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Honestly we have to give it to American automakers in some segments; well at least Jay Leno thinks so. No doubt that no one in the world knows how to make better trucks than Americans do. Even American performance cars like the Corvette Z06 have received international praise. But unfortunately, those are just not the type of vehicles American citizens are buying anymore.

Where we fall short is low-cost econocars. According to Leno, there was no better car for your money than the Model T. Now most compact cars have, what Leno calls, a ‘jellybean’ look and are made of extremely cheap materials.

“In order to make the more expensive car more appealing, U.S. companies feel as though they have to dumb down the cheaper car,” writes Leno over at Portfolio.com. “I believe that, all things being equal, Americans will buy American. It just has to be as good as the competition; it doesn’t have to be better.”

Leno believes that Toyota will become the top dog, while others will have to start increasing the quality and reliability of their cheaper and less profitable models.

We agree with Leno and believe that making cheaper and better quality compact cars are possible. Take a look at the Ford Fiesta. As we recently reported, Ford worked closely with its suppliers to offer new technologies and a premium-type interior for less money on its cheaper and smaller Fiesta. The car is expected to carry a price tag of under $15,000 when it arrives in the U.S. late 2009.

Source: MSNBC

[tags]Cars, Car, Auto, Automobile, Vehicles, Technology, Auto News, News, Automotive, Ford[/tags]

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