For me and hopefully most
For me and hopefully most consumers, popularity of a model or manufacturer as indicated by monthly sales numbers should be secondary to sales generated by a return and expanded customer base. Driven by: Initial quality and reliability in direct relationship to the price paid for the product. As a former service writer at the wold's largest volume Toyota dealership, I must confess that the customer often came second to dealership service generated profit. Managers and master mechanics a-like, purchased if they could, Toyota products manufactured in Japan. The quality at that time was measurably higher than the " assembled in America" Toyota. As to the malfunctioning " throttle by wire." a sad development to be sure. But truly what boarders on heinous here, is corporate's blind eye and total lack of transparency in the defect. Lawyers... Looking to most major recalls over the last year or two, the majority is linked to software malfunction or miss-programming. Much of that software is outsourced.
Perhaps the industry should kick up the $ paid to Jobbers. Only then will the over-all quality of outsourced parts meet higher criteria.