The reason that the US automakers sell a lot of bad cars is that they're cheap. They're making virtually no profit on them, as evidenced by their recent "anyone can buy at employee prices" promotions that have been going on for what seems to be a year or so.

Pickup trucks are really the only hauling vehicles that you can find at a normal dealership. The type of vans that you are talking about basically don't exist here and the sort that do don't generally seem to be available at consumer dealerships.

What he meant is that he wanted an inexpensive 200hp AWD. I hear it's different in Europe, but, in the US, European makes are almost exclusively in the "luxury" category, with VW being an exception, but even they are trying to go that way, starting with their prices. Given the fact that US automakers are ignoring large parts of the auto consumer market, namely people who actually like cars (they basically sell Trucks/SUVs, econoboxes, and land yachts, with a few exceptions), that probably was his only choice.