I agree that that is what they seem to do. It is amazing that all those companies can implicitly coordinate to do that, though. Most of the product has become less and less reliable. The exception would be Toyota. I would say that Toyota commands a premium in pricing because of it, too. I hear Mazda is getting much better.The auto industry is about making money, build sub par vehicles, so they don’t last like anything.
Why would you build a quality product that lasts 20 years? Build junk that needs replacing often.