In response to Ed Morrison’s letter Assess quality of foreign cars before making buying decision (2/11), Morrison attempts to rationalize his purchase of foreign products by denouncing the American automotive industry without any facts or evidence to prove his claims of technology and efficiency lagging within the American automotive industry. Granted, the American vehicles produced in the 1990s and even early 2000s were lagging behind in quality. However, due to the fundamental economic principle of competition, the American companies have now met or surpassed the foreign automakers in regard to vehicular efficiency and quality. If one researches the Chevrolet Cobalt XFE, for example, it would be discovered that this vehicle beats the Honda Civic in highway miles per gallon (37 versus a respective 36). The Chevrolet Malibu won the 2008 North American Car of the Year (the 2007 honor was taken by the Saturn Aura), and offers 33 mpg on the highway, along with excellent quality ratings from J.D. Power and Associates. The Chevrolet Traverse bests the Honda Pilot (24 versus 23) on the highway, whilst offering more interior space, and direct injection technologies for lower emissions. These are just a couple examples of the current situation.
The future product pipeline is even more promising. For example, the Chevrolet Cruze gets an estimated 45 mpg on the highway with its new turbocharged, direct injection engine. The new Ford EcoBoost system, which produces the same horsepower and torque ratings as a comparable V-8, attains V-6 fuel efficiency ratings. The Chrysler LLC and General Motors Corp. co-developed Two-Mode Hybrid System, which is more advanced and efficient than a comparable parallel series hybrid system, also shows proof of current and future development within the hybrid industry. Also, the Chevrolet Volt, the first vehicle in the industry to introduce several new technologies and astounding efficiency numbers, is set to be released in about a year. The fact remains that Toyota Motor Corp. produces some of the most fuel inefficient vehicles in the industry — Tundra and Sequoia to name a few — while Honda also has started to lose its claims to highest fuel efficiency within its respective classes (crossovers and small vehicles). While the American companies are not perfect by any stretch, the fact remains that the foreign competition possesses many faults of their own. As the American vehicle companies have improved, the Japanese competition has lost sight of their original vision of being the design and technological leaders. To hail the foreign automakers as the messiah of the industry is simply ignorant.?
