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What are you driving?
Since the President's looking for ways to encourage people to buy American cars, Politico took a gander at the White House parking lot. Only 5 out of 23 cars were American.
The Detroit News recently had a summary of the cars driven by members of the President's economic team:
Timothy Geithner -- 2008 Acura TSX. Once owned a 1999 Honda Accord and a 2002 Acura MDX.
Larry Summers -- 1995 Mazda Protege. Once owned a 1996 Ford Taurus.
Peter Orszag -- 2008 Honda Odyssey and a 2004 Volvo S60. Previously owned a 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee.
Jared Bernstein -- 2005 Honda Odyssey.
Austan Goolsbee -- 2004 Toyota Highlander.
The "Climate Czar" Carol Browner and the Energy Secretary Steven Chu say they don't own cars.
I don't care what kind of cars these people drive, except that it shows how difficult it will be to reverse the perception that is now ingrained in the minds of many Americans - foreign cars are better.
I'm sure there are still people who buy American for patriotic reasons. But obviously, many more otherwise patriotic Americans buy foreign cars because they believe them to be superior. A few of those people work at the White House. And since American workers make plenty of foreign cars in this country now, it's harder to use the "stealing American jobs" argument.
My dad's a pretty red-blooded American who happens to think Japanese cars are the only cars worth buying. I was raised on that thinking. My first car was a Datsun. My second car was a Nissan. I rebelled with my third car and bought a Volkswagen Passat, despite my father's ridicule. He turned out to be right. I spent a fortune on repairs.
In my most recent car-buying experience, I kept an open mind, but avoiding repairs, especially costly ones, was my primary motivation. Second to that was aesthetics and function. I'd say those are pretty strong American values.
I bought a Toyota.
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I agree with the original comment. A whole lot of foreign cars were actually made here in america. In places where Americans can work if they so choose. I do not think that "buying american" really means anything. Its not like cars are being made in china then shipped here. The cars made here in america are american cars.
Most people forget that American labor and American parts go into many "Foreign Cars" like my Nissan Frontier. It was built on the land that used to belong to my sister-in-law's family by Tennesseans and has a majority of American made parts. Better than a Crown Vic or the GM cars made in Canada.
If GM or Chrysler goes belly-up, the cars Americans buy will still mainly be built by Americans.
How are people expected to buy American cars when their own salaries are falling. Even through losing jobs, it causes the job market to pay less?
I think the best model they could adopt would be to make vehicles more modular.
You could buy the body you want, then couple it with your selected drive train, interior and other packages.
With a setup like this, you would enable people to purchase particular parts to improve or rehabilitate what they already own, as well as make future innovations (particularly hybrid and electric) more easily adaptable.
To be honest, it is absurd to expect people to buy a new car every five or so years, unless people start making more money compared to the real cost of living.
I understand and agree with the mission of NAFTA, however it is a fact that all of the auto makers have moved many operations out of our borders for cheaper labor. The people who they want to buy their cars, no longer have decent jobs to afford them. Why do cars need to be replaced every 3, 4 or 5 years? Shouldn't they last a bit longer? Many of the Japanese makers excel at making products that last for more than just the length of their loans.
It may not be the most "profitable" business model, but we need more for our money, not less.
The whole auto business model is just not sustainable while massive profits are being sought.
True, GM, Ford and others are really cutting back, but after how long? As the wages have been scaled back over the past two decades through new contracts, there has been no ground recovered for the working person. The money has been sucked out of the system, moving to the top as well as out of the country. There is a lot more to look at than what we are being shown.
Modular is a great idea, but it does have a downside. The more modular your car is the more likely it is to get stolen for parts value.
The Honda Accord and Toyota Camry are among the most stolen cars on the market because their respective manufacturers used modular platforms. It's very common for folks to drop the larger Corolla and Accord engines into Civics and Corollas to build street racers.
"...it shows how difficult it will be to reverse the perception that is now ingrained in the minds of many Americans - foreign cars are better."
Unfortunately, it is not just a perception. While GM et. al. have made great strides, they are still behind in quality. Don't quote worthless JD Power surveys to me - they survey only _initial_ quality. The cars darn well ought to be perfect 3 months after purchase. Talk to me about the maintenance cost over 10 years. Consumer Reports is the only good source for that kind of data and the results are pretty clear. Honda, Toyota and a few others leave the Big3 in the dust. There are certainly _some_ American built and designed cars that are in the top ranks for quality, but on the average this is not the case. My Dad has been driving various Lexus models for the past 15 years, and they've almost never required non-scheduled maintenance. Mom's new Cadillac needed 3 repairs in the first year - absolutely inexcusable for a car in that price range. She won't buy another. All that said, my 97 Wrangler has been very reliable and my wife's 2000 Imprezza was not, so beware of anecdotal evidence...look at the data.
I grew up in a "buy American" home, and for the first ten years I drove, I only drove GM cars. At 5'2", I could never put my whole foot on the accelerator of any of these cars and thought that driving with just your toes on the accelerator and getting leg cramps after more than 100 miles was just the way it was. Then, in 1973, I drove my first Toyota. What a revelation -- a car that was designed to be comfortable for a short person (but also worked for my over 6' tall husband)! I never looked back and am now on my 4th Toyota (a 2003 Prius). I use rental cars several times a year and have driven many compact American cars, but these always seem to be small cars designed for tall people and just don't "fit" the way the Toyotas do (not to mention the legendary Toyota reliability and the fact that none of my four decades of Toyotas has gotten less than 35 mpg).
Anton, Politico did say there were Mercedes, BMW's and Audis in the White House staff lot. But we are talking about government workers here. Although, I'm sure the recent Treasury Secretary and former Goldman Sachs CEO Hank Paulson could buy a parking lot full of Lamborghinis if he wanted.
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