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this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2024
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Futurology
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Isn't the staying power of Toyota vehicles their build quality and longevity, not their cheapness? Wouldn't this be a Kia killer?
Definitely. I would be surprised if this car maker can compete toe to toe with Toyota on quality but they can slay when it comes to price.
They took off because they were maintainable, reliable, and cheap. All three attributes were important for them to disrupt the space.
It is now, but not when they started taking over back in the 1980's. They started off by being cars that were cheaper. Their prices rose as they started to get a positive name for themselves.
I remember Kia coming into the US market with a somewhat similar playback, but they entered back when many other makers weren't having poor quality/lifespan vehicles. Mid 90's kias were cheap as snot so they got some sales. But it didn't bode well for them as people started to notice they weren't built to last very long, and then they started to go bankrupt (Korean financial crisis) and Hyundai bought them/bailed them out. Then they still stayed cheap as snot in the US, but gradually improved in quality. As they started getting a slightly better name for themselves they'd keep upping the price and keep upping the quality. Nowadays they aren't much cheaper at all than a lot of manufacturers, but they also aren't much behind in quality, either. Had they been able to enter the US market a decade sooner, they could have really had a leg up.
This says the opposite. The pre 1983 Toyotas were more reliable. Toyota made their name in the 70's and by the 80's started cost cutting.
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2010/02/curbside-classic-1975-toyota-hilux-pickup/
Toyota and Lexus is still one of the most reliable cars out there today. I've got multiple Toyota cars and trucks and all have over 200k miles now. Two of my supras have over 250k and the tundra and LC both have almost 300k miles on them.
https://www.thestreet.com/automotive/most-least-reliable-cars-and-car-brands-according-to-consumer-reports#gid=ci02b0e590400025f0&pid=24-toyota-brand-toyota-
They've been top the reliable brand for a long time now.
Hell the Hilux is the unkillable truck for the Middle East for the last 40ish years.
Oh sure, I agree they are the most reliable. I've bought only Toyota or Lexus for almost 20 years now. The first car I personally bought was a Celica in 1985. (Replaced it with a Mustang after the Celica died at 8 years.) Toyota got back on track in the late 90's and now they last 15 years.
I was only pointing out that the legendary Hilux was even more reliable in the 1970's than the 80's.
I had the same experience with a 1992 Toyota pickup truck. The thing was a tank, and had over 300,000 miles on it, and it was still running perfectly fine when I sold it for cheap.
Top Gear even had an episode where they tried pretty hard to destroy a mid 80s Toyota Hilux pickup truck. So, I think that they were pretty reliable in the 80s and 90s, too. At the very least the trucks were.
I still see a lot of old corollas, 4runners, and Toyota pickup trucks on the road in my area, too.
I was going to point out those two top gear episodes, but that just seemed like cheating lol