After world war II, the US started importing British cars. They were unreliable and so were ours. My 55 ford was ready for the junk pile after 22 k miles. In 1964 I bought a Buick and was elated when it actually went 66 thousand miles before I had to junk it. My next Buick was junk after 8 thousand milles. The Japanese changed all that by building cars that were reliable. The Brits never could compete with them. In spite of their reliability, many Americans still wouldn't buy Japanese cars because of WW2. I didn't blame them but I need reliable transportation and so I begin to buy them and never stopped. I now own a 2000 Toyota 4 runner that's never ever been repaired except for one tail light that I replaced myself. Finally the US has wised up I am told and now build reliable cars but I'll never buy one. I don't think the government has any thing to do with it.