The parents of one of my childhood friends were (and still are) Toyota fanatics. They had a beige-ish Toyota Camry wagon that I remember in particular because a bunch of us used to cram into it for lunch during high school. I also recall my friend’s ire when one of our classmates backed into it in the parking lot. I don’t think she ever forgave him.In the mid-80s in the Midwest, “buy American” was still very much a presence. Many looked down on Toyota models and eyed the company with suspicion even though it had been more than a decade since the Corolla started selling like the proverbial hotcakes after its launch in 1968. They paved the way for Korean carmakers Hyundai and Kia, which launched in the U.S. in 1986 and 1994, respectively, but the two newer brands still had a mountain to climb. I wanted to know how they got to where they are now, so I asked a couple of analyst friends to weigh in.
Read Article