Japanese-Made Cars Are Better, Ford Chairman Poling Admits

The Japanese make better cars, the chairman of Ford Motor Co. says.

“If you look at the Japanese, I think we’re equal to some and not as good as the best,” Harold Poling told the Detroit News in a story published Sunday. “Our objective is to get there.”

Poling said operational costs, not technology, put the Big Three auto makers at a disadvantage.

“Can we get plants in the United States to produce vehicles as inexpensively as the Japanese do? You bet,” he said. “But that requires shutting down your plants and starting from scratch. We can’t do that.

“We have a work force, we have retirees, we’re committed to pensions and we’re committed to health care. And that gives us a serious noncompetitive disadvantage going in. We have to deal with that somehow.”

Poling’s comments contradict Chrysler Corp. Chairman Lee Iacocca, who has appeared in television commercials and vigorously attacked claims that Japanese cars are better than American-made cars.