I had this discussion with friends over 20 years ago in regards to automobiles. The logical conclusion then, as it is now, is that automobiles used to be marketed to men, but now are marketed towards women. There is a saying, "A woman will buy something she doesn't need at half price, while a man will pay twice the price for something he needs." How this applies, is that a typical woman will buy a "cheap", inferior quality, new car. A typical man pays a premium for a more quality vehicle. Look around and see what people are driving. I see men driving trucks, mostly, and women driving compact cars. Most full size trucks are very tough and durable, and although most men aren't hauling loads or trailers, they buy the truck because of the inherent quality of a bigger vehicle.
I noticed in the 1990s that the Suzuki sidekicks, Jeep libertys, VW bugs, RAV4, were driven almost exclusively by women. Each one was a shiny new vehicle when new, but in a year was basically junk. I changed a clutch on a sidekick. The thickness of the flywheel was not much thicker than aluminum foil.
If I assume correctly, the inferior products that we are offered, is due to marketing towards women. The fault lies in feminism, falsely giving authority to women. A man who makes decisions for his family is going to buy the best value, not the cheapest price. Manufacturers almost entirely market towards women, since they have found that selling you an inferior product every three years is more profitable than selling you a quality product every 20 years.
As a side note, I dated a woman once who disparaged my new Camaro. I asked her why, and she said that she had bought a brand new Chevy Sprint in the 80s and it ended up junk, the radio stopped working within the first month, and it continually required repairs. I asked why she bought it and she said because it was only $5000, while new mid size to full size cars cost more than twice that much.
I have a 1967 Chevelle that I love. I have done major work to it, but the quality in manufacturing was near the epitome, and the design was incredibly simple. Last year I put in a 4 speed Muncie, getting rid of the automatic. I did it all myself. If I had a 2000+ vehicle, it would be impossible or impractical. The car brand new was about $2800. Today I could sell it for around $50,000. There is no vehicle manufactured today that won't be crushed in 15-20 years.