Permitanme ustedes, con respeto, opinar diferente, personalmente creo que la calidad de los carros americanos es un mito, posiblemente y durante muchos años, no tuvimos muchas opciones adonde escoger y los carros que circularon por las incipientes calles de este país esfectivameente fueron carros americanos, asi los 40´s, 50´s y 60´s fueron dominados ampliamente por marcas com Chevrolet, Ford, Olsdmobile, Rambler, Studebaker, Chrysler, Nash, Pontiac y otros.
Con el paso de los años, marcas fueron absorbidas por otras, entraron los japoneses a jugar y se vino la crisis de los precios del petróleo y el paradigma del carro americano comenzó a cambiar y eso o no lo pudieron o no lo quisieron ver los gringos y en su afán de competir comenzaron a utilizar con materiales y a modificar procesos y la calidad a cambiar.
Por otra parte hay que definir muy bien lo que es calidad, me parece que está compuesto por varios elementos, cuando a mi me hablan de calidad entiendo por ella confiabilidad, durabilidad, una habitabilidad razonable, respaldo en servicio y repuestos, alto valor de reventa, economía y elementos de seguridad activa y pasiva.
Pero es mi definición personal de lo que es calidad, como podrán notar el diseño no lo incluí ya que ello obedece más a un tema de gustos y percepciones que a elementos duros y tangibles.
Cuando veo los crash test en USA, los recalls que hacen, la no tan recientes fallas, la caída en el valor de reventa, la dificultad para encontrar repuestos, en los coches americanos, me parece que no estamos hablando precisamente de calidad, alguien mencionó el confort en el foro, creo que esto va relacionado con el tema de la habitabilidad y ergonomía del vehículo.
Sin embargo, para no caer en una mera opinión personal les remito esto:
Chrysler's attack on crummy quality
Even the government has called quality an issue for the carmaker's survival. Doug Betts' job is to fix it.
Last Updated: April 10, 2009: 5:13 AM ET
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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- If you've ever worked in customer service, you know what the wrath ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ a dissatisfied client feels like. Now just think what Doug Betts, Chrysler's Chief Customer Officer, has to face every day in his job.
Chrysler has become the poster child for poor quality. The government flamed the company on this very issue when it decided it wouldn't give it the billions it needed to survive.
But more importantly, people who've paid tens ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ thousands ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ dollars for a Chrysler, Dodge or Jeep are not pleased. It's Betts' job to face these unhappy customers and fix the problems they bring to him.
Not a single product Chrysler, Dodge or Jeep sells is currently recommended by Consumer Reports, largely because ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ below average "predicted reliability" as measured by owner surveys. Chrysler brands also rank low in J.D. Power surveys ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ dependability and usability.
Betts job is to find exactly what's wrong with Chrysler's current crop ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ products, how to get it fixed and how to make sure future products stand out for the right reasons.
Progress has already been made, he said, and will begin showing up in surveys over the next year or so. The 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee, with its richer interior treatments, is the first Chrysler vehicle to show Betts' influence in a big way. Basically, he's redefining priorities and making sure the designers' work actually makes it into the finished product.
Betts has some experience in this area, having worked for a decade at Toyota (TM) and three years at Nissan. At Nissan he tackled quality glitches by introducing programs similar to the ones he's now put in place at Chrysler.
In 2003, the year before Betts jointed Nissan, Consumer Reports magazine recommended five Nissan models. By 2008, the year after he left, the magazine recommended 11. This year, 14 made the list.
Recommendations for Chrysler vehicles fell from four to zero over that time period, even though it had more models in contention.
Count, measure and track
The basic strategy is to count, measure and log everything, keeping careful track ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ every problem a customer has with a car and tracing it back to the cause.
It also means keeping careful tabs on every vehicle in development to make sure that cost-cutting, a constant pressure at a company facing bankruptcy, doesn't leave Chrysler products feeling cheap and shoddy, as it has in the past.
Improvements are already showing up on current Chrysler products, Betts said. The results will start showing up in dependability surveys soon, he said, as these improved models are just now flowing into the market.
"We probably fixed a thousand problems last year," Betts said. He quickly corrected that figure to "probably more than a thousand."
In most cases, the fix will be something totally invisible to the end customer. For instance, the interlocking teeth on a plastic clip might not have been long enough, allowing a cable it held in place to vibrate loose and rattle. But, while the customer will never see that change, it could prevent an annoying problem later on.
Many different types ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ 'quality'
Last year, Betts boasts, Chrysler reduced the rate ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ warranty claims by 30%. In recent years, the average rate ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ improvement had been just 2.4%
But that's just one type ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ quality: Dependability. In Betts view, there are six distinct types ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ quality and Chrysler needs to do better in all ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ them:
Dependability (things not breaking)
Perceived quality (how solid and nice the car looks, feels and sounds)
Performance quality (how it rides and drives)
Regulatory quality (not getting recalled)
Service quality (being treated right by the dealer)
Dissatisfaction (nothing's wrong, customers just don't like the car)
To get to the bottom ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ all these, Betts surveys Chrysler customers relentlessly, usually by phone. Betts often listens in to the calls himself. Customers are interviewed shortly after they purchase and at intervals over the next few years.
"We had 30,000 interactions last month," he said.
The survey is simple: Would you recommend that someone buy this car from this dealer?
The answer is given on a one-to-ten scale.
"We want them to be "Hell, yeah!" said Betts, but the people with a score ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ six or below are the ones that can provide valuable lessons.
"We hope to learn a lot from people with six or below," he said. "Those are detractors."
Detractors are the people who check the bad boxes on surveys and who complain to friends, family and in Internet postings, smearing the brand. For detractors, Betts said, he digs deeper trying to find out exactly where the problem was. The interviews are done over the phone so surveyors get a real sense ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ whether a customer is just a little annoyed or really ticked off.