It's all relative. Toyota and Honda make better, more reliable cars for less money.
And, yes, it does take a very long time to live down a bad reputation. For years, Detroit spent more money on advertising and imagery than they did on substance. You can get away with that for a long time, but when a PR empire collapses, it's not easy to rebuild.
I remember when anyone who was successful in life bought a Cadillac, because that was THE luxury car to own. Then Mercedes and others entered the market, and Cadillac got the reputation of being a pimpmobile. So, now they're fighting bad PR instead of riding the wave of good PR.
"It's all relative. Toyota and Honda make better, more reliable cars for less money."
Why are so many Toyotas and Hondas priced thousands over the comparable Ford (see Camry v. Fusion or Accord v. Fusion) then?