What is it about Indian Americans and Japanese Cars?

'Not a single American Car. Not Suprising at all', the cab driver who drove me to the Hindu Temple of Kentucky, quipped.

After taking a customary glance at the parking lot, which was filled with Honda's, Toyota's and Nissan's, I was perplexed too. I just had completed one week in the US and still was contemplating whether to buy a car or not. Not to mention that I am no expert in understanding the purchasing patterns of Indian Americans.

'Why?', I asked him.

'Is it not apparent? Quality and resale value'. The cabbie indeed appeared very smart.

'If they want to make money, they better put excellent products in the street. They can't keep begging the labour unions for long' he completed.

I remembered reading in the Wall Street Journal, a few weeks earlier, the cost rationalizatons Ford and Chrysler were trying to accomplish in an attempt to bring them back to black. My respect for Yellow cab drivers went up by several notches.

Are American car manufacturers so naive that they don't even realize things that is so apparent even to a cabbie? The efforts to cut the extra flab is good. But it cannot extend beyond a point, when the knife starts cutting the muscle. I am sure American car makers know this.