Years ago, Ford launched an ad campaign based around the slogan “Quality is job 1.” It was a clever line, even if it took Ford a few years before their quality actually improved enough to the point where some of their models now rival the best of Japanese carmakers in our Annual Car Reliability Survey. During those years, Ford, like the other domestic manufacturers, continued to lose market share and a generation of Americans grew up riding around in the back seats of Hondas and Toyotas. These people are unlikely to feel a great loyalty to the domestics, even though reliability for Ford (and to a lesser extent GM) has shown a marked improvement.

Chinese carmakers, meanwhile, have displayed some quality issues of their own during appearances at the Detroit and New York auto show in recent years. Easy targets for cheap shots and bad jokes, their wares have been relegated to the lobby at Cobo Center, or, if they got lucky, the basement. Some of them looked like they were actually made in somebody’s basement. (See? It’s like shooting fish in a barrel.) Misaligned body panels have been the norm, along with trim pieces attached at curious angles, and doors that felt like they were made out of aluminum foil. One could only wonder how bad they were to drive.  

Things are different at Cobo this year. The industry is changing quickly as manufacturers fight for survival in a depressed economy, with competition more fierce than ever. This year’s Detroit show is more subdued, and less glitzy. Displays from major manufacturers look more like a car show from the county fair than the premiere industry event in the United States. Gone are the faux rock walls, rock bands, waterfalls, and new models dropping from the ceiling or crashing through glass. Instead, many manufacturers have gone with cars and minivans neatly parked on a carpeted space without fanfare. It is rumored that GM saved a million bucks simply by carpeting their space rather than using tile and wood floors.

Don’t get me wrong. In this economic climate, all this is a good thing.  These are your taxes at work, and mine, too.

But back to the Chinese manufacturers. Cutbacks from more established brands have resulted in smaller stands for some longtime exhibitors, and others have pulled out altogether. This has enabled two Chinese companies, BYD and Brilliance, to hit the big time, graduating from the basement to the upstairs on the main floor. There could even be room for one or two more companies if they chose to come, because the space between their booths, like some other Cobo real estate, is eerily empty. And that’s something we’re not used to seeing there. 

And for something else completely different, the cars at the Brilliance stand actually look pretty good. (See the Brilliance M2 sedan above.) Poking around their offerings, levels of fit and finish rival those of major players, with good panel fits, soft-touch surfaces, and paintwork that definitely doesn’t look like it was done in somebody’s basement. While first impressions are positive, we won’t know if the cars are really ready for prime time without driving them and putting them through our test regimen. Likewise, we don’t know how safe or reliable they are. But the initial impressions are in, and the products appear to be improving.

Here’s a little tip, Brilliance, if you want to stay out of the basement and maybe even sell a few cars here: Improve the quality of your promotional material right along with your cars. The slick brochure the company handed out to the press at the show lists Strategy Targets, one of which is “High qulty with Chinese brand name.” And quality is spelled just like it appears above, “qulty.” Quality strikes me as a particularly unfortunate word to misspell in promotional literature. And believe me, that brochure, along with similar material from BYD, is full of other typos that could provide fodder for a boatload of more bad jokes.

With the marketplace more competitive than ever, quality is a key to success. Just ask Ford, or any other company that’s lost market share.  

-Jim Travers 

See Consumer Reports' coverage of the 2009 Detroit auto show.