[dhs12345]

No, I think you hit the nail on the head.

Will some more comments to your statement...

For the longest time, American car manufacturers used American patriotism as a tool to take advantage of their American customers.

They could cut corners here and there and Americans would continue to buy. This changed for me in the 80s. I finally got tired of the crap that GM made and bought Toyota.

Now, if I buy American (only Chrysler), I don't spend a lot of money. Because the car will pretty much be "throw away" after 100K Miles, anyway. As it is designed to be -- throw away after the warranty expires.

[Aikonaa]

For the longest time, American car manufacturers used American patriotism as a tool to take advantage of their American customers.

The funny thing is that many smug, wanna-be-elite liberals won't even consider buying American brand cars. Not because of quality issues but because American cars are not up to their aesthetic or status symbol standards. There have been many heated arguments between union thugs and latte-liberals on this issue on leftist blogs and discussion forums.