I GUESS IT REALLY IS 1978 IN EUROPE, as the latest Consumer Reports shows further declines in relative car quality:

Our survey also shows that improvement in the reliability of U.S. vehicles was no fluke. American cars and trucks continue to edge closer to Japanese and Korean makes. European vehicles continue to be among the least reliable overall.

I don’t know whether automotive manufacturing quality is a marker for overall social/economic health — probably not, or the British would do better — but the parallel to the U.S. in the 1970s is interesting.