The Honda that isn't Jazzy

My friend bought a Honda Jazz about 4 years ago - about the same time my daughter bought her Yaris. Hond at the time had switched production of their car to Thailand to try and compete with the Echo/Yaris platform from Toyota as they were being killed on price. However, the switch seems to have come at a price for Honda. Honda has always been known for slightly boring but very reliable and classy Japanese cars. My friends Jazz needs a new gearbox after 4 years!! I couldn't believe it - its just out of the 3 years warranty period and she hasn't done that many klm's in it! I wonder how many other people suffered from similar issues when they bought one of these inferior Thai built cars (please, not suggested everything in Thailand is rubbish here - just saying Honda didn't do this right). You see Honda appear to have been so focused on getting the price down for their car, that they completely sacrificed their normal quality assurance. This is the sort of thing that will hurt them more than losing a few sales to Toyota. Brand is important and working out what you stand for is an imperative. Once you have worked it out however, you need to be consistent. If you brand stands for quality - then don't do a botch job on a car by building it cheaply in another country where you can't control the quality!