Domestic cars vs foreign cars

[enzo1]

I haven't owned a domestic car in quite a while, 1999 chevy PU(built in Canada) , had a lot of trouble with it.... in fact it sucked( frame was 1/2 inch longer on ! side than the other). I then bought a Toyota Sequoia, tough as nails. I always look at domestics first but decide on foreign. Am I being un-patriotic because I don't buy from an American company. Are foreign cars built here.... should I be making sure they are? If I buy a BMW thats assembled here is that enough or does the money go back to the motherland and I am hurting the U. S. economy by not buying a GM, FORD or DODGE...... Also I like the way German cars drive and look. Have domestics gotten better?

[azasadny]

What's "domestic"? A car with an American nameplate mfg'd in Mexico or Canada or a Japanese/German badged car built here in the US? It's not too easy to define them any more... My mother has a Chevy Prizm that is really a GM badged Toyota Corolla, so it Japanese or American? I buy the car that I believe meets our needs best at the time. We have bought Ford, Mazda, Porsche and have had mostly excellent experiences with them all, except the Ford Taurus!

[dd74]

The BMW X3 is an American car. Designed in the U.S., and built in Spartanburg, SC. The Super Bowl taught me that. I'm sure there are others, like VW, Honda, Mercedes...

[Noah930]

The Enclave my father-in-law bought last summer is worlds better than the Rendezvous he had before that. But it's still not something my wife and I would personally spend our money on, and she's looking for something that fits that exact class of vehicle. Just one data point.

[onewhippedpuppy]

My last Chevy truck was built in Canada. You can buy a Toyota Tundra built in San Antonio. Several statistics rate Toyotas as having the most American content of any car company. The lines aren't that clear.

As far as supporting Americans, every company that builds cars here provides jobs. Not only factory jobs, but most "import" automakers have management and design centers in America. Every company that makes money in America pays taxes on it, and being that these are public companies ultimately most of the profit is distributed globally to shareholders.

It would be very interesting to see a study of which automaker provides the greatest positive economic impact to America. As far as my money goes, I'll be buying the best product available regardless of nameplate.

[Evans, Marv]

+1 on that. In the '70s & '80s I never owned an American made car. They were total crap at that time, but if their quality becomes competitive, I'll certainly buy. Like what was said earlier though, any brand makes jobs here.

[sc_rufctr]

I think it's important to be loyal to locally made cars. After all most of the money you spend buying these car stays in your community.
However Loyalty shouldn't mean "mug"... That is don't buy something that won't do the job or isn't up to snuff just because your neighbor screwed it together.

For instance... Toyota has a factory in Victoria that makes the Camry. Great car and Aussies put them together.
I have no idea were the parts are made but I would guess most are sourced from over seas.
Meanwhile... GM Has a factory in South Australia. They build the standard GM sedan but more recently they built the GTO which was exported to the US.
A lot but not all components are made locally. Things like seats, trim and exterior lighting.

Either of these cars would be fine. The Camry would probably be more reliable in the long run but the local GM products are very popular.
Our cops mostly drive these GM sedans. Parts can be cheap or expensive. That depends on were you go to get them.

But if I had to choose between the two for daily transport I would choose the Toyota. (Note I said "if I HAD to choose")

BTW: Years ago I read that Honda in the USA had the highest percentage of locally made parts in their cars.
At that time it was about 72% of all components were made in the USA.

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Having said all that I have always driven either German or Euro cars.

[Schumi]

The Pontiac Solstice is a great example of a great American-made car.

Oh wait, they don't make that anymore.

[sc_rufctr]

Originally Posted by Schumi

The Pontiac Solstice is a great example of a great American-made car.

Oh wait, they don't make that anymore.

Great car or not... The effect of cheap imports.

[porsche4life]

The solstice was merely an innocent victim. It was made by a company that for years has produced mediocrity at best. All of those years finally caught up with them. It's sad too, they had a few decent cars with the solstice G8, and GTO....

[wdfifteen]

I haven't owned an American car in 30 years. Had a 67 Dodge Dart that was bulletproof. Boring as hell but bulletproof.
I've had Dodge, Ford, and Toyota trucks over the years and they were all great, except the Dodge and the Ford.

[porsche4life]

All 3 of the dodges dad has right now were hecho in Mexico. The tacoma he had was built in America, same with the corolla I am driving.... So which ones are the domestics?

[Teutonics]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

...Every company that makes money in America pays taxes on it...

Having worked for a large Japanese company in the past, it doesn't always work that way.

My Japanese employer made lots of money in the US, but parts for the products that were assembled in the US were sourced from overseas. The parts were "sold" to the US company at highly inflated prices, which resulted in little to no profit (or even a loss in many cases) in the end "US-assembled" product. As such, the profits were made overseas on the parts, but no profit was made on the end product in the US... which resulted in less corporate taxes (although it did provide *some* assembly jobs in the US).

However, as a side note, those jobs were too expensive, so assembly was recently moved to Mexico.

Buying "made in the US" from a foreign company doesn't provide the same economic/tax benefit, even if jobs created is the same. That doesn't make me buy an inferior US-company product, but it does make me think twice when making a buying decision.

[asphaltgambler]

It is [and has been] a world economy. Go to your local Japanese Steak house and the cooks are prolly from El Salvadore or Mexico and owned by a middle eastern guy(s)

Reminds me a huge arguement I had w/ guy years ago. He was from Milwaulkee and bled orange/white and black. To him buying ANYTHING that was not completely manufactured from the good 'ol USA was un patriotic. I told him that Harley had been using "jap" parts since the sixties. He couldn't or wouldn't believe me. I told him even the forks were Jap (showa)

It finally ended with me helping him remove the front fender to uncover the "showa" signiture inside the fender mount on the lower legs - You'd have thought his dog had died by his reaction

[tcar]

Chihuahua, the NEW Detroit.

[Brian 162]

I had a 97 Tahoe for around 11 years.Aside from wear and tear items it was a sound vehicle.
Last April I bought another Tahoe but from an American Chevrolet dealer. The vehicle was made in Texas. Who knows where all the parts came from. I guess I supported an American dealer over a Canadian dealer.
As far as the original poster being un-patriotic I don't think he is. He is still supporting a local dealer. There are Honda and Toyota plants in the U.S. and Canada.