Every Japanese car buyer is either a former domestic buyer who was burned or the child of one. Winning those customers back may not be possible, it certainly won't happen if GM's current management remains in place.
I bought an new Olds diesel, the year eludes me now, and it ran for 27 miles before crud screwed up the injection pump. After a rebuild, it ran for about 35K miles and required another repair to the pump. When it ran, it was a nice car. I subsequently bought a Honda Civic which I put 359K miles on. It also got 40+ mpg so it paid for itself in fuel savings.
That is my experience. I steadfastly refused to buy anything but American. But after an 1988 Baretta whose motor blew 2 days out of warranty; an 1989 Cavalier that was in the shop for repairs 125 days in 9 months; and a ‘94 Caprice that had 7 alternators replaced in it’s first year that was it. I might be a slow learner, but even I got the message. The quality was substandard and they had defective parts suppliers that they did not discipline for bad parts and continued to replace defective parts with defective parts that would soon fail. Their engineering designs were not made to be repaired easily and repairs were often and very expensive.
I would not take a GM if they gave me one for free. I find it unfortunate that they are in their current prediciment, but my experience was not unusual and there are many, also burned, who will not buy them again.
Yep.