I'm all for buying "American" but like the article says a world economy is changing the way the Big 3 do business. If I'm shopping for a new car, turns out buying a Toyota Camry will help more American workers (since many are made here) as opposed to buying a GM SUV (many of which are made in Mexico). There may come a time in the future where all the "domestics" are produced out-of-country. Would you buy a mustang if it wasn't made in America?

Since I'm guessing some people didn't read the article and just voted, these stats are very interesting:

· Foreign cars made in the USA: Honda's Ohio-built Accord is 70 percent domestic parts. Toyota's Corolla is made in a California plant alongside General Motors models.

· American cars made abroad: Ford's hit Fusion sedan is made in Mexico; only half its parts are from the USA or Canada. GM pitches its small HHR sport utility and giant Suburban straight at the American market, but they, too, are built in Mexico. HHR has only 41 percent American and Canadian parts.

So what's helping America more? Buying a Accord/Corolla, or buying a Fusion? Yes, the profits go to the corporations in either Japan or the US, but don't we really buy American to support the workers, not the CEOs?

And seeing that information it really just makes me hate GM with a passion. Their Chevy "THIS IS OUR TRUCK" commericals are complete and utter BS when you consider information such as this.

 

This matters to me. I had my garaged Mustang (trying to hold the value in case I had to sell) that I couldn't drive because a foreign auto owned me. Finally I got mad at a FORD dealer and started raising my voice a bit and asked "How do you guys expect anyone to change over from foreign to Amercan autos when the first thing they do when you try to trade is call them and they wont give any money for the car??!! So Monaco FORD took in my Grabber Orange GT and My other foreign car in trade and got me into my GT/CS. I am very happy now with my American Car !!

 

Absolutely. Japan manipulates the yen so imports are heavily tariffed without calling it such, and S Korea exports 95%, and imports 4%, and manipulates the currency as well. Why should our country be the only one to not have government support to manipulate the system to protect its domestic corporations? They get a free ride exporting and doing business in the US making money hand over fist and do everything to prevent US product from coming into their countries. It costs them less to build a vehicle overseas and ship it here then it does for us to build/sell domestically(and being able to undersell us at higher profits no less). The thought that there is fair trade is horse****. Let alone the even bigger free ride they have building 'import' products domestically here. Use the $3000 per car to finance enforcing the border and provide every US citizen under 18 with health insurance.

 

Couldn't have said it better myself ... 100% in agreement with this one.

Why do we have the double-standards here in the U.S. ???

 

I have owned several cars and had good and bad experiences with American, Japanese and European. But since the American cars offered today can rival or surpass the others on many areas, I voted American. Their styling and performance is what interest me. I don't like the "everyone has one" type of car like Craphonda accords and Slowyota Camrys.

 

Very well said. I buy American as well.

We need to invest in our own economy and not support someone else's. No matter where the American car is produced, the cash surplus still fuels our economy. I'd rather see my money fill the pockets of some fat-cat in Michigan, then some fat-cat in Tokyo.

As for the domestically produced "import" ? I believe this is just a scam that allows Toyota, Honda etc to maintain a foothold in this market. They choose US soil to give the appearance of "investing" here and probably take a loss on each vehicle made.

Given the chance, I'm sure that they would produce these cars cheaper in Mexico or South America.

 

I drive a Mustang because I like Ford products -- period ! There are those who buy a car simply because it struck them as appealing . Never mind where it came from - they want what they want ! But if that annoys you, think about this. Ford is supplied a lot of their electronics by the same source GM gets their parts . That irritates me to no end ! If I wanted to buy a GM product, I would have got one by now, but I don't want generic garbage parts in my Ford product ! What's next ? a Fordvolet ? a Mercmobile ? a Cadillincoln ? GOD FORBID ! ! We should be more worried about what goes into the vehicle we like as apposed to where it came from ! Pretty soon , if things don't change, American auto manufacturers may have to merge to survive ! Then my feelings on this matter will be mute ! Then we will have FoMoparGM against the world ! EEWWWW! I think I'm getting sick .

 

That's a bit extreme. Those are still American companies.
Or do you prefer that they use components from Taiwan instead? I doubt it.

 

If they are inferior parts ( and in this case they are ) What difference does it make if it's Taiwan or Bum @%$! Egypt ? Inferior is inferior ! If you were building a car and the brand name was YOUR name , would you build it with inferior parts ? Not if you wanted to sell reliable transportation to the masses . Those who buy foreign cars of any description are doing so because they are fed-up with domestic cars and their poor construction . Blame the bean-counters at the corporate level for cutting spending on what might make for a better car in preferance to lining the pockets of the share-holders. These same share-holders are re-investing in foreign markets -further complicating the issue . This could have been avoided years ago if the domestic auto makers set the goal of building the most reliable high quality car in the world ! Do you think even for a second that the outsiders could have gained a foot-hold in this country if the domestic car makers made good cars?

 

watch out, the Chinese are comming.

if you think buying American is important now, just wait!!!!

Buy american... GD F..ing yes!!!
Ford, GM Chrysler... at least based in the USA!

 

Since today's tax day, don't avoid the tax issue guys. The US tax system puts domestic goods at a huge disadvantage globally. With a tax system OVERHAUL, not reform, the playing field can be leveled and Ford / GM / etc will have a much better chance at competing globally, there would be less incentive to purchase foreign goods, and the entire US economy would grow.

 

There has been plenty re-badged products already. Remember all the Dodges that were Mitsubishi products? Or the Corollas that were badged as Novas?

 

Yes that is true. But instead of the Nova , the two companies responsible should have named it the " Toy-let. " This way, we could claim that both sets of engineers and designers had their heads in the toy-let for a long time !

 

 

I prefer the term "North American". Don't forget that some of the parts are made in Canada
However, I also want something that is built good and reliable.

 

Again, I think these types of questions are typically misdirected by putting the onus on the American consumer rather than the American manufacturers. Were American manufacturers to produce the best cars in the world, period, then the question of whether American consumers should buy them would be pretty moot, they would out of simple good sense.

Implicit in this question is that Detroit ought to be given some sort of break/pass on building and passing off less than fully desirable cars and that it is somehow then the consumer's obligation to buy lesser cars out of some enabling sense of pity wrapped in patriotism. Rather, I move the responsibility fully to the source, the manufacturers, and hold them 100% accountable should they not produce the best, most desirable cars as is their duty to build an economically strong, vibrant and competitive America.

This patriotic pity plea to the struggling consumer to again and again give Detroit a one (more) little bit of breathing room against some unfair foreign competition or another has been trotted out for decades. No sooner than they do start doing a bit better, they revert to their old, short-sighted, quick profit ways -- selling fat, fuel swilling SUVs while letting there car lines whither -- and are right back in the same rut yet again, wrapping themselves in the flag as they plead for us to bail them out yet once again in some manner or another. Remember Chrysler in the 70's, Ford in the 80's, GM in the '90's? They were all given untold breaks and bailouts by both government and consumer forbearance to give them a chance to pull themselves out of there self-made holes and yet, here we are again.

I guess I sound like some Lou Dobbs populist, which I'm generally not, but I've seen this same appeal rolled out far too often for far too long to be Detroit's chump once again. I think Detroit needs a dose of strong and competent management intervention rather than pitying consumer enabling. Detroit CAN build fully and inarguably world class cars -- see GM's Malibu for example -- but usually simply don't. There are other factors at play, of course, but 90% of it remains simply poor, shortsighted and incompetent management.

I myself remain open and willing, even eager, to buy their world-leading, world-class wares in an instant, as I have in the past. But should they fail me and America by not fully living up to their duties and responsibilities, then I will just as quickly, if sadly and reluctantly, withhold my hard earned cash and business from them.

 

Everything you said is very true . But, just like the government, everything goes to the lowest bidder. It's true at the gas pump, it's true at the grocery store, it's true everywhere we go. Save a buck to spend it elsewhere.Big business is the same , and instead of a nagging marriage mate, they have bean-counters to answer to. Now the " marriage mate" has got an "agenda" to attend to. Take care of the in-laws ( out-laws ) . We will call then STOCK-HOLDERS ! But, just like real in-laws, instead of being loyal, they take the money and run with not so much as a thank-you! Will you ever see your money again? Sure! But it will be on their terms. Sound familiar? It's what divorce and financial collapse are made of ! This is what American business faces at the hands of the stock market. It has too many mouthes to feed to be competitive in a world market. And with treacherous bean counters poised with their own selfish agenda, the cars we want to see built will never see the light of day . Blame the " in-laws ".

 

I say blame the US government and not the corporations for moving operations overseas to save costs. Blame the US government for making it so expensive to produce here. I've never heard of a company spending millions of dollars to move operations to another country because they want to. It's because they have to in order to compete in the global market in some industries.
People blame corporations for going to other countries for 'cheap' labor. Hell, I say it's reasonable labor. As US companies produce overseas, their standard of living improves... they're not enslaving anyone.
Why can't companies produce here? Most of the problem is due to our tax system. Ever look how much money comes out of your paychecks? Ever stop and figure out what you're really taking home per hour? Your take home pay isn't always that much more than companies are paying for foreign labor, heck, sometimes the foreigners are taking home bigger paychecks.
Our corporations are paying a punishing amount of taxes to produce in the US. Also remember that your employer is paying even more than your gross (before deductions) pay. There's a significant portion of money that the companies pay to the government that you don't even see, let alone get, just so that the companies can employ you.
And all the ^above^ jibber-jabber is only about labor costs and taxes. Add on top of that all of the taxes paid by corporations in the production of goods, corporate taxes, costs spent on preparing taxes and records, bla blah, bla blah, bla blah taxes and then throw in environmental regulations on top and you can't help but notice that the US government, specifically the tax structure, is pushing companies oversees in order to be competitive, not just greed.

[John breathes and steps off soap box]

Anyway, yes it matters if you buy American. I buy American as much as I can, and will continue to as long as I can afford to do so. Hopefully we'll get a president interested in fixing problems, rather than fixing blame.

 

+1!!

 

As The Economy Takes a Downturn This Topic Becomes More Relevent!


KC