Forum Discussion
wilber1 wrote:
Toyota and Nissan and Honda build those vehicles in the US to get around the tariffs, which drove the rest away. It's easy to be competitive if you have a 25% advantage right from the get go.
Are we really going to go through this again? Did you quote me because you wanted to go another round?
Again, the chicken tax did not "protect" the big three from competition of "light trucks" because there have been several vehicle brands that have come and gone while the chicken tax has been in place. Toyota built trucks in Japan or other countries for years with the Chicken tax in place. So did Nissan with the D21. The reason why these brands are still here is because they gave US consumers what they wanted like 4wd, extended cabs, and longer beds while the others just built mostly small 2wd compact short bed trucks that hardly anybody wanted at the time.
So it wasn't the chicken tax that killed the other brand's trucks, it was the fact that they didn't build a product most US buyers wanted. Makes like Toyota and Nissan were able to easily compete even with the Chicken tax because they built trucks people wanted. Case in point is the fact that costlier trim levels and options like 4wd that cost well over 25% of the base vehicles easily outsell the base trims today. Why? Because it has the options US buyers want and most are willing to pay to get what they want.wilber1 wrote:
Toyota and Nissan and Honda build those vehicles in the US to get around the tariffs, which drove the rest away. It's easy to be competitive if you have a 25% advantage right from the get go.
And build a good vehicle:
I had a 1978 Civic 2d hatch back, 1977 Accord 2d hatch back, and 1984 Prelude all made in Japan, the 1987 Acccord 4d was made in America along with the 2001 Accord EX V6 4d, I could not tell the difference in quality. Then later I bought an used 1991 Prelude. Honda put new seat belts in the 1991 Prelude under special safety warranty in 2013 +/-. I lost count of the number of Honda motorcycles I owned. Maybe ATC90, Trail 90, Trail 110, SL175, Trials 250, SL 350, probably others.
Enjoyed ever one of them.- Double Post
ShinerBock wrote:
It doesn't matter what the Chinese market will buy in regards to our tow vehicles. North America is a big enough market to have multiple truck brands like Chevrolet, GMC, Ram Ford, Nissan, Toyota, and Honda with vehicles specific to our market and still be profitable. Heck, I would wager that a few other foreign truck brands could also join in if they built a factory here like Nissan, Toyota, and Honda did and make vehicles we actually want instead of just small trucks.
Toyota and Nissan and Honda build those vehicles in the US to get around the tariffs, which drove the rest away. It's easy to be competitive if you have a 25% advantage right from the get go.wilber1 wrote:
ShinerBock wrote:
It doesn't matter what the Chinese market will buy in regards to our tow vehicles. North America is a big enough market to have multiple truck brands like Chevrolet, GMC, Ram Ford, Nissan, Toyota, and Honda with vehicles specific to our market and still be profitable. Heck, I would wager that a few other foreign truck brands could also join in if they built a factory here like Nissan, Toyota, and Honda did and make vehicles we actually want instead of just small trucks.
The 25% tariff on light trucks doesn't hurt either.
Didn't help either since Nissan, Toyota, Honda, Suzuki, VW, Mitsubishi, and Isuzu all sold trucks in the US while the 25% tariff was in place. However, it was was not made to protect the big three. It was negotiated between LBJ and the UAW to protect US union jobs in return for the UAW support for LBJ. It seemed to work as intended since all foreign makes who currently sell trucks in the US(Nissan, Toyota, and Honda), all build them in the US while the rest went the way of the Dodo.
Although, all those foreign makes that went bye-bye were only selling trucks that most US buyers didn't want so they did not sell well here. They were trying to sell us what they thought we needed instead of what we wanted. Toyota did the same with the small Tundra that in between a midsize and a half ton because that is what they thought we needed. The Tundra did not sell well until it went to a full half ton. Same goes for the half ton/three quarter ton Nissan Titan XD tweener truck. They built it because they thought most N/A truck buyers don't need a full 3/4 ton HD truck. How well is that working out for them?ShinerBock wrote:
It doesn't matter what the Chinese market will buy in regards to our tow vehicles. North America is a big enough market to have multiple truck brands like Chevrolet, GMC, Ram Ford, Nissan, Toyota, and Honda with vehicles specific to our market and still be profitable. Heck, I would wager that a few other foreign truck brands could also join in if they built a factory here like Nissan, Toyota, and Honda did and make vehicles we actually want instead of just small trucks.
The 25% tariff on light trucks doesn't hurt either.- And the marriage ends before the ceremony starts: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/05/business/fiat-renault-merger-withdrawn.html
- It doesn't matter what the Chinese market will buy in regards to our tow vehicles. North America is a big enough market to have multiple truck brands like Chevrolet, GMC, Ram Ford, Nissan, Toyota, and Honda with vehicles specific to our market and still be profitable. Heck, I would wager that a few other foreign truck brands could also join in if they built a factory here like Nissan, Toyota, and Honda did and make vehicles we actually want instead of just small trucks.
FishOneOnOne wrote:
The Chinese will eventually purchase only Chinese brand vehicles.
Yes that eventuality is coming very quickly for the US Auto industry
