With the Big Three begging for bailouts and the political rhetoric about “saving” jobs in high gear, I would like to ask the above question. What is an American Car? Is it a Ford built in Mexico? A Chrysler built in Canada? A Honda built in Ohio? A Mercedes built in Alabama?
When we talk about “American auto manufacturing jobs”, do we obsess and fawn over the old guard, UAW entitlement minded Big Three jobs while ignoring the new guard, new thinking, non entitlement minded workers building cars in the U.S. for foreign manufacturers?
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Accessories March 16th 2011
March 16th, 2011 at 1:29 am
FORD
F = Found
O = On
R = Road
D = Dead
Americans love hiring Engineers who can sing and dance during interviews………
If Albert Einstein was interview by some geeks at Ford… do you think Ford would hire him? No way! the guy doesn’t look Hollywood enough
March 16th, 2011 at 1:54 am
You are right…..If we let the big three go, the UAW will essentially be kaput! So with that in mind, maybe it is time to start over.
March 16th, 2011 at 1:56 am
If they go under they can be replaced with new American companies with better more competitive business models. That’s capitalism.
March 16th, 2011 at 2:56 am
Good question
Get rid of the greedy unions. Anyone know a union boss who drives a “green” car the size of a sardine can?
Unions have outlasted their use and should die a quick death.
No bail out. Let the manufacturers cut jobs and then let the workers turn of the promises of their unions for solutions. Good bye union shops, Hello Right to Work
March 16th, 2011 at 3:21 am
An American car is one that is built by unionized workers who are not held to a high standard of quality or production because the union protects them from being fired for doing a crappy job. So, what you get is one that doesn’t last as long and needs more frequent repairs.
March 16th, 2011 at 4:12 am
Good lord, we think alike on a number of issues. I have asked this question of all my “Union and proud” friends for years, and can never get a coherent answer from them.
Once in awhile, one will try by saying, “Yeah, but where does the money go? When you buy a Nissan, the money goes back to Japan.”
Of course, they don’t realize that with the exception of Chrysler, all the major manufacturers on both sides of the Pacific are publicly traded, and the money goes to wherever the stockholder of record happens to reside.
March 16th, 2011 at 4:26 am
It will be the cars made here in America by Americans. I could care less about all the false patriotic bravado, I’m much more interested in keeping Americans employed. Why can we not as a nation pull together for the benefit of business and ourselves in the form of good jobs with benefits? We put together a massive retooling during the second world war, why can’t we do it again with an eye towards the future in the auto industry? If we don’t do something to bring back manufacturing jobs to this country, we will continue to be less and less relevant in the world.
March 16th, 2011 at 5:21 am
will soon be called a dinosaur… and everyone in America will soon work for third world country wages…
March 16th, 2011 at 5:26 am
American Car - N, Adj, (A-mer-i-can Car). a subpar, overpriced, P.O.S., that has a weaker warranty, smaller engine, less power, less economical, over classed, out shined, not as wanted, realistically built in mexico or canada because they can’t afford the UAW turd.
March 16th, 2011 at 6:21 am
It is a all world materal auto put togather in america.biworld auto.
March 16th, 2011 at 6:56 am
If you look at the window sticker on a new vehicle it will give the percentage of where the car is built. Like 40 percent built in America, 30 percent built in Mexico and 30 percent built in Canada. The UAW is pricing themselves out of a job.
March 16th, 2011 at 7:17 am
An American car is a car built by an American company like GM, Ford, and Chrysler. When profits are made they go back to the country where the company is based (GM, Ford, Chrysler = US; Toyota, Honda, Nissan = Japan; VW, MB, BMW = Germany)
Assembly is only a small part of building the car. Majority of the design work is done in the companies home country.
The problem lies at either end. Top management and the UAW make far more money than anyone else. The high school drop out putting bolts together shouldn’t be making more money than the people who went to college and designed the car. The CEO making millions on a broke company is a joke and if you fire him he gets millions more to go away. The people in the middle get screwed.
BTW GM, Ford, and Chrysler directly employ over 300k Americans and over 3 million Americans work at their suppliers. They build millions of cars and trucks in the US. That’s a lot of unemployed people who will be supported by the government and taxes through unemployment, welfare, and all types of stuff.