We often get asked, “So why don’t the domestic brands build better vehicles?” and the answer usually comes down to simple economics. It’s not that the domestics don’t know how to engineer and produce amazing, well-built vehicles. It is a matter of fixed costs, variable expenditures, unions, dealers and what we like to call ‘bean counters’. Bean counters are those guy’s who help cost reduce a vehicle within an inch of its life in an effort to compete in the automotive marketplace. The imports typically have a leg up on the domestics due to their younger work force (read: health care costs and retirement costs), their efficiency and the American publics perceptions about their quality.
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