Interesting article, sorry if a repost:

http://www.thecarconnection.com/Auto...92.A11981.html

 

The last American-made car I bought was my '85 Trans Am, built in Van Nuys, CA. The other two F-bodies were built in another nation, Canada.

 

Uh... er... technically Canada is in America, as is Mexico.

 

Intresting artricle.

Since I've lived in Japan briefly, and havent played devil's advocate in a few weeks, let me propose an alternate though.

The article basically takes what Toyota has done here and reverses it to Japan, and speculates on the Japanese reaction. The article assumes that the reaction wouldn't be the same from either the Japanese people or the government to a foreign intruder coming in, setting up shop, putting people to work, displacing existing automakers, etc.

What the article failes to mention or take into account is how fad concious and consumer driven Japan and it's people are. Anyone who goes there for the 1st time will experience sensory overload at how much stuff is marketed to you. It makes you feel that we're amatures here. Only business people drive conservative cars. Only rural people drive pickup trucks. With what is arguably the world's bess massive transit system, and a taxicab industry that is still clean, safe, and respected, any car you sell in Japan has to be something extremely catchy. This is a country that embraces the most action packed American movies instead of local ones. CocaCola, McDonalds, and KFC are THE kings of the fast paced diet over there. Guam and Hawaii are the ultimate destinations. Japanese Mafia drive Cadillacs. Any Hollywood star that's famous here has a cult following over there. Washed up actors and actresses? Go to Japan, do a few comercials or billboards and rake in a quick million.





Say GM sets up shop in Japan. Instead of the busy industrial centers, GM builds it's plant in locations where local governments are eagar to make deals because it brings more money into the area. The locals are gaining employment, and perhaps less regulation in that area means a bit more money for benefits or bonuses for workers.


Instead of a Cobalt or new Malibu, GM instead starts with a smaller, production version of the Belair convertible concept. It's quality is steller, it's price undercuts other domestic Japanese cars. GM also makes a smaller version of the SS concept and markets that as a family car. Also with stellar Japanese-style quality. Also undercuts the somewhat more familiar local cars.

Youth are attracted to lower priced cars, and are also attractred to new designs. They are also not as attached to tradition as older buyers are (some things are the same the world over). They buy the cars. People ask them about the cars. It catches on. GM knows the local norm is changing car's skins every few years. GM does it every 2. Continually expand their lineup.

GM cars now become a fad in a country known for embracing fads. As their buyers grow older and needs change they buy other GM cars.

IF GM buys parts & services from local companies, they become entangled into the economy. Can't be cut out.

Much like Toyota & many other foreign makers have done here.

 

Uh... er... technically Canada is in NOT in America, NOR is Mexico.

I admit, with idiots who want to erase all bordres it's getting harder and harder to understand that but at least for the moment, they are all separate countries and they are not "America".

I understand you may be refereing to the North American continent but, despite its slang use, "America" does not equal North America.

 

My '90 Camaro is an American car. I'm sure it has some foreign components in it, but that doesn't make it a foreign car.

In my opinion, a brand new Toyota Camry is a Japanese car, regardless of whether it was built here, by Americans. No amount of marketing spin or posts from Robert Nashville (with all due respect) will convince me otherwise.

I'm not going to say that Toyonda makes crummy cars... but I am going to say that they make Japanese cars.

 

I bought a small network switch for my home office, brand was a small US company, I forgot the name already, because its been quietly doing its job underneath my desk.

But I remember, on the box, it said,

"Designed and Engineered in the USA,
Parts made and assembled in China"

Which IMO, is as a good as its going to get for mass produced consumer level electronics these days.


At this point, I view cars about the same way too. I don't see the USA staying in manufacturing sector for mass produced items, its probably almost impossible to compete against other places of the world while keeping the same quality of work environment and safety in the USA. ... Only perhaps the low volume, custom, and high precision manufacturing.

 

With the current trend of globalization, the lines of what's American and what's not is blurred - only if you look purely at where the parts come from and where the money goes.

American cars (the better examples - Camaro, Mustang, Corvette, newer Caddys, etc.) have a certain "aura" about them. You can tell just by the styling, the feel, the sound, that it's an American car. Take a Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, etc., cars that are the "cream of the Japanese crop." They're the automotive equivalent of a household appliance. Quiet, uninvolving, cautious styling.

A closer comparison - the Pontiac Solstice and the Mazda Miata. The Miata has a distinctly Japanese look and feel to it - mechanical, precise. The Solstice, on the other hand, (I'm stealing a line from Car and Driver here) has "4th of July styling", like fireworks. It's more emotional than the Miata.

Basically, it seems like many Japanese cars have no soul to them. They are only machines. An American car feels practically alive by comparison. I think that's what really makes an American car an American car, and I don't know if the Japanese will ever be able to make that present in their cars.

 

There can be only one answer today to the question of “what’s an American car” and that is an American car is whatever each individual decides is an American car in his/her own mind.

If you are convinced that GM and Ford are “American” companies then you really don’t care if the next Camaro is made in Canada and the fact that they were once made n Norwood and Van Nuys is ancient history and unimportant today. People will say Chrysler is sill an “American” manufacturer despite the fact that they are wholly owned by a German company and that German company is calling all the shots.

Like most of life today, “facts” are almost never as important as “feelings” and that seems to especially true when this subject is raised...that tends to make articles like this, regardless of the slant of the author, rather pointless other than as a space-filler in a slow news cycle.

 

Just the kind of narrowminded bigotted response I'd expect.

We live in "The United States of America". That is States... united... in America... under one constitution. The Americas, include the North, South and Central American continents.

The use of "America" to mean "The United States of America" is the slang. You got it backwards my friend. When the original white settlers migrated here, they were coming to "The Americas" regardless of which continent they settled in. Canada, the United States and Mexico make up North America. Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama make up Central America. Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Venezula, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Argentina make up South America.

(I hope I didn't leave anyone out. )

 

since we are being picky and dealing with literal meanings... there is no such continent of Central America... Central America is part of North America

 

If it is unpatriotic to buy a Nissan built in Smyrna, Tennessee or a Camry built in Georgetown, Kentucky, then what about a Jeep Cherokee built in Detriot, since the profits go back to DaimlerChrysler headquarters in Germany?

Likewise, if it was unpatriotic 20 years ago to buy a Datsun built in Japan, why is it not unpatriotic to buy a Camaro built in Quebec or a GTO built in Australia? More...

 

That would be technically correct.

 

I guess in your word, believing in your country’s borders and its existence as a sovereign nation is “bigoted” – how sad.

That aside, I got it correct the first time.

You used the word “America” not the term “the Americas” (as you now want to throw into the pot). Had you said “the Americas” there would have been no confusion. Perhaps you are “technically” correct about the word “America” but I doubt that one in 10,000 people would agree with you that Mexico is “in America” no matter how technically correct a statement it might be.

Yes, the slang use of the word “America” does indeed mean the U.S. which is what I was saying in the first place - used as slang, it refers to the U.S, not the American continents (North or South). Most people understand that; I guess you don't. Mexico and Canada are in the Americas or if you prefer, North America, neither of them are in “America” as that word is commonly used and commonly understood by most of the world.

 

When you're right, you're right, Robert. "America" is shorthand for "The United States of America". Some people have a problem with that, I guess.