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That's what Detroit car companies said when Japanese car quality started taking off.

The worst fit and finish I ever saw was my sister's 1980 Dodge Aspen.

Agreed. There is a reason that the Camry has been the best selling car in the US just about every single year since 1997. Boring reliability is very attractive to a lot of consumers. Enthusiasts will put up with Tesla quality in order to have the technology, but appliance car buyers are much less willing to accept that.

Sorry can you clarify your point? I am lost in a bit of ambiguity in the syntax.

"I don't think minor cosmetic issues will materially impact public opinion" is exactly the opinion of the Detroit car companies before they started losing market share to the Japanese companies. They've never recovered. The Japanese were widely regarded to be higher quality machines, and the fit/finish was a big part of that perception.

Ah thanks.

I’d add my impression was that the mechanical reliability and price were the key factors.

It would also be important for us to agree on what truly is minor cosmetics versus total negligence or awful design and material quality.

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