Well I think its an isolated case and the new camry still uses the same platform as the old one and the a version of the same one in the 2006, so I think its a once in the blue moon thing.
I dont think what youre describing will ever happen because right now its virtually impossible to buy a “bad” car. The current cars for sales by all manufacturers from Suzuki to Volkswagen have cars with “good” quality and reliability. Cars are not “bad” or “good” but “good” or “better than good” . The quality gap which was so big just a couple years ago have shrinked significantly. I think Chevy and Ford will be considered equal in terms of quality and reliability compared to Honda and Toyota. But Better? No, not for at least another 15 years and thats only if the Americans continue to improve and the Japanese stay stagnant.
And here in L.A and SoCal , I dont think GM and Ford will be considered better to Toyota and Honda in 30 years, if ever.
Note that perceptions and reality are very different things, especially with the fickle American public, I mean one moment we want war and then a few years later we hate it. When one month gas goes up we go buy a prius, if next month it goes down, than well buy a V8. So even though Chevy and Ford have superior quality compared to Honda and Toyota consistently, they could not be considered superior to them for a while yet.
