Ford Dealer blasts imports
12/10/08, 12:22 AM
#1
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Ford Dealer blasts imports
SAVANNAH, Ga. – A Ford dealer angered over the proposed bailout of U.S. automakers blames the nation's sour economy on Congress and criticized buyers of Japanese cars, calling the vehicles "rice ready ... not road ready" in a radio ad.
O.C. Welch, who owns a dealership near Savannah in Hardeeville, S.C., began airing the minute-long ad on a dozen stations in the area over the weekend. The ad sounds more like a talk-radio tirade than a sales pitch.
"All you people that buy all your Toyotas and send that money to Japan, you know, when you don't have a job to make your Toyota car payment, don't come crying to me," Welch says in the ad. "All those cars are rice ready. They're not road ready."
Floyd Mori, executive director of the Japanese American Citizens League, said Welch's remarks evoke anti-Asian sentiments often aimed at Japanese and Chinese immigrants to the U.S. from the 1930s through World War II. He also noted many Japanese automakers' cars are manufactured in America.
"It's a blatant, ignorant, racist remark from somebody who should know better," Mori said.
Toyota spokesman Xavier Dominicis said the company's cars consistently receive high marks for quality. The automaker employs 36,600 Americans, he said, and about 60 percent of Toyota vehicles sold in the U.S. were manufactured here.
"How do you tell a worker in Kentucky who's producing a Toyota that his job is worth less than another American autoworker's?" Dominicis said.
The car dealer, though, said Tuesday he had received more positive calls than negative ones. His dealership sold 15 new cars Saturday — half of them to people drawn to the lot by the ad, he said.
Welch said he's mostly mad at politicians, blasting them in his ad as only being good for "slinging mud and spending our tax dollars." He said the government should offer tax incentives for consumers to buy new cars rather than spend money bailing out Ford, General Motors and Chrysler.
O.C. Welch, who owns a dealership near Savannah in Hardeeville, S.C., began airing the minute-long ad on a dozen stations in the area over the weekend. The ad sounds more like a talk-radio tirade than a sales pitch.
"All you people that buy all your Toyotas and send that money to Japan, you know, when you don't have a job to make your Toyota car payment, don't come crying to me," Welch says in the ad. "All those cars are rice ready. They're not road ready."
Floyd Mori, executive director of the Japanese American Citizens League, said Welch's remarks evoke anti-Asian sentiments often aimed at Japanese and Chinese immigrants to the U.S. from the 1930s through World War II. He also noted many Japanese automakers' cars are manufactured in America.
"It's a blatant, ignorant, racist remark from somebody who should know better," Mori said.
Toyota spokesman Xavier Dominicis said the company's cars consistently receive high marks for quality. The automaker employs 36,600 Americans, he said, and about 60 percent of Toyota vehicles sold in the U.S. were manufactured here.
"How do you tell a worker in Kentucky who's producing a Toyota that his job is worth less than another American autoworker's?" Dominicis said.
The car dealer, though, said Tuesday he had received more positive calls than negative ones. His dealership sold 15 new cars Saturday — half of them to people drawn to the lot by the ad, he said.
Welch said he's mostly mad at politicians, blasting them in his ad as only being good for "slinging mud and spending our tax dollars." He said the government should offer tax incentives for consumers to buy new cars rather than spend money bailing out Ford, General Motors and Chrysler.
12/10/08, 08:15 AM
#2
NTTAWWT
I agree, really, I'm not racist, but if you buy a foriegn car, that's where the money goes, I dont care if it's a foriegn car made here, the money still goes overseas.
12/10/08, 06:42 PM
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O.C. Welch = my kinda guy. 
Nothing in that statement is racist anyways. Jeesh, people will fly the race card for anything that offends them and isn't 100% PC. Is "rice" offensive to Japanese? I'm Italian and I don't get offended is someone calls a Lamborghini a spaghetti mobile. Heck, I don't even get offended from Italians always being portrayed as mobsters in movies. Stereotypes are normally based on some fact, and portraying a stereotype doesn't immidately indicate something's racist, especially when it's not even negative. How stupid.
My garage: Jeep Wrangler, Jeep Commander, Ford Mustang, Harley Davidson Sportster
Nothing in that statement is racist anyways. Jeesh, people will fly the race card for anything that offends them and isn't 100% PC. Is "rice" offensive to Japanese? I'm Italian and I don't get offended is someone calls a Lamborghini a spaghetti mobile. Heck, I don't even get offended from Italians always being portrayed as mobsters in movies. Stereotypes are normally based on some fact, and portraying a stereotype doesn't immidately indicate something's racist, especially when it's not even negative. How stupid.
My garage: Jeep Wrangler, Jeep Commander, Ford Mustang, Harley Davidson Sportster
12/10/08, 07:38 PM
#5
NTTAWWT
my lawn (lol) Jeep Grand Cherokee, Jeep CJ7, Ford Explorer, Mercury Mountaineer, and my first two purchases: Ford Mustang, Ford Fusion
12/11/08, 07:33 AM
#7
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It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where the profits go if you buy a Toyota or Honda - Tokyo's Nikkei Stock Exchange.
http://partywave.deviantart.com/art/...NYSE-100340468
http://partywave.deviantart.com/art/...NYSE-100340468
12/11/08, 07:51 AM
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Perhaps rather than insulting the intelligence and patriotism of potential customers, Detroit and its dealers should simply focus on offering the best cars for the price, period. As in other posts, I put the burden and responsibility to do so 100% on the shoulders of the automakers and especially their management, which I think have done a horrible job on many aspects too numerous to list here. This "blame the customer" approach only lets Detroit off the hook and abets the demonstrably poor job they've been doing.
I've happily and proudly bought American cars before when they were the best of the kind I was seeking and will gladly do so again. However, I have just as readily spent my hard earned money on foreign made vehicles too when they were the best. As I see it, the true onus of patriotism in this equation is purely on the domestic automakers to produce the finest cars that Americans can proudly and objectively buy purely because of that superiority.
If that dealer has an issue with his poor sales, rather than insulting and bludgeoning his potential customers, he should turn his wrath and ire to either his own business practices and/or to the manufacturers themselves to compel them to build the cars that can compete and win against the foreign makes on their own merits, no excuses.
I've happily and proudly bought American cars before when they were the best of the kind I was seeking and will gladly do so again. However, I have just as readily spent my hard earned money on foreign made vehicles too when they were the best. As I see it, the true onus of patriotism in this equation is purely on the domestic automakers to produce the finest cars that Americans can proudly and objectively buy purely because of that superiority.
If that dealer has an issue with his poor sales, rather than insulting and bludgeoning his potential customers, he should turn his wrath and ire to either his own business practices and/or to the manufacturers themselves to compel them to build the cars that can compete and win against the foreign makes on their own merits, no excuses.
Last edited by rhumb; 12/11/08 at 07:53 AM.
12/11/08, 08:03 AM
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Perhaps rather than insulting the intelligence and patriotism of potential customers, Detroit and its dealers should simply focus on offering the best cars for the price, period. As in other posts, I put the burden and responsibility to do so 100% on the shoulders of the automakers and especially their management, which I think have done a horrible job on many aspects to numerous to list here. This "blame the customer" approach only lets Detroit off the hook and abets the demonstrably poor job they've been doing.
I've happily and proudly bought American cars before when they were the best of the kind I was seeking and will gladly do so again. However, I have just as readily spent my hard earned money on foreign made vehicles too when they were the best. As I see it, the true onus of patriotism in this equation is purely on the domestic automakers to produce the finest cars that Americans can proudly and objectively buy purely because of that superiority.
If that dealer has an issue with his poor sales, rather than insulting and bludgeoning his potential customers, he should turn his wrath and ire to either his own business practices and/or to the manufacturers themselves to compel them to build the cars that can compete and win against the foreign makes on their own merits, no excuses.
I've happily and proudly bought American cars before when they were the best of the kind I was seeking and will gladly do so again. However, I have just as readily spent my hard earned money on foreign made vehicles too when they were the best. As I see it, the true onus of patriotism in this equation is purely on the domestic automakers to produce the finest cars that Americans can proudly and objectively buy purely because of that superiority.
If that dealer has an issue with his poor sales, rather than insulting and bludgeoning his potential customers, he should turn his wrath and ire to either his own business practices and/or to the manufacturers themselves to compel them to build the cars that can compete and win against the foreign makes on their own merits, no excuses.
Well said.
The other thing people tend to forget is that as consumers, we want to be able to buy AND get the best value for our hard earned dollars. Unfortunately, reliabliity and quality were not American made cars strong suits and that stigma has been hard to beat. Detroit has beaten that tag and has caught up with quality and workmanship. You can see it in JD power reports. We can build better cars than the others, but the bean counters who run Detroit won't let them! Looking at the bottom line is NOT the way to build and design cars, it really didn't work in the 70's and thats how the foreigners were able to get a foothold and start growing like a virus and take over our market.
12/11/08, 08:27 AM
#10
NTTAWWT
^ I dont mean to be insulting, but that's one of the main issues, people seem to think toyota/honda have an unbelieveable ability to make cars that never go wrong. ever, and that the states can't produce anything that lasts longer than 30 miles...ford's quality is above toyota now, I was reading an article yesterday on USAToday that was all about that.
12/11/08, 10:10 AM
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While we're at it. we should also restrict importation and sale of foreign oil. surely most of the record Exxon quarterly profit of went overseas. it should not be up to us consumers and citizens to worry about profit and loss. i think it's the govt's job to ensure that we the population and citizens of the country are protected. it is after all a free/world market!!
12/11/08, 11:48 AM
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the rice comment won't help but come on, the way the media lambasts the domestic auto industry for "low quality cars" when the cars actually have better quality than imports now is the real crime
12/11/08, 11:50 AM
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^ I dont mean to be insulting, but that's one of the main issues, people seem to think toyota/honda have an unbelieveable ability to make cars that never go wrong. ever, and that the states can't produce anything that lasts longer than 30 miles...ford's quality is above toyota now, I was reading an article yesterday on USAToday that was all about that.
You may be too young to remember, but there was a time when anything that had a tag of "MADE IN JAPAN or CHINA was JUNK! this was right after WWII. The original cars were also garbage, why build a small car when gas was .17 cents a gallon? The gas shortages of the 70's is when americans finally noticed the japanese imports , because of fuel economy initially. only after driving for a while did they reailize that these cars were mechanically sound and cheap to maintain. SHOOT, I had a Datsun B210. I only needed a Phillips screwdriver and a 10MM WRENCH and do most work ! They kept everything very simple to work on and easy access to all.. The biggest rap on these imports was that they were rust buckets, Detroit took years to improve quality of todays cars because of the foreign competition!
(OFF-TOPIC BUT>>>)
What was the only market that Dearborn had over the imports??....TRUCKS and SUV's. They made full size trucks and SUVS that only had one market....the USof A. So they had something over the competitors that provided them income and large profit margins. They ignored the sedan market because of profit margin! plain and simple economics is always gonna win in the boardroom!! So much profit was to be had in this segment Toyota and Nissan jumped onboard and designed and built their own here too. They too are suffering in sales of these models and it is americans who build these units. yes, the money goes to corporate in Japan but it is ultimately american jobs we're talking about.
Edit: David, after looking at this I am not busting your chops and I hope you don't see it that way, either.
While we're at it. we should also restrict importation and sale of foreign oil. surely most of the record Exxon quarterly profit of went overseas. it should not be up to us consumers and citizens to worry about profit and loss. i think it's the govt's job to ensure that we the population and citizens of the country are protected. it is after all a free/world market!!
Last edited by runningwild4.6; 12/11/08 at 12:43 PM. Reason: Errors and comment
12/11/08, 12:06 PM
#17
I just wonder if that guy ever took into consideration the costs involved in making a car in the US compared to overseas? Do union workers on an assembly line really need to make as much as they do? I sure don't think so but ofcourse they will think they don't make enough. However, I think that is the bigger issue. Stop blaming the public for buying an import. Times are getting tough these days and sorry, if I see an import sitting next to an American made vehicle, both having the features I want, but the import is thousands cheaper you'd better believe I'll buy the import. It is not my fault labour is so expensive in the North American automotive industry......
opps, guess I couldn't stay quiet afterall.
opps, guess I couldn't stay quiet afterall.
Last edited by adrenalin; 12/11/08 at 12:08 PM.
12/11/08, 08:18 PM
#18
NTTAWWT
Shoot no, tone of voice is hard to determine over words, so I take everything with a grain of salt. My dad is still under the impression that anything made in Korea is terrible.
12/11/08, 08:55 PM
#20
