Automobile Brand and Manufacturer Quality in 1985
by James Bleeker

Content Summary

This section of Auto on Info rates and ranks auto brands and auto manufacturers with significant sales in the U.S.

The ratings and rankings are for year 1985 and use the statistics found in the Some-Used-Cars-to-Avoid table and the reliability charts of the April 1985 issue of Consumer Reports, likely the most respected and followed source of automobile-quality information in North America.

Each page has a "Summary and Analysis" section.

This section currently has the following pages:

1985 - The 10 Best Automobile Brands: Go
1985 - The 10 Worst Automobile Brands: Go
1985 - The Ratings and Rankings of All Automobile Brands: Go
1985 - The Ratings and Rankings of All Automobile Manufacturers: Go

Highlights

Some interesting highlights of automobile brand and manufacturer quality in 1985 are:

1. By 1985, the Toyota brand had overtaken the Mercedes brand, long-revered for its engineering excellence, in overall reliability.

2. In overall reliability, all Japanese auto manufacturers and European manufacturers outranked the four U.S.-based car manufacturers - Ford Motor Company, Chrysler Corporation, General Motors Corporation, and American Motors Corporation.

3. In overall reliability, 5 of the Top 6 auto manufacturers were Japanese - Toyota Motor Corporation, Mazda Motor Corporation, Honda Motor Company, Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd, and Nissan Motor Company.

4. By both measures of quality, Toyota Motor Corporation was best.

5. With regard to the three auto manufacturers at the bottom end of both measures of quality, American Motors Corporation (worst) was absorbed by Chrysler Corporation (third-worst) in 1987, and both General Motors Corporation (second-worst) and Chrysler Corporation filed for bankruptcy in 2008, and with U.S. government help re-emerged in 2009.

For a Google Knol by site manager that summarizes the changes in auto-brand and auto-manufacturer ranking from 1990 to 2010 by the quality measures of this section, click Go.

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