Proud to Be American? Buy “Foreign”

[Intrepidation]

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/hot_li...foreign_feature

1, 4, or 5.

One of these digits is found at the beginning of the vehicle identification number (VIN) of each and every car or truck built in the United States.

But contrary to widely held beliefs, not all cars built in America wear American brand names. Indeed, like hamburgers, pizza, and “freedom fries,” some of the most savory American automotive treats originated in other countries but are now made right here in the U. S. of A.—a foreign badge doesn’t mean foreign workers built the car.

Moreover, if they include at least 50 percent American parts by content, even cars and trucks wearing import brand names are officially designated as “domestic” products and thus avoid being slapped with import tariffs and taxes that would otherwise apply. Since these charges would eventually get passed along to the consumer, skirting them allows for lower sticker prices.

It’s not just a tax thing anymore. In recent years, American plants have become more and more important as hedges against the sinking dollar. This explains why Volkswagen, Kia, and Audi are planning assembly lines here, and other foreign brands currently building cars in the U.S. have plans to build even more plants here—bringing their suppliers with them—and some will even export the products right back to their homelands.

It’s not foreign flattery—it’s just plain good business. Thus we bring you the following five surprising ways to buy American: vehicles built right here in America by American hands.

[Intrepidation]

So that's it friends. As long as you ignore the fact that the money goes back to the country in which the company is based, an Accord is as American as a Malibu.

[CARBIZ]

You only have to look at the number of ads from 'foreign' car companies in C&D, versus Ford, GM and Chrysler. They know where their check is coming from.

[cletus8269]

i like the part where it says they build them here to avoid the importing fees and pass the savings on the consumer... gives me a warm fuzzy feeling... or that could be diarrhea i dont know i had spicy stuff for dinner last night.

try building a factory for one of the big three over there and i am pretty sure it would still get fees slapped all over it.

[Hudson]

I have other problems with the article. I don't care which EXECUTIVES get paid but I'd rather see working-class Americans build the vehicles and supply the parts to the vehicles, which all goes back to that domestic content.

The main problem that I have is that I have driven an American-built car (BMW M Coupe) that had a "W" VIN code. I'm sure that there are others.

[balthazar]

>>"...and thus avoid being slapped with import tariffs and taxes..."<<

What import tariffs & taxes ???

As it has been forever to me: an American car is a car built by an American company.

Of course, there's a fetid double-standard: foreign car fans are ever-quick to generalize about -say- 'lack of American quality' or 'typical for an American car', yet overlook all the foreign product slapped together on our soil.

No one considers a mercedes or bmw built here to be 'American', yet a Chevy built in Mexico is pointed out incessantly as something 'wrong'.

Edited July 7, 2008 by balthazar

[siegen]

Proud to Be American? Buy “Foreign”

This article is incredibly vague and could potentially be very misleading.

The fact that the Corolla is on there with only 50-percent (according to them) domestically sourced content, doesn't appear to make any sense.

[Nick]

So that's it friends. As long as you ignore the fact that the money goes back to the country in which the company is based, an Accord is as American as a Malibu.

Last time I checked, Toyota is publicly traded. If you have enough money you can own Toyota.

The workers at these American plants do get paid. So do the employees at all those Toyota Dealerships.

The plants cost money, the materials cost money, the utilities cost money, everything has a cost. These costs are distributed throughout the price of the vehicle. When somebody purchases a vehicle, much of the costs (as with most any product) goes back into the economy in one way or another. It isn't like the money goes straight from America into some Japanese lock-box. This is a world economy.

I don't mean to single you out or anything...It is just one of those arguments that is commonly passed around, and is easily dismissed when considering the big picture.

[PurdueGuy]

Last time I checked, Toyota is publicly traded. If you have enough money you can own Toyota.

The workers at these American plants do get paid. So do the employees at all those Toyota Dealerships.

The plants cost money, the materials cost money, the utilities cost money, everything has a cost. These costs are distributed throughout the price of the vehicle. When somebody purchases a vehicle, much of the costs (as with most any product) goes back into the economy in one way or another. It isn't like the money goes straight from America into some Japanese lock-box. This is a world economy.

I don't mean to single you out or anything...It is just one of those arguments that is commonly passed around, and is easily dismissed when considering the big picture.

It is certainly true that a foreign car built here is better (for American jobs) than one that is not, but it's a faaar cry from being as good (for American jobs) as a car from an American company built here. Blue collar jobs aren't the only ones that need protection, and consideration for where the $$s go for engineering and management is worth consideration as well. Of course, more and more GM engineering dollars are going to Europe and Korea...

People want an easy answer - "it's evil to buy (fill in blank), it's good to buy (fill in blank)", but reality isn't so simple, and I'm not sure that this article is reflecting reality, either.

[Guest aatbloke]

So that's it friends. As long as you ignore the fact that the money goes back to the country in which the company is based, an Accord is as American as a Malibu.

How does "the money go back to the country in which the company is based?" Firstly, only distributable profits can be extracted by a parent company from a US manufacturing subsidiary (and only a portion at that), and secondly, profit doesn't equal cash.

[CARBIZ]

And as long as people continue to believe that, then Japan Inc has won. The long, painful recession that the U.S. is sinking into (and Canada is skirting so far) is a direct result of this sham. As the paper jobs in Wall Street start to evaporate we are going to see soon enough that the Emperor has no clothes.

Nearly 100,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost from Ontario in the past few years. 100k! Toyota hires 900 people to work in Woodstock, then Ford and GM lay off 2,400. How do accountants love those numbers? Parts suppliers are going under ever week around here.

Sure, the Toyota dealers employ people, but then so once did the GM, Ford and Chrysler dealers that are closing up shop everywhere. Is there a net benefit to North America? That is the billion dollar question.

We are starting to see the results of weasel economics. We have been spoon-fed pure BS by the lazy, fat media and their liberal-arts accomplices for the past 20 years. A factory lays off 400 $25/hr workers and Wal-Mart hires 100 $8/hr workers. That is the reality. If California is having fiscal trouble, then that belies the Sunshine State's great optics, too. Something is rotten.

I guess nobody gives a damn as long as the banks and insurance companies are hiring. Oops, now they're sending their jobs to the Asia, too? Dell just moved 1,000 jobs from Ottawa to there, BTW.

And, lastly: yes, Toyota is publicly traded, but can you buy those shares here? Just asking, is all.

[Guest aatbloke]

And as long as people continue to believe that, then Japan Inc has won. The long, painful recession that the U.S. is sinking into (and Canada is skirting so far) is a direct result of this sham. As the paper jobs in Wall Street start to evaporate we are going to see soon enough that the Emperor has no clothes.

The US economy is weak, but is not currently experiencing negative growth.

[Guest aatbloke]

We have been spoon-fed pure BS by the lazy, fat media .

And you still are.

[Hudson]

This article is incredibly vague and could potentially be very misleading.

The fact that the Corolla is on there with only 50-percent (according to them) domestically sourced content, doesn't appear to make any sense.

Sorry if I missed it, but they didn't say that the Corolla has "only 50-percent" domestic content. It did say that to be called "American," it would have to have no less than 50% domestic content. The US-built Corolla has more.

Also, the Corolla is one of the few Japanese-badged cars and light trucks built by UAW labor (along with the Tacoma; Mitsubishi Eclipse, Galant, and Endeavor; Mazda6 and Tribute; and Isuzu I-series and Ascender).

[CARBIZ]

And you still are.

Right back at you, bub. :AH-HA_wink:

[A Horse With No Name]

And you still are.

...preach it brother....

Chris

[siegen]

Sorry if I missed it, but they didn't say that the Corolla has "only 50-percent" domestic content. It did say that to be called "American," it would have to have no less than 50% domestic content. The US-built Corolla has more.

Also, the Corolla is one of the few Japanese-badged cars and light trucks built by UAW labor (along with the Tacoma; Mitsubishi Eclipse, Galant, and Endeavor; Mazda6 and Tribute; and Isuzu I-series and Ascender).

From the last page:

"Sourced as it is from some four locations—one in Fremont, California, one in Cambridge, Ontario, and two in Japan—and with only about 50-percent U.S.-sourced content, the 2009 Toyota Corolla is the one car in this group that could be said to have dual citizenship."

[Hudson]

From the last page:

"Sourced as it is from some four locations—one in Fremont, California, one in Cambridge, Ontario, and two in Japan—and with only about 50-percent U.S.-sourced content, the 2009 Toyota Corolla is the one car in this group that could be said to have dual citizenship."

Like I said, sorry if I missed it. And I wonder if they're averaging the content of all four plants? I'm still sure that the 50% figure is averaged between the four plants. The US plant is much greater than 50% US/Canadian content.

And it's the "one car in this group that could be said to have dual citizenship?" How about the Accord? Civic? Camry?