QOTD: Do the Evolution?

Things change. Once upon a time, the greatest concern among Americans was getting home in time to watch that Three’s Company episode where Jack wakes up in bed with Mr. Roper. Now, it’s antibody testing and virus-rocked retirement funds.

Things change in the automotive world, too, and along with it, our perceptions. Preconceptions often become misconceptions as new technology and a focus on quality control (or lack thereof) changes minds en masse via personal experience and word of mouth. Brands and entire countries once known for building the best become the stuff of jokes, and vice versa.

How has your thinking evolved?

Two mindset-shifting eras come to, er, mind. The first being the 1970s and the long, slow decline of Detroit as carbuilder extraordinaire. A flood of affordable, high-MPG, and often reliable imports put the Americans to shame in an era of economic stagnation, rising interest rates, and oil crises. Mercedes-Benz and BMW’s status rose among the increasing number of citizens seeking luxury and refinement of the non-overstuffed variety.

A decade later came the Koreans.

“We’re going to buy you a new car. How does a Hyundai sound?” a conciliatory car wash manager asks Al Bundy in a nearly forgotten episode of Married With Children.

“Like an old lawnmower,” our antihero replies, continuing the hunt for his star-spangled, forever-broken Dodge Dart.

Not anymore does that sentiment hold sway, and no one who’s driven a new Hyundai built in the last decade or more would ever think that the company once built the Pony. The automaker’s Genesis brand tops quality lists. Its products look great both on paper and in the flesh.

Meanwhile, because things always come full circle, there’s a full generation of drivers who, when they think of a new American vehicle, they envision their aunt’s Cutlass Ciera, or their granddad’s limping-home Dynasty. Since getting their license, they’ve only driven a Honda or Toyota and see no reason to change. To them, anything rolling out of Detroit must be a hopelessly outdated, inefficient, badges-falling-off crapmobile.

And then there’s eras where quality seems to take a dive across many continents — such as the 2000s. The only industry to come out of that era of collective complacency looking good was Korea’s.

And who knows — maybe you picked up a new British car that turned out to be the most reliable thing you’ve ever owned.

So tell us, B&B, how has your personal ranking of various automotive ethnic groups changed over the years? Any big movements on the list?

[Image: Murilee Martin/TTAC]