17th Apr 2015, 04:25

The owners of the corporations hire people to build their cars. So if it's a Japan based corporation, they received the biggest profit and growth. This argument gets beat to the ground on here. You can work for me. Who makes more? You? You obviously live anything Toyota. Look at the Tundra's annual sales. A small percentage of Ford and GM models. If you like it so much, buy one because it's got a Toyota name on the front. I like proven reputation with full size models. Maybe a small car or truck is fine for many. High mileage as gas was high. Let's watch what people buy.

17th Apr 2015, 20:25

I own a Chevy, a Toyota, and a old classic Mercury from the 50s. I could care less if a car or truck is American or not. I care about product. What it boils down to are jobs. What does it matter whether one factory worker in the US works for either Toyota or Ford? They're all making a decent income and in turn living their lives just like the rest of us. I traveled to the UK a few years ago. To them Fords are as British as a Land Rover. They have their own models, their own factories, design centers and corporate offices. It's the same with Toyota in the US: They have design, engineering and manufacturing facilities all over the place complete with a US executive team. Those of you who think that somehow the US should be a vacuum where only US products are luckily in the minority: The world economy would collapse if we didn't participate in trade. A number of communist countries tried their own self-reliant economies in the past and we all saw how that turned out...

Lastly, how about actually taking a peek under the hood of your car or truck. I know for fact that my Chevy has parts from Korea, Japan, Brazil, Italy, Germany, the US, Austria and probably a few others. The car itself is about 45% domestically produced. It was designed in the US via an international team of engineers and designers. So with that said... what was that about profits? To whom do the profits go to the Korean company who made the part in the car? It goes to that foreign company's corporate headquarters, that's where, and the same is true with your American branded truck with parts from wherever in it. The argument over profits is null.

This isn't any different than taking apart a computer, TV, microwave, or maybe even a pair of shoes. In fact I work on electronics as a hobby and can definitely tell you that the TV in your houses is likely comprised of parts from dozens of different countries. Why no flag-waving patriotism over computers and TV's? After all - these - just like cars and trucks - are from US and foreign companies.

18th Apr 2015, 17:02

I buy time proven quality. When a product also remains relatively unchanged since 2005, it isn't capturing my money. Putting on some chrome or a headlight change isn't exciting. Add in the underpowered engine as well as the dated transmission. Trying to play catch up with more offerings to compete against the big three isn't producing huge sales. It's a nice vehicle for a homeowner to do some light landscaping.

The new Ford F Series upcoming aluminum block should increase MPG around 20 percent. Since you are already a Ford (Mercury fan), you will have the opportunity to have the number one vehicle for decades. As well as the newest technology.

I too have owned mixtures of import and domestic vehicles. But no way on earth am I switching to a dated import, full size pick up. Since gas is cheaper, the sales of Tacomas has also dropped. Might be fine to trade up.

There are actual owners on here that have been buying full sizes for decades. They must be able to discern the same as myself. Full size domestic pickups own the top 3 selling spots. Then the Camry, with all its massive recalls, is not a car I would buy.

Full size trucks are also expensive to buy. People do their homework. If the vehicle hasn't changed much in 10 years and has the dated trans... Why buy?

19th Apr 2015, 14:41

The single largest purchase in America is buying a home. The second is typically new vehicles. A 40k to 50k purchase for a new full size truck can easily fall into the range. And Tundra is able to fall into this price range. It's not a TV set or microwave oven. If a tiny piece of a pie is spent on assembling a vehicle here, it's not the biggest portion returned to the country of origin. If all our 50 states were taken into consideration, it's not a strong argument. Maybe you are content getting frequent raises and don't know anyone downsized or unemployed. Highly skilled, but not able to find a job. If that's a communist idea, perhaps revamp your thinking process. I value stabilizing the economy. I know there's tax concessions and breaks that also enter the picture. My company's growth is opening plants overseas. There is a possibility of a plant in Mississippi. Sure the pay will be low. So in effect it's reducing 3 shifts here to 1. Having idle days without pay at times called a vacation. Anyone else care to share some input on this? Maybe we should all be buying cars from China. I own a new full size Ford F-150; it's a domestic.

21st Apr 2015, 15:11

The Tundra didn't even exist 15 years ago, and yet it has gone from being what was admittedly a sort of feeble effort of making a full sized pickup truck, to a truck that's right in the fray. Every generation has had either new engines introduced or changes to the existing ones.

Here's what I find really ironic about this debate: I'd be willing to bet that almost all of those who are making these "buy American" comments are then turning right around and buying most if not ALL of their stuff at their local big box stores, where 90% of what's sold there is imported from China. I can honestly say that I hardly ever set foot in those stores for a number of reasons, and instead intentionally buy most of my stuff online, including my US-made shoes, shirts and tools.

Lastly, I am from the South, and the Japanese, Korean and German auto companies have had a big hand in revitalizing that region. There are numerous parts and component manufacturing facilities, assembly lines, and engineering areas. These companies are paying well above regional wages. To us these mean good paying jobs. As mentioned, most cars and trucks made there are actually MORE American than actual American cars. Many of these vehicles are in turn actually shipped overseas. People keep asking "where do the profits go?" The answer is that yeah, some goes back to corporate, but who cares? What does the pay of a CEO have to do with the millions of individual workers who work for that company? The bulk of that money goes into the pockets of the people making those vehicles.

End of story.