Now that my parents had seen the promised land of Japanese quality with our 1983 Nissan Sentra, they were ready to jump in with both feet by ditching their second albatross, the 1979 Dodge Omni. However, the automotive climate in 1984 was very different than 1983. It was morning in America, and everyone wanted a Japanese car.
I’m not sure why 1984 would be so different from 1983 – at least in South Florida – but my parents had a difficult time finding a car, and Voluntary Export Restraints (VER) were the main reason. For those of you not familiar with VER, it was an agreement by the Japanese automakers, and supported by the Reagan Administration, to limit the total numbers of cars exported to the U.S. The goal was to give the U.S. automakers, who were mired in red ink and crappy product, some breathing room without imposing unseemly punitive tariffs. Here is a nice overview on the subject.
My wholly unsupported theory is that the worst garbage came out of Detroit between 1978 and 1983. Take a look at any issue of Consumer Reports from that period and note the number of sample defects on the American cars. There were so many defects on the 1979 Dodge St. Regis, some which caused the car to die or not start at all, that they bought a second to complete their tests. The number of defects on both cars was around 40. While this is an extreme example, there was definitely a huge quality gap between American and Japanese cars. By 1984, the loans on most of those 1978 and newer cars had finally been paid off. Their frustrated owners, who vowed never to buy American again, were looking to replace them as quickly as possible. Thanks to VER, however, there were only so many cars on the lots of those Toyota, Nissan and Honda dealers, and the window stickers had the letters “ADM” or “ADP” on them, typically followed by a four-digit number.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=MMjcorTCZCE&feature=emb_logo
Even the captive imports weren’t hiding their parentage, as touted in the video above.
Internet photo of a 1984 Mazda 626 Hatchback
It was in these infested waters that my parents chose to swim. The car that they really wanted – the Mazda 626 hatchback – was too expensive, as that body style only came in the top trim level. Since they were having a good experience with the Sentra, they set their sights on the Stanza 4-door hatchback. They sat in a nice silver one a couple of months prior at the auto show and were impressed with it.
Internet photo of a 1984 Nissan Stanza Hatchback
The Stanza was updated for its third model year, with a bolder cross-hatch grill, nicer steering wheel, and revised tail lamps. Most importantly, Nissan changed the engine from the carbureted CA20S to the fuel-injected 2.0-liter CA20E (thank you Wikipedia), raising its horsepower from 88 to 97 and one-upping both the still-carbureted Camry and Accord. Performance was quite peppy for its time, even with the optional 3-speed automatic.
So, off we went to the same Nissan dealer where we bought the Sentra, but there were no 4-door hatchback Stanzas on the lot. Another dealer had exactly one on the lot, which the salesman said was the one we sat in at the auto show. If that was true, then it had been sitting there for months. Dad figured there must have been a reason it hadn’t yet sold, and he had no desire to discover what it was.
If you’ve read the CCs on the Nissan Stanza here and here, the impression is that these cars didn’t sell very well which is correct. I don’t recall seeing many of any generation of Stanza on the road even when they were new. Nissan was most likely using most of their quota allotment to bring over the cars that were selling, like the Sentra, Maxima, 300ZX and truck. The few Stanzas that were available probably went for close to full sticker not because the Stanza was a great car, but because it wasn’t a Chevy, Ford, Dodge or Plymouth and was still less expensive than the Camry, Accord (even Marysville-produced ones) or aforementioned 626, all of which appeared to be going for full sticker or more. Please keep in mind that I’m describing a particular market at a particular point in time based on 36-year-old observations of a 15-year-old. Your experiences in your location may have differed.
Internet photo of a 1984 Renault Encore
A bit flustered, they went to look at some other cars. The direct competition was more than they wanted to spend. I do remember they tested the new Renault Encore (Alliance hatchback) and really liked the way it drove. Strangely, the salesman wasn’t that interested in selling them a car and based on what I’ve heard about the Alliance/Encore, did them a favor.
Internet photo of a 1984 Isuzu Impulse
They also took a test drive in an Isuzu Impulse, for which I was fortunate enough to be along. The 1984 Impulse was, arguably, the nicest Chevette in the world (both cars sat on the same GM platform). With its slippery shape and “command center” dashboard, it was stunning. It wasn’t a fast car, with its 90-hp 1.9-liter engine, but it was fast enough for my parents’ needs. However, Mom and Dad felt that the rear seat in this rear-wheel-drive coupe was just too small for us. No matter how vociferously I claimed otherwise, it was still a no sale.
Were my parents serious?
At this point, they were starting to get desperate, as the longer this process took, the more likely the Omni was going to need another expensive repair. They figured they needed to expand their horizons, so that’s what they did – test drove a Plymouth Horizon. I know what you’re thinking: Were they f**king crazy? After more than five years of hell with the flaky duo??? That’s what I thought when Dad told me about it. The Horizon (and Omni) did receive a handsome update for 1984, with Euro-inspired black trim replacing much of the chrome on non-SE models. With the optional 2.2 liter engine, the Horizon/Omni were in a class by themselves, and surely Chrysler would have the bugs worked out after seven model years? It ultimately didn’t matter, since Dad said the new one actually felt slower than our ’79 with the 1.7. Go figure.
Internet photo of a Nissan 200SX
Maybe it was time to consider the 2-door Stanza hatchback, so back to the dealer they went. Now, all of them were gone and while the sexy new 200SX caught their attention, it was less roomy in back than the Impulse. The dealer did, however, have exactly one Stanza with automatic and air on the lot. This was the top-of-the-line GL sedan in Gold Mist Metallic over Java Brown Metallic; a demo with over 6,000 miles and a severely scratched hood. The sedan was introduced for 1983 in GL trim only, which meant power windows, power door locks, a cassette player, and a nicer interior. “Power windows and locks? This car must be out of their price range,” I remember thinking, or I may have said it aloud. Dad, however, asked to take a test drive. Afterwards, to my amazement, we went inside to see if a deal could be worked out.
I distinctly remember Mom, Dad and me sitting at the salesman’s desk, and he slid over the paper with the price. It was over $11,000, and Dad just stared at it. In 1984, the Stanza GL had an MSRP of $9,099. Add automatic and air, and this was somewhere just north or south of full sticker for a high-mileage demo. The silence continued. I finally broke in with, “Aren’t you going to negotiate with him?” Dad shot me a nasty look, and I sat back. That’s because there was no negotiating, thanks to VER. I believe at this point my parents were just done shopping and, like many people, decided to go with the more expensive car and hope finances would just work themselves out, which they ultimately did. We picked up the car a week later after the dealer fixed the hood.
Gotta love the tall greenhouse!
Why am I including this car on my COAL series? Since I did not have a car of my own after selling the Zephyr, I had plenty of wheel time in both this car as well as the Sentra. This is the car that I failed took my driver’s test on, and this was the car that they told my sister she could not drive after they traded in the Omni, which she had been slowly destroying driving. If I can’t get my sister to write that one up, I will. It’s a good story.
This is a picture from an identical Stanza I came across 10 years ago.
Fortunately, the Stanza was a huge improvement over the Omni. One of my favorite features was the full instrumentation, with a big speedometer and tachometer surrounded by four smaller gauges on a grid-like background. It was fun watching the voltmeter flicker when the turn signals were engaged. Any issues with the car were primarily the direct result of the fact that I did spend quite a bit of time behind the wheel.
There was the time I was screwing around on wet pavement and ran head-first into my friend Todd’s Nova. No real damage to his beater, but there was some noticeable damage to the Stanza. After work, I was going to a concert at the Hollywood Sportatorium, so I just needed to get home, change my clothes, and leave again without anyone noticing, then I could say something must have happened after we parked. I had just started backing up when my Dad opened the front door to tell me something. Damn. I had to think fast. After acting surprised myself, he asked if I’d backed into the parking space at school that day. “Why, yes. Yes I did. Somebody must have backed out of their space and hit me!” Apparently, the exact same thing happened to my sister.
See my shadow? This Stanza apparently spent its early life in Southampton according to the stickers on the window.
The main issue was finding a good independent mechanic for the routine maintenance and repairs or other items which may or may not have been my fault. It seemed whatever shop Dad tried, they ended up either screwing up the repair, screwing him, or both. He even had to sue one of them in small claims court, a case which he won.
(We had a nice discussion regarding independent mechanics during last week’s COAL. No need to bring it up again. In addition, thanks go out to SailorHarry for coming up with a good hypothesis for the CV joint issue and ExFordTech for his technical expertise.)
Our 1989 Honda Civic LX. Dad surprised my mother with the trunk rack/rear spoiler when they picked up the car.
After a good five year run, the transmission started acting up, which may or may not have had something to do with the neutral drops I was prone to. Car shopping was a lot easier this time around thanks primarily to much higher VER quotas, which would be phased out completely in 1994. Dad purchased a fourth-generation Civic LX, which, surprisingly, had nearly identical interior dimensions to the Stanza. Unfortunately, it was only a couple of months later when Dad heard the gear whine in the Sentra and realized they would again have two car payments.
According to Michael Smitka’s piece about VER, the Japanese manufactures made billions in excess profits and higher overall prices helped bring American automakers back to health. However, that extra money – roughly $1,500 per car – came out of the pocket of American consumers like my parents.
I ordered a 1984 Honda CR-X sight unseen for $500 over list in Sept 1983 – month after month the dealer kept lying to me, saying my color w/ a manual didn’t come in. Meanwhile my Scirocco was killing in repairs. In June 84 I told the salesman that I’ve seen what I wanted delivered many times and he told me I could get my deposit back. Found out the dealer was now charging $1,500 over list.
Contacted Honda headquarters and told them about the dealer – I got a CR-X the next week and never brought it back to that dealer. Had it for 17 years and sold it in one day with the original clutch.
So I was a victim of Detroit too but I also know that the import quotas caused the Japanese (and others) to build plants in the US which ultimately helped the US by creating a more competitive market w/ better prices and quality. So short term pain for LT gain.
And to this day I have never bought another VW or Detroit product.
I well remember those dark days prior to the widespread adoption of fuel injection, and looking back, can never understand the seeming reluctance of manufacturers to not quickly implement throttle body injection as an intermediate measure. Chrysler especially, considering their dalliance with lean burn (honestly they almost had it), simply using TBI instead of a carburetor would likely have made that system reliable. For example, compare the ’84 LTD to the ’83 Fairmont. Under the skin, largely the same vehicle. However, the TBI 3.8 vs the carbureted log manifold strait 6 made for a completely different driving experience, no cold start issues, actual response to accelerator pedal, no hesitation or rough idle. Who knows why, perhaps inertia, bean counters, supply issues? Dark days indeed.
I think 1981 was the trough sales year during a nasty recession, with obscenely high interest rates added as runaway inflation was being tamed. 1980-82 were horrible sales years in the US auto market as a whole. Things were picking up in 83, but 1984 was probably the first strong sales year since 1979. That strong consumer demand undoubtedly made the VIR sting buyers much worse than before.
What was a company’s quality nadir is an interesting question. I think Chrysler’s was 1979. Ford’s was around there too, perhaps just a touch later. I can’t say on GM. I think an Omni in 1984 would have been an entirely different thing than an Omni of 1979. It was no Honda, but even our 1980 wasn’t bad. I am surprised that the 2.2 felt slow. Of course, I always felt that the 1.7 cars were reasonably powered.
I vividly recall all of my friends buying new cars after our 1985 graduation. I can think of maybe one who bought American – a Buick Regal. Everyone else gravitated to Accords and 626s.
Those interest rates of the 80s were incredible, and if you didn’t experience it, you would have a hard time understanding their impact. I can remember certificates of deposit (CDs not musical) and money market accounts paying upwards of 15%. Crazy times.
Interest rates turned that $6,000 new car into a $12,000 car. Imagine a payment of $200 a month in 1980 dollars (minimum wage was $3.10 in 1980 or $500 a month) for 5 years…
The worst part was you couldn’t lock in interest rates on home loans. Just before my parents closed on their house in Florida in June, 1980, their lender jacked up the rate several points. The owner refused to let them push back the closing to search for a new lender, so they ended up with a payment much higher than planned.
That was all too common back then. You needed a real estate agent that really had your back, making sure that contingencies were put into a purchase and sale agreement to protect you against unscrupulous lenders.
If I recall correctly, I paid about 12-13% on my first car loan in 1981. Paid 2.9% which seemed like free money on my second loan in 1986. Never had a car loan since then.
I remember those days well-in 1981 the local credit union was offering 15% interest on 90 day certificates of deposit. The only catch was the minimal amount required was $5,000 (which fortunately I had, so I came out pretty good on that deal.) At the same time interest rates on automobile loans were sky high and I think home mortgage loans were around 20%. I remember during this time auto sales were so bad the local Chevrolet dealer laid off all its salesmen. Crazy times indeed.
Me too…I financed my ’78 Scirocco in 1981 when I bought it used…at the company sponsored credit union. For a used car, I felt really lucky to get a 16% loan for 4 years…and since my boss was president of the credit union, I somehow qualified for an extra $1000 of loan amount (I only had worked there 6 months by then and the loan amounts were based on how long you had been a member). I had a friend that bought a ’79 Sunbird and got a 24 % rate (not at the credit union). My Mother worked for a Dodge dealership at that time and double digit interest rates were normal even on new vehicles.
Back to the Stanza, I really liked them, but my first car was a Datsun 710, which was RWD vs FWD, but about the size of the Stanza. Another boss I had about that time (1984 vs 1981) bought a Stanza, and I thought the upholstery was neat…a kind of “formal” cloth design…my 710 had white vinyl seats (normal for a ’74) with brown carpeting. I thought the Stanza was very nice, not sure why they abandoned the Stanza for Altima in 1993 or so (but of course the Stanza replaced the 510 which replaced the 710 which was a replacement for the original 510). However I ended up buying only VWs after that Scirocco, though I’m only on my 3rd (2000 Golf) as I tend to hold onto cars awhile.
I had plenty of back-to-back wheel time in a 1.7/manual ’81 Omni and a 2.2/auto ’86 Horizon very early in my driving career circa 1990 and they felt relatively even. I didn’t have a chance to take a spin in a 2.2/manual until years later and it was reasonably quick, particularly if you set your mental wayback machine to the mid ’80s.
My mom bought the Horizon new in ’86 because they offered financing somewhere in the high single digits.
Honda opened their Marysville, OH assembly plant in 1983 and by 1989 it was well underway and that’s where your Civic was probably made. Before the end of the next decade, widebody Camrys and Accords developed especially for America would hit the streets. In the short term, quotas gave Detroit a bit of breathing space to improve quality – Ford and Chrysler did, if not enough to catch up, while GM wasted billions on process and robotics when they really should’ve been concentrating on putting the money into the cars themselves where the customer could see it – but in the long term it led to more effective competition from fully localized offerings rather than JDM cars with left-hand-drive and a few other adaptations.
Smith’s spend on plant automation was based on a financialized understanding of GM as a collection of cost structures and tax liabilities, an adversarial stance towards unions, and a complete incomprehension of technical realities.
To be fair, most (read: all) industrial management suffers from this problem – see Boeing.
It’s almost as though focusing on the quality of the product might improve sales performance and shockingly enough have a positive impact on the bottom line. Who knew?
Nice article and a good memoir of autos in North America in the early 1980s. At the time I strongly believed in buying domestic cars and, looking back I feel the Big Three took advantage of people like me . Inferior American made products were sold to buyers who included a degree of patriotism in their purchase decision.
In retrospect, such attitudes only enable lazy short-term thinking on behalf of Big Three management. Their sales were somewhat insulated from the realities of a truly competitive marketplace accordingly. Year after year uncompetitive domestic products were offered, despite the Japanese makes clearly demonstrating how it should be done.
There were some exceptions at the time, such as the first generation Taurus, which was a superior car without jingoistic compromise. If I recall correctly, Ford chose to put extra effort into that model and delayed the introduction for a year while they refined the product, a commendable far-sighted attitude.
A really good story if you can find it is the reaction of the other plant managers when the team behind the Fremont plant tried to apply those lessons learned to GM’s other factories.
I’d like to read that! Where did you see it?
It was a story on NPR, but may have been based on this episode of “This American Life.” https://www.thisamericanlife.org/561/nummi-2015
Thanks!
We felt the same way about the Taurus–my family ended up buying an 86 MT5 after my sister totaled our 1980 Accord making a left turn on to oncoming traffic (she was fine). Other than an 89 Tracer (which let’s face it was basically a Ford Laser/Mazda 323 made in Mexico), that is the last American car we ever had. Nice car, except it was nowhere near the quality of a Japanese car. It was dead after about five years and a lot of expensive repairs.
I barely remember seeing these Stanzas when they were new, but I had about forgotten about that hatchback sedan…the number sold must have been tiny. The 3 door was a bit more popular, probably because of price?
My oldest sister was driving a string of ex-auction beaters in the 80s (Yes, interest rates were CRAZY. When I bought my first house in the 80s the APR on the loan was 9 %, and I felt lucky to get that.) Even though sis had started out in a Mustang, followed by a V6 Capri, she was alway very interested in that Mazda 626 hatchback, I believe it was called the 626 Touring? But that hatchback was also quite rare…in 35 years I have only seen 2 “in the metal”. She would eventually settle for an Escort hatchback.
Mazda 626 of the time half-baked. There was recall on the engines. Electronic shock absorbers didn’t last long, replacements co$t A LOT.
When the Stanza was first sold in the US in 1982, the only choices were 3 and 5 door hatchbacks, both available in base (“Deluxe”) or much nicer XE trim, with delayed availability of the 3 speed automatic gearbox. Although it was available elsewhere from the get-go, the 4 door sedan didn’t reach America until halfway into the 1983 model year. Curiously, the sedan was sold exclusively in a new top of the line GL trim, which included power windows, full-length front door armrests, power locks, a fancy stereo with cassette player, and diamond-patterned plush velour from the Maxima. This odd five-model lineup continued into 1984 – base or midrange trimmed 3 and 5 door hatchbacks and a 4 door sedan in high-end trim only. In 1985 the 3 door was dropped, and by 1986 only the sedan (still only in GL trim) remained.
The 626 hatchback was held back by a substantially higher price than the sedan (about $1,000 more in 1980s dollars), availability in top-line LX trim only, and a roofline that was 2 inches lower than the sedan’s resulting in tight headroom front and rear, especially on sunroof-equipped cars, despite lowering the seat cushions to partially compensate. Hatchbacks also lost the low-liftover trunk cutout the sedans and coupes had, the sedan’s rear seat center armrest, and settled for 50/50 rear seat folding rather than a potentially more practical 60/40 used in other body styles. On the plus side, the hatchback and coupe had a fancier dash setup with easy-to-reach switches mounted in pods, a rear wiper, and a two-step rear seat folding setup that yielded a completely flat floor.
I recall Mazda predicting a 50/35/15% breakdown of sedan/coupe/5d hatchback body styles. In actuality, the hatchbacks didn’t seem to account for even 15% of sales. Nonetheless all those body styles continued into the next generation again with the hatch getting a lower roofline, though it was less problematic with the new roomier body.
My mom got a brand new 1979 Omni with a manual transmission to replace what would later become my ’67 Sport Fury. The Omni wasn’t a bad car, but if you were used to 60’s cars the Omni felt like a let down compared to the Sport Fury. The Sport Fury outlasted it. Around 1984-85, my dad bought a 1979 Dodge St. Regis as a long trip car from the original owner who had stripped off the Lean Burn and converted it to points. My dad converted that conversion to standard electronic ignition and rebuilt the 318 because at 113,000 miles it already needed it which surprised him as earlier 318s in our family went much longer up to 150,000 or more without needing to be rebuilt. But since the 1980’s rebuild, the St. Regis is about to roll over 275,000 miles. It could use a lot of cosmetic work, but it keeps going and going. As a side note, the front seats that are visible in the Omni brochure are on 70’s B-body seat frames and once the seat tracks are removed, swap very nicely onto my St. Regis seat tracks and were much more comfy than the original front seats.
You win. I challenge anyone to find a St. Regis with that many miles. Actually, I challenge anyone to find a St. Regis…
Maybe they have been lighting candles in front of St. Regis’ statue all these years.
Well, the Sport Fury, a version of the giant Chrysler body that came out in 1965, was twice the size and weight of the Omnirizon. I had a 1978 Horizon, top trim level and automatic but no power anything or AC. VW engine but it had some kind of computer controlled system that worked on the air side of the carburetor. Always ran fine, started immediately, etc. The computer did fry immobilizing the car, costing about $200 (around $500 in 2020 money) for the part around 1986 but nothing much else went wrong in 100K plus miles.
Then some guy left the methadone clinic around the corner from where I worked and kind of drove through it.
“Please keep in mind that I’m describing a particular market at a particular point in time based on 36-year-old observations of a 15-year-old. Your experiences in your location may have differed.”
Enjoyable read, your series has been great so far. The above statement you made is certainly true. I find it is amazing how different one’s experiences during this era can be. Both you and PonderosaMatt seemed to have been influenced by your families bad experience with American cars at that time and moved to Japanese vehicles early one. For me and my family, it was not this at all. My dad’s old ’71 Mazda wasn’t a great car, and so he stuck to American cars afterwards and all were good cars (with only one being bad). Since he generally needed big vehicles, he stuck to what the Big Three were good at making, traditional RWD, V8 powered cars (and he avoided Chrysler as he didn’t trust their quality). My immediate family was the same, with many traditional American cars from this era and all for the most part were good vehicles. It wasn’t like we weren’t exposed to Japanese cars either, we had early adopters in our family and friends circles, like my cousin who’s been driving Hondas since the early 80s.
Today though, my family has moved to Japanese brands, myself and my Dad included. In fact other than a couple of specialty high performance cars and pickups, every modern vehicle in my immediate family is a Japanese brand. For me it wasn’t that I owned a bad American car, it was just after the decent American offerings dried up, and there was nothing left (other than trucks and hi-po cars) that I deemed to be decent enough to capture my money.
Thanks Vince – I really enjoyed your last COAL post as well! Strangely, you’ll see in a future COAL where I swivel back to American based on happenstance. 🙂
What model was the ’71 Mazda? IIRC, in the States it would have been an R100 or an 1800–Road & Track dubbed the 1800 the dullest car they tested in 1971. I don’t know if the R100’s piston-engine counterpart was available in the States. Of course, things may have been different in Canada.
Road & Track said the Mazda 1800’s speedometer was extremely optimistic: 100 mph indicated = 85 actual. They also said that after getting the very sluggish acceleration figures, they could see why the speedo was so optimistic!
It was a Mazda 1200. I don’t remember dad complaining about performance of the Mazda, but it replaced his 65 Chev Impala with a 230 six and a PG, so his expectations weren’t high. He complained about its poor cold weather performance though. This was his winter car, so he didn’t keep it long as a result. He did say it was fun to drive, despite its modest performance.
Yep, the piston-engine counterpart of the R100.
Very enjoyable article, well done! My mother drove a fwd Bluebird with the same 2.0 engine for many years, only to sell it after corrosion became an issue. After 180.000 mls, it was still indestructable. No repairs in over 16 years, whatsoever.
Glossy appointed interior, roomy, comfortable; she’s still sorry she traded it in for a BMW.
I could never get away with having any sort of accident as a teenager. Once, when an old bumper repair started to show through the paint, he grilled me about it for an hour. It took me going to the car and showing a lack of any other damage to the bumper to finally convince him that old bondo sometimes just kind of chips off sometimes. I’m genuinely impressed that both you and your sister were able to convince your father you were totally innocent, although there is some verisimilitude in numbers.
I never had the misfortune to own a poorly built American car of this era, but I heard the stories second-hand. I would have liked to go one on one with the CEO of a Detroit automaker and say, “How come the Japanese can produce quality and you can’t?” I wonder what the response would have been.
You misspelled “won’t” in your question. 🙂
The CEO would likely have gone full politico on you and answered something you didn’t ask about such as the number of colors they are offering this year.
After many years of advocacy on my part and driving a dented 1973 Malibu that was falling apart, my folks finally bought a brand new 1983 Nissan Stanza four door in the spring of 1983. It was my dad’s first Japanese car. There were not many on the road and we all loved the fact that it came loaded. I learned to drive on that car, took my driving test the following year with it and had it passed down to me when they bought a replacement Honda Civic in 1992. The trunk was a decent size for a small car and, after having a coupe as a family car (unbeliveable these days), having 4 actual doors was a treat.
It never was quite as reliable as the rep for Japanese cars. It had carb issues on and off and the transmission leaked periodically and had to be resealed. The front axle boots broke every couple of years on the potholes of NYC streets. It finally was done in by a transmission that wouldn’t shift out of second. (It was an automatic.) I have fond memories of that car, even if it never quite was all it was cracked up to be.
I’ve long thought the VERs ultimately hurt Detroit. By very publicly making buyers pay thousands of dollars above sticker price to buy Japanese imports at the same time American brands had to resort to cash-back rebates to sell their wares, it lent Japanese cars an air of desirability and cachet that was obvious to everyone. The extra cash the quotas brought in helped finance new models and redesigns of old ones – it was typical in this era for a new generation of the most popular Japanese cars from Toyota, Nissan, and Honda to arrive every four years. And while the maximum number of cars they could sell was capped, the maximum profit per car was not. This resulted in Japanese manufacturers quickly moving upmarket, including the formation of the Acura, Infiniti, and Lexus marques each with new dealerships in elegant buildings with upscale amenities. As a result, not only did Ford and Chevrolet face overpowering Japanese competition, now so did Lincoln and Cadillac.