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By Root 946 0

program was shelved, mercifully, only to resurface later with Saab as Subaru’s partner. That one bit the dust as well, as the vehicle was deemed insufficiently Saab-like and too investment-intensive. Still, the pressure to “make use of the Subaru alliance” existed, resulting in one of my less good ideas: creating a small Saab, the 9-2, off the Subaru Impreza station wagon, the rear two-thirds of which bore a remarkable resemblance to the large Saab 9-5 wagon. With all-new Saabidentity sheet metal, it would be credible, right? Wrong! It was hated even before testing by the media, who called it a “SAABaru,” and we managed to offend both the quirky-addicted Saab loyalists as well as the hardcore Subaru fans. Sales were dismal; the 9-2 required heavy discounting, and arguably damaged both brands.

We ultimately had an amicable divorce (the Fuji-Heavy/ Subaru executives were a very likeable and capable bunch), and Subaru is now, as the Japanese like to say, “under the motherly wing of Toyota.”

And thus—with a whimper, not a bang—ended the experiment with alliances with Japanese manufacturers. One exception was NUMMI, or “New United Motorcar Manufacturing Company,” the Fremont, California, joint venture with Toyota. Born in 1984 under the then-leadership of Roger Smith, NUMMI was GM’s first serious dip into the waters of then-superior Japanese manufacturing culture. GM’s best and brightest were cycled into and out of NUMMI in the expectation that the lessons of lean production and worker participation would quickly spread throughout the vastness of GM’s manufacturing operations. It did, but not quickly.The ex-NUMMI “missionaries” were often treated as representatives of an alien culture, and the phrase “let me tell you how that was done at NUMMI” was guaranteed to cause 90 percent of minds to snap tightly shut.

The first jointly produced vehicle was essentially a Toyota Corolla with a Chevrolet clone dubbed “Prizm.” The Corolla sold well, as always, while the Prizm had a hard time: it overlapped GM’s own Cavalier, offering roughly the same size and performance. And here I offer a curiosity I have observed several times at various stages of my career: The NUMMI-Corolla performed with the usual bravura in the Consumer Reports rankings, based on voluntary assessments by owners.The Chevrolet Prizm ranked way lower.Yet these cars were engineered identically, had the same features and specifications, and were built in the same plant, on the same final assembly line, by the same workers.Where did the “quality and reliability” difference come from? I observed the same phenomenon in the late 1980s when Chrysler had a NUMMI-like venture with Mitsubishi in Bloomington, Illinois. It was called “Diamond Star,” and it produced a small sports coupe for both Mitsubishi and Chrysler (Plymouth Laser, Eagle Talon, and Mitsubishi Eclipse). Again, same engineering, same parts, same factory, same workers, and yet in Consumer Reports and other surveys, the Mitsubishi product scored far better.What’s going on here?

My theory is that the “self-reporting” by owners brings with it an inherent bias: owners of Japanese cars truly believe they have made a superior purchase. They are part of the “smart buyers” club.Then why did the windshield wiper fall off? “Oh, well, that’s just a minor error; someone didn’t tighten a bolt. I’m not going to besmirch the reputation of [insert Japanese brand here] by reporting this minor little incident.” The owners of domestic cars feel no such overwhelming obligation to the maintenance of their brand’s image; it probably wasn’t that great to start with.They feel no need to retroactively justify the wisdom of their purchase, so everything gets reported. A theory? Sure. Maybe wrong? Quite possibly. But it will have to do until someone offers a better one.

GM’s relationship with Toyota was unusual. It appeared to be a case of mutual admiration. Toyota admired GM’s huge size and global reach, while GM, finally aware of the competitive threat, wanted to glean the secret of Toyota’s enviable quality record and manufacturing