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Do American cars perform as reliably as foreign brands in the eyes of consumers? This question has always been somewhat of a perplexing one, as I've met diehard American car buyers who swear by Chevys against Hondas and Toyotas. On the flip side, there are those who had a few bad experiences with reliability on U.S. car brands and switched to foreign makers, vowing never to return to an American car brand.

That second example is going to be hard for American carmakers to shed as an image, but they are trying even in the face of billion-dollar quarterly losses, labor issues all over the place, and intense pressure from foreign automakers in terms of style, quality and price. Who said the car and truck business was easy? Anyway, Ford Motor Company's (NYSE:F) new Fusion model earned high marks from both Consumer Reports testers and consumers who rated its reliability -- and that's a good sign for Ford. These results demonstrate that U.S. automakers may be making strides in initial quality. But, this is only a first step -- there is a long way to go yet. A LONG way.

As Doug McIntyre reported on earlier, Japanese automakers had 39 of the 47 vehicles with the best predicted reliability in the overall Consumer Reports study. American manufacturers had six vehicles -- including the Ford Fusion, the Milan and the Lincoln Zephyr -- all from Ford Motor Company. Maintaining that success for Ford, and the ability of General Motors Corporation (NYSE:GM) to get on board will be critical in the next three to four years if American carmakers want to build an image of quality and reliability in the face of those ratings from competitors like Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE:TM) Honda Motor Co. Ltd. (NYSE:HMS) and Daimler-Chrysler (NYSE:DCX).

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