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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