It’s been a few years, but I recall the sagacious, gray-haired auto executive’s words as clearly as if he uttered them at the crack of dawn today.

“The Japanese,” he said, chuckling, “will never be able to build a big car.”

Time is the ultimate arbiter of truth and this colloquy, like many I’ve had with suits from Detroit the past decade, has turned out to be less than veritable.

Indeed, I replayed this particular conversation last week as I cruised about the countryside in the ultimate Japanese version of a Buick, the Toyota Avalon. Indeed, if Buick — whic...

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