I'm glad I'm not in CU's position. `Reliability' is a difficult
quality to observe or visualize, or even measure - until after the
fact......

That was the basis for the disparity between the ratings for the NUMMI Toyota
and the NUMMI Chevy. "Toyota has a better repair history." Slavery to system
over substance. Two identical products, produced on the same day in the same
plant by the same people should, in theory, be equally reliable in use.
Certainly the plastic trim that spells out one brand name or another doesn't
effect anything mechanical about the car.

I sold a ton of used Novas in the 90's. They generally traded for about 75% the
price of the *identical* car that said "Toyota" on the back. Only downside was
that the people looking for affordable used cars who were educated enough to
know they were actually getting a Toyota quality car at a Chevy price tended to
be either tight fisted or underfunded intellectuals. :-)