[Phanuthier]

I think alot of people are confused about the use of the term "reliability" - it isn't determined by the one or two experiences you might have (i.e. "I've had two Fords and they've been fine") we're talking about the reliability of a sample of tens of thousands and hundread of thousands of vehicles. Quite frankly, reliability statistics are rarely ever given out comprehensively, although I think counting the number of recalls is a close metric that can be used to evaluate the quality of a cars engineering.

When it comes to the big 3 surviving, its about talking about its business practices and how they have a bad business model. They've been burning through cash for years, while its overseas competitors (for the most part) have been operating on positive margins. Thats what it comes down to for me.