Here is the 2011 list of cars and percentage made in U.S. http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/rulemaking/pdf/AALA/AALA2011_Alpha .pdf
Buy American
- Thread starter asto-t
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Little6pack
Active Member
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- Jun 2, 2002
so are you saying the ones built outside of the US are better quality?
datenbrick
New Member
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2007
nice im at 80%
How is this calculated? Is it based on tier1 suppliers or overall content? I know many of the manufactures will have most of the components built in mexico or canada and have those components shipped to a tier1 supplier in the US for assembly and then sell to the automaker. How is content calculated? Number of parts, value of parts? weight of parts?
Don't be fooled by many of the numbers, See what percentage of that money stays in the US. Say a japanese tier1 supplier (in the US) buys their components from a japanese supplier (that they own) in japan at a huge markup. The US based tier1 supplier will claim to almost break even or even post a loss for every year in operation. All the money has already left the country to Japan or who knows where as cost for component parts. It's that easy to claim a higher number but, in the end the only thing that is US money is just employee labor.
chopped39
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2004
My brother in law has two honda accords. One built here and one built in japan. Other then regular maintence the japan built car has needed no repairs and it has 130,000 on the clock. The us built car had a trans before 80k. I replaced both front hubs .replaced the radiator. replace the evaporator core and the ac compressor replace the condensor. and the list goes on.
This really pisses me off to see this. Now when I have a Honda in for major service I check the door tag and laugh when it says made in Usa. Because I know I will be making some money:biggrin:
THAT is a very SAD statement, because I can assure you that the Assembly Workers of the Honda Marysville plant are dedicated workers of equal caliber to ANY other! Their management team is actually even better than most, and are surely, internally Angry over the simple prospect of such an occurance, vs. their Japanese counterparts. I would make a guess that this is partly do with the necessity of using both the stupid sick quality of Mexican sourced componetry, and the difficulty of getting reliably good product from current US tier-2/-3 supplier's. Sadly, contractual obligation's have driven many US based supplier's out of business and my personal experience with their replacements has been one of disappointment and or disgust. I won't even get into it. I blame this on the utter failure of our own govt to protect America (not just the affected workers) in the face of global competition, which is purely corporate profit taking. The current crop of US based supplier's is forced to produce at such a low cost that they are effectually useless and incapable of hiring quality worker's to produce their product and as such, we, where I work have been forced to become exceedingly more vigilant about everything we hang on our product in order to maintain our own quality standards. FWIW, I work at the highest Quality rated production facility in our operation and consider that not only an honor, but a responsibility to maintain through continous encouragement of fellow workers to flag and document Every questionable item they encounter. I know that some here may find that flagging as much as a box or an entire shipment of componentry for review, or running campaign's on the minimum 100 previously assembled product's a horrible problem brought on by the unionized environment of US auto assembly, but I expect that Every purchaser of my Company's product enjoy the same right and expectation of quality as the previous, if I have to demand that Dearborn's corporate representatives be contacted to ensure it. I certainly hope that the worker's and the management team @ Honda have their eyes on the ball in this issue and not on simple profit for their own futures in this country, and my State.
WH1_T-Type
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2009
I drive my Buick (of course) and a 2010 Ford F-150 that my wife LOVES.....my next motorcycle will be American as well (Victory) though my Suzuki has been a GREAT bike.
You sir are 100% correct. But unfortunately the tier 1's are such big players they know your cost and will force the price down or find some won who will run (manufacture it) for free or next to it just so you can exchange dollars.
There is always someone who thinks they can run it free when you are talking millions of parts. I have lost jobs over $.0025 to substandard suppliers.
And seen target pricing that wouldn't cover materials. But some you made the part at that rate. Probably until they were out of business.
At one time Ford made more money back charging their supplies than they did selling cars. All of this will drive quality down just to meet the bottom line.
There is always someone who thinks they can run it free when you are talking millions of parts. I have lost jobs over $.0025 to substandard suppliers.
And seen target pricing that wouldn't cover materials. But some you made the part at that rate. Probably until they were out of business.
At one time Ford made more money back charging their supplies than they did selling cars. All of this will drive quality down just to meet the bottom line.
Another reason to buy American
More than 200 Chinese children poisoned by lead - Yahoo! News
They have literally shut down battery mfg in this Country so we buy products from a country that has zero interest in controlling pollution.
Our Govt is dumb. With China's track record we should not be importing anything from them
More than 200 Chinese children poisoned by lead - Yahoo! News
They have literally shut down battery mfg in this Country so we buy products from a country that has zero interest in controlling pollution.
Our Govt is dumb. With China's track record we should not be importing anything from them
turbojay
Active Member
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2009
You are probably right but the perception remains that domestic cars are inferior to Japanese cars because 15-20-30 years ago, the Japanese were more dependable and that perception remains today, hopefully it will go away after people hear positive things from friends/relatives that buy American cars.
Things are changing. And people are beginning to see the light. Lincoln and Buick are both rated higher in dependability than ANY Japanese car built now days. Yes, even higher than Lexus, then comes Honda and Toyota. 
Little6pack
Active Member
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2002
Holy C R A P where are you driving too to put that milage on? You doing PD work in your own car? :biggrin:
Little6pack
Active Member
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2002
My 1996 OLDSMOBILE 88 currently 15 years old
Got it used for $9500 with 32k on the clock --- NOW its at 160k
normal stuff: rotor, pads, tires, oil.
Minor stuff: a few brake lines to the rear rusted out, rear wheel brake cylinders, 1 coil pack & 1 strut.
Major stuff : KNOCK ON WOOD! NUTHIN SO far.
We now use this as the WINTER BEATER. Most I could sell it for is $500 So we rather keep her with us.
This is the most reliable car in the family.
Better than my wifes MOPAR mini van which loves going to the shop. Better than my 4 x 4 s10
Got it used for $9500 with 32k on the clock --- NOW its at 160k
normal stuff: rotor, pads, tires, oil.
Minor stuff: a few brake lines to the rear rusted out, rear wheel brake cylinders, 1 coil pack & 1 strut.
Major stuff : KNOCK ON WOOD! NUTHIN SO far.
We now use this as the WINTER BEATER. Most I could sell it for is $500 So we rather keep her with us.
This is the most reliable car in the family.
Better than my wifes MOPAR mini van which loves going to the shop. Better than my 4 x 4 s10
GNBRETT
Pelennor Fields
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2004
Its a 60 mile round trip to work every day alone. I live out in the stix so when im off duty I have to travel about the same distance to get anywhere.
I see you know exactly what we're talking about! I can recall a specific time a decade or so ago, when an area manager thought he was not just an engineer, but a purchasing agent, who saw a chance at making $.0025 on an item we literally used millions of. A week into his brilliant idea, with over 100K of the product in the system already, we started having failures which never happened in product testing. The new item wasn't good long enough to make delivery of the final build, Thankfully! Oddly, his ability to run dog-and-pony shows for the brass kept him from any repurcussions at all. Another sad statement of a lack of accountability at the top, or middle as it were. Loss leader components are pretty common it would seem, and the 'buy backs', which to the lay-people are an agreement to produce the product for less $ each year it stays in production through a contracted period, HAVE to be killing supplier's in this time of rapid materials price fluctuation and general increase that will undoubtedly outstrip any gross revenue made by not needing to retool. And I wouldn't say that Ford has changed too aweful much in their practice of back-charging either. If anything, it's been honed! The people at the top of FoMoCo are absolute ruthless Geniuses! It's a multi faceted beauty of manipulation in the market and the company proper. Don't be fooled that it affects quality of the end product though. Last I saw, they'd stropped that razor to near perfection! Oh, don't be fooled! Jaques Nasser played his role perfectly. And now the public see's some of the results that only a true insider could have understood from the outset as the world changes to meet long ago actions in those uncertain times. Ford always works from a quieter perspective that requires a careful watch to see, and a very long term attention span to know. Watching the Detroit Press is pretty humorous in their inability to see the bigger picture most of the time. Ford let's you see what you will, even if it means short term market losses, if you won't pay attention to their agenda or just can't see the long term benefits they know are there. They play for keeps and don't need any govt's intervention to be just where they want to be in the world market. That's what scares me about them while commanding respect. Unlike the rest of the system's short term gain model that seemingly can't see a benefit past the next quarter's dividend and demands continuous yet unsustainable growth, they have an older, more modest appearing yet more ruthless and fully sustainable model that allows them to appear to take losses when convenient, and emerge as they choose when they choose, as much as they choose. All while commanding everything they survey, such as their dealings with the tiers of suppliers, some of which they've made for their own personal benefit, and control while appearing not too.
Sorry to go on so long...
I've gotcha beat! 68.5 round to work. Mines 8-1/2yrs old now and goin strong. I expect to get another relaible 125K out of it at the rate it's going @ 158K now. I don't even consider reliability an issue with mine, it just Never fails me. BUT I have quit beating on it as hard as I put the first hundred K on it now as a preservation issue as it ages. What are ya driving if ya don't mind? Believe it or don't, I'm runnin a lowly Focus like there's no tomorrow!
It's no small coincidence that vehicle quality has come so far in the past 27 years or so since my dad offered a rebate from his own pocket to a first-time-buyer at the local dealership to encourage domestic confidence in local consumer's through the action of a worker. A little guy. But it Is a small miracle that it remains so in these trying economic times. I swear, if it weren't for the dedication of the line worker little poeple who are treated as being what the micromanagement team behave as, it wouldn't be so. However hard they try to be on top of everything, it's still the knowledge of the little people who build the product that keep it all together and make sure that nothing wrong gets out the door. Sadly, the general public misinterpret's recall's which are the result of second and third tier supplier's inability to make quality product which will meet the rigorous demands of people who depend on long mileage or severe duty vehicle's, like you and I do, at a price point that the mfg'rs can buy at. Little outsourced things that work just fine, for a little while anyways. And that's the difficulty. Especially since the warranty periods have increased so much now. People have a failure, do to the failure of our govt allowing multinationals to operate with impuntiy to the value of our market(which is destroying it along with our personal buying power), which leads them(the end user) to assume that the correct course is in joining the other side and buying a foreign made product which further's the race to the bottom we're all involved in. I'd assume it's just as bad in any other market where any corporation is trying to hold onto the American build team in spite of 'free trade'(rape) while dealing with the manipulated foreign markets simultaneously.
SimpsonTide985
New Member
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2011
This is partly why I usually don't care if the car I drive is domestic/foreign. Sure, if you think solely about employment and jobs, then it makes sense, but there's so much more than that when it comes to the actual car itself.
