We've got to start somewhere! Let's see how many people will commit to buying American on this bbs (assuming you live in the US )!
I'm not sure that buying foreign is the only way to force change. IF Americans bought American they could reasonably legislate change in fuel efficiency/standards, for example, and say 'hey your profits are up - use SOME of that money for x.' Or new American companies could sprout up. Or competition for marketshare could spur innovation.
The problem is less fuel efficiency and more poor construction practices. Consumer Reports consistently ranks American cars lower in reliability and there's no point in wasting money on cars that break down. American car companies need a wake up call to develop more efficient and structurally sound cars that don't fall apart so easily.
How do you identify "break down so easily"? The average car (regardless of brand) will last you five years min (most American cars, in fact, are warrantied bumper-to-bumper for this period of time). On the other hand, the average American changes his/her car once every 4-5 years. So again, in the REAL world, most Americans don't drive their cars past the 5 years/100k period/mileage. Most new cars will at least last you that long without much repair work (besides the regular maintenance that is). Look, I agree that in the past (especially late 80's and 90s models) the Japanese simply built better cars and made more quality products. What I am arguing though, however, is that despite that fact, in the past few years American brands improved so much in quality and almost caught up in the rankings to the import brands, and in fact were better than most imports in the 'build quality' category. Also, fuel effeciency is pretty good on most Chevys, for ex. I still stand by my argument that it's more so of a perception than a reality. Even if we accept that yes, the imports are superior in quality, then how 'superior' are they really? There is simply very little difference, IMO, quality-wise in today's automobile market that an educated consumer would be a fool to let a car salesman convince him/her that it's worth paying those extra grands to get a 'higher quality' vehicle. All those factories that build these vehicles use very similar state-of-the-art assembly lines that cost billions of dollars. You'ld be hard-pressed to drive a Buick or an F-150 and tell me that those are 'low quality' vehicles. That's just not reality IMO.
Well I'm basing this purely on my experiences and on the rankings of consumer reports which I feel are pretty unbiased. Despite these supposed changes in US automakers, they just are losing the rankings battles with japanese cars. Reliability which I find is probably the best standard to evaluate the quality of cars according to consumer reports has Japanese cars ahead of American competitors. Also American car companies really need to find a way to dent the luxury car market because the Euros and Japanese are just running away with that.
They can build 'em, but that problem is most people who have $80 grand on their hands will go straight to the BMW dealership or the Benz dealership, not the Cadillac one. Why? Simple: Status. I think sales-wise the Caddy is doing well, much like mid-pack luxo rides such as Lexus and Acura. However, none of them will be able to fully compete with the 'status' brands such as MB and BMW.
Yup, and the Euro brands consistently do worse than the American brands, and yet people are willing to pay $20 grands more for a Beemer or a Benz...
What % of people buy BMW or Benz? What % of people buy Accord ,Civic, Camary, Altima ....? The ones who buy BMW or Benz only care about the brand not quality (I should say reliability).
Consumer Report measures average number of problems per 100 new vehicles. US autos have gone from 105 in 1980 to 23 in 2000. That's a pretty large improvement and in line with foreign automakers. Mid-size Buicks have the best initial quality and the best long-term (3 years measured by Consumer Reports) dependability of any mid-size sedans in the world. And that includes Toyota, Honda, and Nissan. Not to mention Mercedes, which is not stellar.
Funny enough. I conciously looked closer at US cars and ended up buying a US SUV. Historically, my family has stuck to Toyotas and Nissans. When we did buy a luxury car, 5 years ago, we ended up with a BMW. This time around (2 years ago), made a concerted effort to buy domestic. In the market for 2 more cars to replace 2 Nissans, and its a lot harder for me to find US cars I like. Feel the Europeans have a lead on handling when it comes to cars. Of course might end up getting the Volvo S40, which is owned by Ford, so don't know how that fits....
Did you know he deliberately mixed up the chronologic order of that movie to place blame on certain people?
But nonetheless the fact is that flint is a disaster. I even went to their six flags theme park once. Worst six flags park ever and I can see why it folded within a year. The town is like Detroit and much of Michigan. The rich are fleeing and you can see the urban decay. Its absolutely depressing when you walk through it.
detroit has to be the most depressing major city in the country. that being said historically detroit was very diverse. there were high schools taught in german, hungarian and many other european languages well into the mid 20th century.
I agree to cutting the tarde deficit and save jobs, but honestly, the Union hs made it impossible to compete...I remember reading that GM's average cost per assembly employee is $78/hr including benefits...You can't compete such a high operating costs... I honestly would buy American if it was as reliable as Japanese...I've had Chevy's, Ford's, Chryslers, all POS's...When I got out of college, I got a Honda and never had a problem...I have a Lexus now and love it...It's just better quality from start to finish...Reliablity is important to me...
Its not the union's fault. European unions have even more power and benefits and the japanese are notorious for feudal benefits for employees. Everyone has some type of union. Americans are losing because of straight up structurally inferior vehicles that just don't compete against the Japanese and Europeans.
Average workers in US get far less benefits and pay than their counterparts do in countries like Germany. But average management staff and top management in US get FAR more than those ones do in Japan or Germany. You have no idea how powerful unions like IGMetal are. When I was a student, had experience to work as an assembly worker in Volkswagen, I made 5000DM a month, which was about $3800 US back then. When I graduated and worked as a software engineer, I made a little less than 6000 a month, about $4600 US, and my manager got about $500 more than I did. Compare the salary between blue- and white collar workers in US, you can see why the cost is so high in US.
that would devalue the existing (and future) second degrees, right? Hey we're running out of money...PRINT MORE!!!!!
