Were Japanese cars in the 70s & 80s thought of in the same way Chinese made cars are today in the UK market?

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icemonsoon@reddit

Japan made cars a lot more similar to european models available at the time than china does now

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Far_Kaleidoscope_102@reddit

The Chinese market will eventually take over when A.I evolves. Even BMW are modelling their cars for the Chinese market. (Being their biggest consumer).

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cannedrex2406@reddit

As a diehard enthusiast, yes but not as badly.

They were considered inferior to the usual Fords and Vauxhall's initially in the late 60s and early 70s as they weren't as "fun" or high quality

but after the 1973 oil crisis, they gained steady popularity as being more reliable and better fuel economy (although they did suffer from rust issues, which Japanese brands still struggled until recently).

And by the 80s, the Japanese brands were helped by a booming economy in Japan to make some of the most iconic Japanese cars that we know today, to show they really were better than the usual European and American brands (think, Mazda MX-5, Honda Civics, Lexus LS400, Honda NSX, Nissan GTR etc)

In fairness, another good example would be Hyundai and Kia. In the 90s and 2000s they were considered crap cheap cars, but managed to pull that image around massively in the early 2010s and now no one makes fun of you for owning a Kia, unlike they would in 2005

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Namiweso@reddit

Kias are helped by the fact they don’t look like a granny car anymore. The new Sportage is beautiful. The model with the old Kia badge was awful.

Whereas I now find most of the recent Fords ugly, Mazdas are round, Audis are boring, etc.

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cannedrex2406@reddit

This is how the Chinese need to appeal to the rest by making cars people would like. They need to have an identity that isn't just a copy of existing European cars (look at Jaecoos for example), and maybe people will be more interested in them.

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Namiweso@reddit

What I don’t like about the Chinese cars is the ulterior motive. I don’t trust China. Subsidise until they take up market share, cause a few companies to go bust and then rise prices.

Some of the prices I see these Chinese cars go for can’t be profitable.

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wongl888@reddit

I am trying to think of an example of another product where China has done this? And I couldn’t think of something where they have driven out the competition only to drastically raise their prices. Can you think of any actual examples of this phenomenon?

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cannedrex2406@reddit

That's absolutely what they are doing, but it probably can't last forever. Existing OEMs just need to hold out and make products that people will actually want

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EverythingIsByDesign@reddit

I remember the feature Top Gear did on the Korean cars.

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rynchenzo@reddit

60s and 70s yes Japanese cars (and tech in general) was inferior to what was being manufactured in the UK.

The Japanese industry lead by Toyota embarked on a journey of improvement (kaizan) and by the 1980s were producing much better quality engineering.

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ticker998@reddit

Some of the really early Toyota's used to corrode quite badly, but not as badly as the austin1100,/minis, I was welding new inner/outer sills & floors in 5 year old UK cars, the Japanese cars were head & shoulders ahead in fuel economy, perfomace, reliability I wasn't aware Chinese built cars were regarded in any particular way maybe you could enlighten me (serious question🙂) it's my opinion Europe car company's won't exist in 10 years

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edhitchon1993@reddit

No, I think Eastern Bloc (Lada, Warburg, FSO) and Yugoslavian cars (Yugo) were probably perceived similarly.

Japanese cars were market disrupters in the same way that Chinese cars have been, but their main disruption was demonstrating that cars could be reliable, and could leave the factory finished.

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Nolsoth@reddit

New Zealand imported a wee bit of eastern bloc vehicles.

It was reasonably easy to spot ladas and skodas around the country in the 80s.

According to my dad who was a mechanic they were absolute shitboxes, but incredibly easy to work on, you could pretty much replace parts with anything of a similar size on hand or fabricate bits in a workshop.

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MercatorLondon@reddit

You don't need to go back to 70ties. Same thing happened with South Korean cars in 1990ties. Daewoo launched in the UK in 1995 and was considered very cheap and ok quality. They won customers by fixed pricing and free servicing which won many customers. Daewoo followed by Hyundai and Kia. The company names were considered very odd back then.
Kia Pride were priced as low as £3999 back in 1991 (which is around £11k on today's money)

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ActionBirbie@reddit

No, in those days the jokes were about Skodas and Ladas.

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Doomergeneration@reddit

Yes very much so in the ‘70s

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VariousBeat9169@reddit

Not really but South Korean cars were in the day and that didn’t hold them back. Design and quality improved exponentially and they are now well established.

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yesiamclutz@reddit

My Kia EV6 might just be the best car I've ever owned.

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Naughty-Stepper@reddit

Mechanically sound with bodywork that returned to earth mother gia at an accelerated rate that rivalled only by the French contingent. Unfortunately the Chinese already have a reputation for cheese grade steel and doing it on the cheap. They even manufacture stainless steel that rusts!

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Jacks_Journey@reddit (OP)

Haha! 😂

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GordonLivingstone@reddit

Basically, yes.

They started out as small, odd cars that only a few people risked buying. Plus, that was soon enough after the second world war that a significant demographic wouldn't buy Japanese if you paid them.

It then became evident that they were rather well built, reliable and economical. The image then started to change - and bigger models became available.

It remains to be seen what will happen with Chinese cars. They seem to be rapidly increasing in numbers at the moment.

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booponthenoggin@reddit

Well yes it’s similar. Initially Japanese cars did have a poor reputation in the uk. But they quickly exceeded the domestic standards for reliability and fuel efficiency. Definitely helped by their smaller engines during the period of high oil prices. Where the Chinese cars already have the leg up on the Japanese cars is that their interiors are not bad even at this stage. This is what held Japanese cars back in the upper mid market for a while.

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bumford11@reddit

Very early on, I think. By the 80s they were very well established, though.

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getoutmywayatonce@reddit

Well according to my dad, East Asian cars had a divide. A few standouts seen as cool (Impreza etc), others not fancy but pitched as practical and sensible and hopefully reliable therefore relatively well received, but moving away from Japan into South Korea daewoos and ssanygongs were unsexy from every angle lol

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Foxtrot-0scar@reddit

There was an excellent Thames television car program that covered it very well back in the 80’s well before all the Top Gear clownery.

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Jacks_Journey@reddit (OP)

That’s interesting I’ll see if it’s on YouTube. 😊

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yesiamclutz@reddit

Can't comment on the seventies but in the eighties the reputation in general was for technologically advanced good quality cars. Not perfect but loads better than the UK brands.

I can name you a lot more iconic Japanese cars from this period than UK brands that's for sure.

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