I would take some convincing that cost reduction did not take even more precedence over engineering quality in the UK if not most of the West for quite a few decades... It ever seemed to me that once computerisation entered the scene and that risks could be more closely matched to reality, risk management took priority to the extent that risks were on some occasions pushed to the limit and beyond in some instances...I suspect bean counters will have played their part in such processes too..?
Having earned my coin with a few decades in the airport environment and hobby time restoring rebuilding and repairing my old sports cars, I have come across a few suspect parts and design failures, never more so when buying into the idea of "quality." I suspect our brand expectations and beliefs may require a bit of a re-boot..? Mrs Luddite was not best pleased with her SLK`s failings, the new Evoque that followed it did well for six years, all be it with under 30k miles in that time, though once it`s electronics started playing up with prospect of a 7 week wait before the LR dealership might be able to look at it..enough was enough..
Rusting from the inside out was ever the way corrosion worked in vehicle box sections.... Fortunately my old Mog`s chassis has few of them...(-:
