Made in America?

[skipnchar]

So much for Toyotas claim to be "more American than Ford" (or most any other American made car or truck for that matter) 🙂
http://kogodnow.com/autoindex/

[Ron3rd]

spoon059 wrote:

Vulcaneer wrote:
Here is what does it for me. Where do the profits go? And where are the headquarters of the parent company. Pretty simple really. There is a difference between an American manufacturer, and a North American manufacturer. Follow the money.

GM is the most "American" vehicle. Why? Cause the US taxpayers are one of the biggest shareholders!!!

Toyota's profits might go back to Japan, but they pay property tax, payroll tax, collect sales tax, import taxes, etc etc. GM pays the same taxes (except import tax when it imports their foreign made cars into the US), but they also took BILLIONS of taxpayers dollars in bailout funds.

I'd rather drive my Toyota than Obama's GM...

Are you talking about the bailout that started under Bush or the one that was implemented under Obama? Both knew the consequences of GM going south, including Ford who lobbied for the GM bailout because they were smart enough to know they were next!

[Ron3rd]

GeoBoy wrote:
When I was a young mechanic, the dealership I worked for sold a leading Japanese motorcycle brand. The motorcycles/snowmobiles were very good but every so often they would have an oops moment and rather than address the problem they would just improve the product and forget about the customers that bought the product with a problem.
Later in life I sold the leading forklift brand in the world and the product was very good if not the best, it is Japanese. I sold a particular model to a lot of lumber yards and about 5 years later there was a problem, design flaw, in the hydraulic lift cylinders that could cause severe damage to the entire hydraulic system. There was never a recall and they would only partial pay if the customer made a big enough deal about the failure. Out of warranty was their response. I had several users of this particular model and made it known to the manufacturers service representative that if there was a denial to my customer that I would go to the states attorny general and have them start an investigation. Again the problem was addressed in future designs but the old problem was ignored.

The only thing you've told me is the Japanese do the same thing American companies do.

[Ron3rd]

wilber1 wrote:
I find it odd that people would be upset when North American companies outsource to other countries then complain when foreign companies choose to manufacture their products in North America. :?

That's got to be the most intelligent statement I've seen on this formum in 9 years. Good insight.

[Ron3rd]

Vulcaneer wrote:
Here is what does it for me. Where do the profits go? And where are the headquarters of the parent company. Pretty simple really. There is a difference between an American manufacturer, and a North American manufacturer. Follow the money.

Where do the profits go? Lots of places, reinvestment, etc, and generally a portion of profits are distributed to the shareholders in the form of dividends. By Ford stock, Buy Toyota stock, Buy BP oil stock! If they're profitable, buy their stock!

[Lessmore]

camp-n-family wrote:

Remember when those vehicles had sticking accelerator petals. Toyota blamed it on the stupidity of their customers. NEVER will I trust that company.

And the domestics have never had recalls? Remember the Pinto? or how about the Exploder? Look at the top 10 most infamous recalls list. One from Toyota and one from Honda. The rest? Ford and GM.

The sticking pedal issue was an isolated case that got blown out of proportion by the media. It caught on and all of a sudden they were happening everyday. Coincidence? Funny how it happened as Toyota was set to become the largest auto maker in the world and the domestics were needing bail outs. Also funny was how quickly it stopped happening once Toyotas' reputation was hurt.

Sound like a PR man for Toyota.:)

[camp-n-family]

Remember when those vehicles had sticking accelerator petals. Toyota blamed it on the stupidity of their customers. NEVER will I trust that company.

And the domestics have never had recalls? Remember the Pinto? or how about the Exploder? Look at the top 10 most infamous recalls list. One from Toyota and one from Honda. The rest? Ford and GM.

The sticking pedal issue was an isolated case that got blown out of proportion by the media. It caught on and all of a sudden they were happening everyday. Coincidence? Funny how it happened as Toyota was set to become the largest auto maker in the world and the domestics were needing bail outs. Also funny was how quickly it stopped happening once Toyotas' reputation was hurt.

[Water-Bug]

lrak wrote:

Vulcaneer wrote:
Here is what does it for me. Where do the profits go?

So if the executives and board of directors keep their megayachts in the US it is an American car? 😄

No, if the profits go to the federal government, it's an American car. But that theory still leaves GM still only 50% American. 🙂

[lrak]

Vulcaneer wrote:
Here is what does it for me. Where do the profits go?

So if the executives and board of directors keep their megayachts in the US it is an American car? 😄

[Water-Bug]

Henry Ford was a believer in verticle integration. His belief was that his company should be completely independent and have complete control of all the resouces necessary to produce the final product, including iron copper and coal mines, steel foundries and mills, forests and lumber mills and even his own power generating plant. He funded research to use soy products to replace plastics. When the company's stock went public, his dream was lost. Had his vision been maintained, Ford vehicles would definitely be American made.

[GeoBoy]

When I was a young mechanic, the dealership I worked for sold a leading Japanese motorcycle brand. The motorcycles/snowmobiles were very good but every so often they would have an oops moment and rather than address the problem they would just improve the product and forget about the customers that bought the product with a problem.
Later in life I sold the leading forklift brand in the world and the product was very good if not the best, it is Japanese. I sold a particular model to a lot of lumber yards and about 5 years later there was a problem, design flaw, in the hydraulic lift cylinders that could cause severe damage to the entire hydraulic system. There was never a recall and they would only partial pay if the customer made a big enough deal about the failure. Out of warranty was their response. I had several users of this particular model and made it known to the manufacturers service representative that if there was a denial to my customer that I would go to the states attorny general and have them start an investigation. Again the problem was addressed in future designs but the old problem was ignored.

[chevor]

Run away cars are not funny

[harmanrk]

So if you factor in where the compay is headquartered the 'domestic' companies are on top. I for one only care where they are MADE, and where the major parts come from. As for the profits going to Asia, you do know you can by stock in Honda, and Toyota, and bring those profits right back don't you? As for the 'domestics' profits, well they would have to have one for it to go anywhere, something that rarly happened before the government stepped in.

[lbrjet]

The word is pedal, not petal. Funny how witch hunts can happen when the govt controls the main competitor. Also funny how when govt control ceased (less than 50% ownership) the witch hunt quietly stopped. Just coincidence I guess.

[chevor]

Remember when those vehicles had sticking accelerator petals. Toyota blamed it on the stupidity of their customers. NEVER will I trust that company.