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A new CEO, Takahiro Hachigo, takes over at Honda Motor in Feb. 2015, following quality issues and problems with the faulty Takata airbags. Hachigo is a younger engineer who was managing officer for China. Executives with more experience were bypassed in the selection. This follows Toyota's selection of Akio Toyoda, a younger executive with international experience as CEO, and his successful track record in handling the Toyota recalls for unintended acceleration. This may have persuaded Honda to go with an unconventional choice.

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Justin Lahart points out that concealed in the good profit performance of Ford Motor for the third quarter 2012 is a cause for concern. Ford market share of light vehicle sales in the U.S. market declined to 15.3% in the first 9 months of 2012 from 16.6% in 2011, according to WardsAuto. Ford's quality in the Consumer Reports' annual reliability survey shows Ford ranking 27th of 28 brands.

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Cars rated high for quality made by U.S. automakers include the Dodge Dart, Chevy Traverse, Buick Enclave and Ford Fusion, Dodge Durango, GMC Yukon, according to the 2013 Quality Index of Strategic Vision consulting firm. Foreign carmakers had Kia Soul, Honda Accord Crosstour, Volkswagen CC, Hyundai Genesis, Audi A4 sedan, Lexus LS, VW Tiguan. Strategic Vision uses 442 variable in its study and ties the customer response to emotional atributes such as "I Love it," a new approach which combines the conventional counting of reported problems with how people feel about the vehicle. This Total Quality Index is based on responses of 17,658 people who purchased 2013 models from September to November 2012.

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The story of Lara Gass, a law student in Virgina, whose brakes, power steering and power failed causing a fiery crash, because of a faulty ignition switch in a 2006 Saturn Ion. The failure of GM to take the cars with that defective switch off the road till they are repaired is cause for anguish for 21 grieving families that lost a family member.

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Spain's central bank was lauded for macroprudential supervision before the housing bubble burst. Will China's central bank and financial authorites which have managed the housing bubble upto this point face similiar problems? Can China be the sole exception even as housing bubbles burst with wide repercussions in the U.S., UK and Spain? Nicholas Lardy, of the Peterson Institute of international Economics, says urban housing stock makes up 41% of Chinese household wealth in 2011. The same figure for the U.S. is 26%. Chinese buyers invest in homes because low interest rates on savings accounts cannot keep up with inflation. Real estate investment was 13% of GDP in 2011. Home ownership is a recent development in China, only since 1990, Chinese have never experienced large price declines. Household debt as a percentage of disposable income has increased significantly in recent years, up to 53.6% in 2011 from 31.3% in 2008, according to Lardy.