Quality as a Brand Attribute

For decades, American consumers have haughtily disavowed American auto makers as being less well built/crafted than their foreign counterparts. Toyota was one of the beneficiaries of that sentiment. I even considered purchasing a Toyota, but opted for a Ford because two of my sisters, a brother-in-law and two ex-brother-in -laws all work for Ford and my father and my uncle retired from Ford. I bought my Ford Focus not necessarily because I wanted it, but because it gets great gas mileage and I could get a great discount through my father. But, it turns out that Toyota, like most of its counterparts is having issues with quality. Yes, American cars have suffered from quality issues for quite some time, but maybe now we'll start looking again at American made cars, like the Ford Focus which is made by an American company and is actually made in the United States. In the short term, American auto makers really have a prime opportunity to take back some of the market share from Toyota in the long term. The fact is, Toyota is -- and will remain -- a leader in the auto industry, but American automakers have been give a gift in a bit of leveling of the playing field. It's now up to them to take advantage of that opportunity.