to risk change in the face of their pre-existinG product lines
It’s take a decade but Korean cars are killing it in the UK .
I re read rising sun recently…. It’s astonishing in 2024