PT2.S4.Q09 - Clark Brand name parts

Jonaki55-1

This is a necessary assumption question. The correct answer : "parts that satisfy our govt standards are not the same poor quality as cheap foreign parts." But the premise already states that the country has the toughest automotive tests in the world. I want to understand that this assumption is not contradicting the premise.

Where am I getting wrong?

mesposito886

In the stimulus, we know that the "parts that satisfy our government standards" include Clark brand-name parts, because that's what the advertisement is talking about. We also know that the conclusion is that we must insist on Clark brand-name parts for our car instead of the cheap, foreign-made parts that are poorly constructed. So the argument proceeds by distinguishing between the Clark parts that pass our country's tough tests and the foreign-made parts that are poorly constructed, and by concluding that the Clark products are better. If this is true, then we must assume that the Clark parts are better constructed than the foreign-made parts - answer choice D doesn't say this outright, but instead uses referential phrasing: "parts that satisfy our government standards" = Clark parts.

I like using the negation test for necessary assumption questions. If we negated answer choice D, so it said: parts that satisfy our government standards are the same poor quality as cheap foreign parts, this would mean that quality-wise, Clark parts are actually no better than the poorly constructed foreign parts, and the argument collapses.