Toyota is going to start pimping their new San Antonio TX plant to sell their crappy little Tundra pickup trucks to general construction contractors and businesses (and probably, in the process, touting that it's a "Made in the USA" product as they have before). So basically, in other words Toyota thinks that making white stripped down Tundras with 8 foot beds to sell to contractors is a NOVEL concept that supposedly businesses have never before considered. I know why people haven't considered it yet - it's because (HOPEFULLY) they're PROUD to be an AMERICAN - so they're PROUD to drive an AMERICAN vehicle on the job site. When is everyone here in the US going to realize that Toyota, Honda, and Nissan are partly to blame for high gas prices by shipping their biggest vehicles to China, increasing fuel demand in those areas?
Sooner or later, Nissan will probably build a Titan assembly plant somewhere in Iowa and claim that it's an "American" vehicle too just like what Toyota and Hyundai are doing. Meanwhile the money goes back overseas, and American automobile manufacturers start to lose a little more ground with each passing day. This is getting RIDICULOUS.
OK, sure Toyota is hiring people in the USA (San Antonio in this case) to build their trucks, and I'm happy if you were unemployed in San Antonio and now have found a job with Toyota. I'm glad that you have a job now. But, until we boycott companies like this that try to give a "Made in the USA" image while most of their dollar goes overseas to fund sending the Tundra, Highlander, 4Runner, Ridgeline, Pilot, Titan, Xterra, Murano, Pathfinder, and the Armada to Beijing, we're likely never to accomplish an oil balance. The only thing we in America can do is boycott.
Bottom line: with each imported vehicle bought in the USA, that's one more vote for the demise of American automobile manufacturers.
This, of course, is my humble opinion. Opinions anyone?
Register today or sign-in to remove these ads!
Last edited by thereisnospoon; 09-05-2005 at 02:32 PM.
What is causing the demise of the American automobile manufacturers is Union labor's unyielding demand for generous benefits packages for which they do not want to contribute a single dime, and noncompetetive wage and pension packages. Meanwhile people who buy Dodges from a German automaker which may have been made in Mexico or Canada, and Fords that may have been built in Canada preach about 'buying American".
This country's automotive industry is going down the toilet and the first people to thank for that fact are your good ole American unions, which would rather watch everything fall apart and see their members completely loose their jobs than negotiate now in good faith for the sake of the greater good. If foreign companies that can compete want to come here and hire Americans to build their vehicles, I say more power to them. Instead of whining about foreign companies taking over our auto industry we need to figure out how to be competetive. The only way our auto industry will be strong again is when the companies can build and sell cars cheaply and without always having to offer discounts. That will only happen when the Unions come to the table and the workers start caring about doing what is necessary to help the company thrive and employ future generations of Americans rather than just refusing to give up or renegotiate anything.
and I'll buy what you're spouting somewhat, but it's odd that gas prices started going up when foreign automobile manufacturers made the decision to ship their big new trucks and SUV's to other places besides the USA. My argument is not with the unions so much as the effect it has had on the oil. I know how the working side of it is all shot to hell - that' not my argument. Re-read.
I will admit - Unions are not very cool to deal with. My Brother-In-Law has a job where he deals with unions day in and day out and they sometimes demand some impossible things. However, they usually DO give in because the unions are more powerful than people think they are and he's usually very scared of what will happen if he and his company make a stand. Plus, whenever he's fighting with unions, he'll get strange phone calls at all hours of the day and night, weekends, etc. Although he says that these phone calls aren't necessarily threatening, you can read between the lines.
Even still, it chaps my hide when foreign auto manufacturers give this "We're American" image when they are nothing of the sort. Even though Dodge trannys are probably made somewhere other than the US, the money is still here. Even though some of Ford's line is PARTIALLY assembled in Canada, the money is STILL HERE. Americans are still fooled. The Toyota dealership keeps getting bigger - the skyscrapers in Japan keep getting bigger - and American Auto manufacturer stocks slip another percent.
You know, I may be and sound stupid for saying this but, I'd rather buy an American vehicle that has an occasional problem or two in the first 100,000 miles than buy a foreign vehicle that has zero issues in the first 100,000 miles. However, then again, my F-150 has had zero problems in the first 65,000, so....
Last edited by thereisnospoon; 09-05-2005 at 03:33 PM.
It makes me made when i see all these jap crap cars and trucks driving around I guess most Americans forgot what happened on December 7th 1941 or just don't care anymore. We need to get our auto industry back to its hay day stats of the post war years of the 1950's when 95% of the cars and trucks sold in the USA came from the big 3.
Protectonism, Nationalism, Patriosm can't compete with simple economics, Toyota is taking over a market segment that the big three have abanonded, Pick up's for contracters.
Go to any Ford, Dodge, or GM dealer and try to buy a base 1/2 ton, Good luck finding one, Dealers do not stock base line trucks because the majority of American consumers want up scale trucks.
Fleet sales and being up selled into a super duty is where Ford is going, Some of you wine how Toyota and Nissan are destroying the American auto industry, I don't see Ford, Gm, Dodge opening up new plant's in states that can benifit from employed people buying homes, consumer goods.
Yes, let's roll the clock back and kick out any forgin auto maker out of north America, let's deny the consumer any right's to chose what they want to buy, ( cuba ) and let's close of global markets to the big three..
Last edited by cyclone vampire; 09-29-2005 at 10:45 PM.
This forum is owned and operated by Internet Brands, Inc., a Delaware corporation. It is not authorized or endorsed by the Ford Motor Company and is not affiliated with the Ford Motor Company or its related companies in any way. FordŽ is a registered trademark of the Ford Motor Company
Linear Mode
