With the fall in power of the American V8 occurring in the early 1970s, cars built in the United States suffered from slow acceleration. Things were so bad throughout the 1970s and ’80s that the era is commonly referred to as the “Malaise Era,” due to President Jimmy Carter’s speech in 1979. Because of this, many foreign carmakers, such as BMW and Toyota, were able to establish a strong foothold in the US as more folks were growing tired of 140-horsepower V8s and vinyl roofs.
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