31st Aug 2009, 16:56
10:12 I wonder if you tell every single customer that enters at your domestic workplace... a really good one would be "You can buy it a lot cheaper overseas instead of buying from us, if you look hard enough and please scour the planet to do so".
3rd Sep 2009, 06:46
16:56 - I really have no clue as to what you are talking about.
Are you saying that you have the right to dictate what individuals buy?
If that is your argument, I disagree.
3rd Sep 2009, 16:37
Most import buyers don't "have a clue" about the damage they do to their neighbors and their country by supporting foreign industry at the expense of our own country. If they DID truly understand, we'd be far better off in this country. Why can't people grasp the simple concept that if you send your money to a foreign industry, it HURTS our own??
4th Sep 2009, 11:07
6:46 pretty simple; if you prefer imports and work in a domestic company, see how long you keep your job by truthfully telling everyone to look for the cheapest products and services from Hong Kong, China, Korea and Japan, instead of paying more.
I am absolutely certain someone can find more than cars today v cheaper with internet overseas merchants. I quote single digit percentages at my workplace on products, and still lose even with high inventory levels, buying capability and special pricing from our domestic factory reps.
Buying imports is fine, go ahead, but where will you work at? Maybe move to China or Korea or grab a low paying import car manufacturer job here.
4th Sep 2009, 19:55
Actually my wife and I own domestics, but I still believe you have no right to shove your propaganda down everyone's throat.
4th Sep 2009, 21:07
To 11:07: THANK YOU!!! I have been trying to get this message across for years, but the ad hype has drowned out any sense of patriotism in this country. I guess the next generation can all find jobs flipping hamburgers.
5th Sep 2009, 11:31
Over 1 million people are about to lose their unemployment benefits. I feel it's factual not propaganda to want to not lose any more orders overseas. I have empathy beyond my own driveway. Buy whatever you want, who cares if you are in a recession proof job, get nice annual raises and great matching 401k and nice pension. Maybe buying all imports will help keep the standard of living that some of us worked hard for and are getting now for our pensions
5th Sep 2009, 14:07
I don't get this whole "ad hype" argument. All car companies use ads that say their car is the best there is. And regardless of "ad hype," Honda and Toyota have both been very successful. Cars get long-term reputations of reliability by proving it in the real world. Think about it, if you saw a used car commercial that said that a Dodge Neon was best-in class for reliability, would you believe it? Of course not. Honda and Toyota can claim they have high reliability because it's been proven that they do!
And, from my personal experience anyways, it's the domestic companies that bad-mouth Honda and Toyota in their commercials! I've yet to see a Toyota commercial that says anything like "We have quality and reliability that surpasses Ford, Chevy and Chrysler." And I'm being serious! I've never heard a Toyota or Honda commercial that says anything about domestics. Yet just today I saw a Ford commercial that says "What's the difference between us and the competition? The difference is Ford quality, quality that can't be matched by Honda or Toyota." Don't believe me? Here's a hint: Mike Rowe, the host of the show Dirty Jobs, was the one who said that. The commercial shows him driving a Ford Fusion and looking directly at the camera as he said that.
5th Sep 2009, 14:53
If the domestic companies could show consistency in building a reliable car, then maybe they could move more of them. Also, outsourcing our jobs is what hurts us the most, not buying an imported car every ten years.
6th Sep 2009, 06:10
This used to be a great automotive website. Unfortunately it has been turned political by right-wing extremists, who think that the civilized world ends at the US borders.
I know that this comment will not be printed.
But the political turn that this website has taken, and the shameless advertising for the American automobile industry, has turned this website away from its intended target, which was a discussion about cars, not politics.
I'm an American, but I will forever disagree with these right-wing isolationists.
6th Sep 2009, 20:10
Flooding the market with cheap imports is not necessarily quality, it's just a low cost alternative. I can buy 2 plus cheap imports to be the same cost of even 1 of our nicer domestics.
7th Sep 2009, 05:55
610 - I agree stick to facts. I needed my first transmission and water pump in under 30000 miles on my low mileage Honda. Buy whatever you like. It doesn't matter if they have issues, it's a Honda.
7th Sep 2009, 08:50
14:53 we never kept any of our imports 10 years. 3 years at the most when the warranty expired or 36000 miles. Buying 2-3 at a time and many of our neighbors likewise.
Buying imports now does affect an already rotten economy further.
We had major mechanical issues with ours, and sold for nice domestics that have not given us any issues since switching in 2005.
In the 80-90's I found high quality, and since production increased to below average and we flat out stopped buying. Honda-Toyota to be specific.
7th Sep 2009, 09:46
05:55 - I wrote comment 6:10
Please let me add this - my problem is NOT with domestic vehicles, both my wife & myself drive domestics.
My issue is with those who condemn imported cars (even those manufactured here in the USA by Americans) simply because they ARE imports (or manufactured by a company with a "foreign" name). They go even further by suggesting that those who own & drive imports are not "patriots".
I guess their definition of patriotism is NOT the same as mine.
Now, can we get back to discussing cars? (Not where they are made, but HOW they are made, run, drive etc.?)
7th Sep 2009, 20:17
"I'm an American, but I will forever disagree with these right-wing isolationists."
I have no idea where the idea that supporting your own country and it citizens somehow became "right wing". I supported Barak Obama, support socialized medicine, gay marriage and helping our elderly keep their Social Security. By most standards that makes me a "liberal" (i.e. someone who cares about others). Not wanting U.S. jobs destroyed SHOULD be the aim of ANY patriotic American. For that reason alone I'd buy domestic automobiles. However my family has found (like many others on this site) that we also get better reliability, better resale, better warranty and a better value with domestics. If sending our money overseas and destroying the jobs and quality of life in this country is "liberal" maybe I need to re-evaluate my political views!!
31st Aug 2009, 09:46
"Why would Americans want low paying import car manufacturing jobs and less benefits?"
Gee aren't the overpaid, ridiculous benefits jobs that union workers have, the reason the big 3 is in so much trouble??
I'd rather work for a stable company that isn't bleeding to death in overpayments for current employees and retired employees as well. Yeah, you'll make less, but does making more money make sense when the company you work for is going to go broke from it? Sure if you care about nothing but yourself and don't worry about anyone else or their future. Guess that is the American way though isn't it?... or it was!!