The world has long been enamored with American-made automobiles, from pre-war hot rods to 1960s muscle vehicles, and no one can get enough of the classics. Today, there is a pickup craze, and the majority of the top pickups are proudly built in the United States.
Most American manufacturers still can’t seem to grasp the concept that more isn’t necessarily better. Always looking for more; more power, more features, and more weight, it seems.
It’s a fool’s errand to keep going down this road, but some people seem to be stuck in their ways, incapable of thinking outside the box, and instead of feeling obligated to force their next gas-guzzling SUV down their consumers’ throats.
Energy consumption
This problem may be solved by a big push toward electrification, but as long as shops remove DPFs and catalytic converters for performance advantages, the problem will exist for the next few decades.
The aftermarket is one thing, but cheating on emissions testing is the latest craze. Volkswagen has been dragged through the mud for this, but other American automakers have been doing the same thing for years and have gotten away with it more or less.
Creating a high-quality product
It’s something that’s been disregarded since the advent of mass manufacturing. It’s reasonable to state that there are acceptable limits in order to keep the cost of a car low because, no matter how thorough the quality control, some flaws will slip through the gaps.
In an apples-to-apples comparison, however, American brands trail behind the competition in this regard. One of the worst offenders is Tesla, which is touted as a premium brand yet has had a slew of quality-related concerns throughout its brief history.
Stability
Something that, more often than not, goes hand in hand with build quality. If a corporation is mass-producing a car and already has an unreasonable tolerance for flaws, it stands to reason that more issues will arise.
Mechanical reliability is rarely an issue, as most American automobiles leave the factory with a mild tune, but poor build quality leads to many electrical defects in modern cars, some of which can lead to catastrophic failure.
Capacity
Automobiles and pickup trucks in the United States are enormous. In many ways, this is logical given the magnitude of the roadways, but it makes little sense at a time when we should be promoting efficiency.
Small cars are likewise inefficient for their size, but there is a happy medium available, and it’s difficult to see why so many full-size trucks sell. To transport large vehicles, large, strong, and frequently wasteful engines are required, which explains the preference for the gas V8.
Transmission system
For decades, the typical torque converter automatic has outlived its usefulness in the car industry, and the fact that American manufacturers continue to produce new ones is nothing short of irritating.
Simply said, they are meeting a demand that would not exist if the public requested more efficient technology. DCTs are costly to produce, but they would be considerably cheaper if more money was invested in their development.
CVTs are ideal for tiny, inexpensive automobiles, but nothing beats a manual transmission for everything else.
Labeling
Despite the fact that it is now widespread throughout the world, it is reasonable to claim that America invented it, thanks to the big three’s desire to make a car for every American purse.
As a result, many vehicles share the same fundamental platform, often to a fault. It’s fantastic to be efficient, but there has to be something wrong when you’re attempting to promote something as a premium brand but it looks exactly like your budget car.
Many alternatives
More isn’t always better, and a broad list of options isn’t always what clients want or need. What they require is the inclusion of the same basic characteristics in a base model.
When there are so many options to choose from, it’s nearly absurd. A car’s out-the-door price can even quadruple if you check the right/wrong options.
Gasoline Addiction
Diesel has never quite lived up to its potential as the fuel of the future, but it is apparent that it is helpful in some applications; just ask any truck driver (or the US Army for that matter).
Most of the developing world realized this decades ago, and most pickup customers choose diesel because of the increased torque, economy, and serviceability.
Operational cost
One aspect of this issue is fuel economy, which is exacerbated by the aforementioned love affair with gas V8s.
Parts are plentiful but somewhat expensive, driving up the cost of ownership for American vehicles, making them only actually affordable to run in the United States. Although this may seem self-evident, other manufacturers can undercut them in almost any country.
Management
Although there are a few sports cars that handle well, most American automobiles are at best average in terms of management.
Nobody expects pickup trucks to handle well, and they do, as do similarly average SUVs, but when it comes to sedans (which are few and far between), the vast majority put comfort over pleasure to drive.
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