What are the bad things that makes people avoid buying french and italian cars?

Besides the fact they make Japaneses junk look good. Apparently from what I have read They have a tendency to break down a lot

You are out of date. I've had a Fiat Punto for 7 years. No problems at all.

For me it goes back 10 to 30 years. french cars were always unreliable in the electrical department which going by other answers is still the same these days. Italian cars used to rust away in front of you thats why lancia stopped exporting cars and also why you very rarely see older alfa romeos. But it does seem that the italians have addressed this problem over the last few years.

Perhaps there's a certain stigma about Italian cars (it's not true, but people often think of expense and unnecessary faux luxury when they think of Italian cars- sports cars instantly spring to mind) , but I think the real reasons people avoid buying French and Italian cars are: racism, a belief that buying only your own country's goods is beneficial, tradition and xenophobia. People often pick on foreign brand cars and refuse to buy them because they feel they should be buying their own country's brand instead. In reality, many foreign (particularly Japanese) companies employ more Americans / Brits than American / British car manufacturers, so supporting them IS in fact supporting your country. At the end of the day, I only buy something if I think it's a decent product and fairly priced. If my country's brand can't compete with a Japanese / French / Italian / American brand then it's their own fault; I'm not going to buy a shoddy version of a better car just because it's British.

Use to be lightly built and poor build quality. Both much better now

Too many electrical problems on both

American do not like to maintain their cars. Those from Italy and France, are very good, But, you must maintain them more. It is like and aircraft engine. Aircraft engines are designed for high out-put. Every 1500 hours, and aircraft engine must be re-built. Cars with high out-put, are the same. They just require more looking after. But, you get on heck of a ride.

I don't know where you live, but there are not very many dealers or repair technicians for those brands where I live. The cost of these automobiles may factor into it, and reliability might be a concern to people who don't know much about them. As far as appearance goes, I think many of the Alfa models are very attractive, especially the classic models. I like the funkiness of the Citroen too.

Concerns about reliability but I do believe their quality control is improving.