stanwyck@ihuxr.UUCP (Don Stanwyck) (05/14/84)
The following are the replies I received in response to my request for information on how people felt about U.S. dealers (and press) calling Canadian built cars "domestic models". In particular I called attention to the fact that all of the mini-vans sold by Chrysler/Plymouth/Dodge are Canadian products imported to the U.S. As can be read below, many people called my attention to the fact that many "imports" are actually domestics (Honda, VW, & Nissan all assemble and even build totally some vehicles here), and many domestics have foreign subassemblys. The replies below are verbatim, simply appended to each other with a line inserted between each response. Grammer, spelling, and other related issues are the responsibility of the authors, whose identitys have been removed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I always wondered what to call my US built VW rabbit. The wall street journal lists VWs and Hondas assembled in the US in thier production figures for american cars, but I have no idea what it does with big-4 cars built elsewhere. VW did a survey of owners on what they thought of it, asking questions like "do you believe that most of the parts for your car were manufactured in a) US, b) germany, or C) elsewhere. (I believe that the answer is C). I have heard that most of the US manufactures couldn't comply with the infamous domestic content bill pushed by the UAW. It just goes to show that national boundaries don't mean much in business these days. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- if my name were "Running Deer" I might feel an obligation to buy a "Native American" car. (whatever *that* is, as you point out) if my name ended in 'i', I'd consider Italian cars. But it's not. It's "<<germanic origin name>>", so I drive ein Auto von Deutscheland. maybe this belongs in net.auto.roots ? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I agree with what you said. The bumper sticker makes no more sense than the "Hungry? Eat an environmentalist" one. Here's another thought: Look to see where the profits go - e.g., in the case of either foreign or domestic cars, some of the money goes to domestic sales, parts, repair organizations, so that's "good for the US." The foreign-built, US-sold car is somehow a bad situation in terms of manufacturing dough, because it benefits foreign workers but US corporations - what profit there is in the US doesn't go to (what we like to think of as) the blue-collar worker, but rather to the investor. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- There is a special arrangement between Canada and the U.S. which allows auto parts and finished cars to cross freely without duty or taxes. It turns Canada and the U.S. into a single country for the purposes of manufacturing cars. Last I heard, the U.S. was getting the better part of the deal. Canadian manufacturing accounted for a smaller percentage of the total sales than Canadian sales were a percentage of Canada-U.S. sales. And Canadian-built cars would be sold in the U.S. for less than they were in Canada. I can understand why the U.S. is concerned about the importation of Japanese cars, since there is a very large imbalance in the trade. But this simply isn't true of Canada-U.S. car manufacturing. Part of the reason for the existence of auto manufacture in Canada is the insistence of Canadians on having some of the jobs generated by the products they buy. How can you object to this when the U.S. is suggesting exactly the same thing to the Japanese manufacturers? I find that some Americans feel extremely protective of American jobs and profits whenever some other country manages to sell large quantities of anything in the U.S., yet complain about restraint of free trade whenever any other country tries to do exactly the same thing to American products for exactly the same reasons. I hope you are not one of them. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, we should be equally concerned about "American" cars which are really Canadian (as you pointed out), and also aware of "Japanese" cars which are really American (e.g., some Honda Accord four doors, some VW Rabbits). I believe that the latter are assembled in the US with at least some of the parts manufactured overseas, but US manufacturers also build subassemblies outside the country (Canada and Mexico). American auto makers and unions have to unite to produce higher quality cars at lower prices in order to be competitive with the Japanese on a free trade basis. The current 'voluntary' import quotas raise the average price of Japanese cars sold here by about $2000 (I've seen even higher estimates). This comes from higher wholesale prices that the Japanese manufactureres can charge, way over sticker prices that the dealers can charge (often $1-2K), and the mix of vehicles imported: more luxurious models, more factory and dealer 'options' which are always there. This is billions of extra dollars that the American consumer pays to the Japanese manufacturers and Japanese car dealers every year. And what does America get for it? An excuse for Detroit to raise their prices higher than they should be in a competetive market, higher paid Detroit executives, and higher gasoline consumption (because the Japanese send over fewer of the cheaper, high mileage cars). (Maybe we should replace the quotas with a duty of $2500 and give the money to the US government instead of the Japanese. Think of what we could knock off of the national debt. :) ) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Don't forget that many "American-made cars" include a number of foreign-made PARTS. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I tend to agree about the UAW. Their wages seem so high in comparison with workers in other industries, when skill is taken into account. But they aren't due all the blame. I might be willing to pay a bit more for a car manufactured domestically, in the name of supporting the local economy and all that, if I could get what I want. (Actually, I have a US-assembled Rabbit; wonder why people still consider it a foreign car?) But the U.S. automakers seem to have a different perception of where the design money should be spent, and different perceptions of what is desirable in a car, than I have. The result is that I've always been thoroughly unimpressed with their design. They may be improving, and I'll look at American cars again in a couple of years when I'm shopping again. The other problem is that I can't stand most car salesman. And the dealers for american manufacturers seem worse. A small part of the reason I felt happy about buying a rabbit is that the salesman treated me like I had a small bit of intelligence. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, we should be equally concerned about "American" cars which are really Canadian (as you pointed out), and also aware of "Japanese" cars which are really American (e.g., some Honda Accord four doors, some VW Rabbits). I believe that the latter are assembled in the US with at least some of the parts manufactured overseas, but US manufacturers also build subassemblies outside the country (Canada and Mexico). American auto makers and unions have to unite to produce higher quality cars at lower prices in order to be competitive with the Japanese on a free trade basis. The current 'voluntary' import quotas raise the average price of Japanese cars sold here by about $2000 (I've seen even higher estimates). This comes from higher wholesale prices that the Japanese manufactureres can charge, way over sticker prices that the dealers can charge (often $1-2K), and the mix of vehicles imported: more luxurious models, more factory and dealer 'options' which are always there. This is billions of extra dollars that the American consumer pays to the Japanese manufacturers and Japanese car dealers every year. And what does America get for it? An excuse for Detroit to raise their prices higher than they should be in a competetive market, higher paid Detroit executives, and higher gasoline consumption (because the Japanese send over fewer of the cheaper, high mileage cars). (Maybe we should replace the quotas with a duty of $2500 and give the money to the US government instead of the Japanese. Think of what we could knock off of the national debt. :) ) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- ________ ( ) Don Stanwyck @( o o )@ 312-979-3062 ( || ) Cornet-367-3062 ( \__/ ) ihnp4!ihuxr!stanwyck (______) Bell Labs @ Naperville, IL