Toyota's doing well, it seems.

Go Prius!

They still make the Echo?

Few things have been printed as comprehensively damning of U.S. and European carmakers.

In the mid-70's, when the Corolla, Civic and Datsun first started making inroads here, they all STARTED OUT with reliability ratings higher than ours. Detroit thumbed its nose.

In the 80's, the gap widening and Detroit taking heat, especially for lagging behind in engine technology, a few Detroiters said, "We'll catch up." Ford, always trying to look more progressive than GM, started its infamous "At Ford, quality is Job 1!" TV campaign.

20 years later...no more cloths polishing the Ford badge and making it gleam (their signature in the ads).

Who can possibly care any more? Like a friend dying, it just leaves an empty place in your heart. We had our day in the sun, and innumerable chances to redeem ourselves, with the highest-paid industrial workers in the world.

And we blew it.