On Tue, 21 Jul 2015 17:05:40 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Crikey. And you don't think the crappy design of much of the product
mattered?

I'll give you a clue. The Japanese made their reputation by selling
pretty ordinary cars which were designed to last their service life
without breaking down.

We're clearly thinking of different 1970s Japanese cars. The ones I'm
thinking of rotted even worse than their contemporary European rivals -
and that really was saying something.

It was into the '80s when the Japanese motor industry really started to
become a force to be reckoned with. About a decade after BL's nadir.