That’s what the bumper sticker on the back of Rex Rice’s Chevy pickup says. If you can’t tell, Mr. Rice is a little ticked over the analysis of GM’s recent turn around plans, which include many plant closings and the loss of about 30,000 jobs. He takes particular issue with those people who blame poor management and greedy unions for GM’s predicament. We consumers, according to Rice, are at least partly to blame for the situation in which GM finds itself because we’ve been buying new cars in increasing numbers from Honda, Toyota and Nissan instead of Chevy, Pontiac and Pontiac.
While his views are surely contentious, Rice does point out that many foreign markets like Japan, which is home to GM and Ford’s largest competitors, levy large tariffs against imports in their own countries. He also points out that while many foreign automobiles can now claim to be “Made in America” due to their assembly at foreign-owned plants on American soil, these vehicles are still comprised of foreign made parts that in no way benefit local economies.
Read on for our own thoughts on Rice’s rant…
Rice may have a point somewhere in his ranting and raving, but even GM would admit that it’s built some real stinkers in the past twenty years. Did Rice honestly expect the North American buying public to purchase a Lumina back in the day when the General’s current problems were first forming? There’s a difference between supporting domestic companies and buying their products without question or consideration. The former could be considered patriotic while the latter is just stupid. Whoa, was I just ranting? Sorry.
Japanese automakers might be the talk of the U.S., but the data says that not all of them are doing so hot at home. While Toyota and Mitsubishi have experienced slight or major ascents in Japanese production (0.6 percent in Toyota’s case, 23.9 percent for Mitsubishi), fellow Japanese automakers Mazda, Nissan and Honda reported slipping production numbers. Honda and Mitsubishi both reported a decrease in exports, however, while exports of the other three grew.
Like this Rex Rice guy who John posted on earlier today, I’m also employed in the auto industry in the supplied-parts market, so I’ve got some perspective on the situation as well. Mr. Rice correctly states, “The majority of available jobs in automobile manufacturing is in parts manufacture, not in assembly.” For example, GM purchases somewhere in the neighborhood of $100B in parts every year, which represents roughly two-thirds of its total new-car gross sales, so he gets this point right.
Where I tend to disagree with Mr. Rice is with his perception that Japanese OEMs are building products here but using parts from overseas. That may have been an accurate assessment of the situation a decade ago, but it’s easy to see that times have changed. According to federal government standards, the domestic content of the US-built Honda Accord in my driveway is 97%. Quibble about the accuracy of that number all you want (actually, I’d prefer less quibbling and more explanation of how the number is actually calculated), but the fact still remains that Honda and other transplant OEMs have continued to move more work here into the US, while certain “domestic” OEMs are making public commitments to move in the opposite direction. Isn’t it just a bit odd that the Saturn VUE carries the choice of a Chinese-built GM engine or a US-built Honda engine?
If Mr. Rice wants to do some finger pointing, perhaps he should look at his former employer’s record. Delphi employs nearly four times as many foreign workers as it does domestically, and we know who’s buying most of those parts.
Exactly, it's GM's fault for not taking their head out of their ass during the 90's and building quality, awsome looking cars. They were too busy giving people caviliers, and half baked trucks.
Can't blame anyone for buying the more reliable, better built japanese cars.
I can't agree with this. Hondas's are not as reliable as they used to be. Toyota's are not as reliable as they used to be. They just are living off their old reputations. Just like everyone thinks that Chrysler trannies are crap. There have not been any known consistant problems with Chrysler trannies since the early minivans. But people still think that if they buy one it will explode. Quality is a level playing field now. It just depends on what you want your car to look like or how much crap you can do while driving around not paying attention to the road.
But people still think that if they buy one it will explode
my tranny did explode though
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How absurd men are! They never use the liberties they have, they demand those they do not have. They have freedom of thought, they demand freedom of speech.
What exactly are you basing this on? Please don't bring me anecdotal evidence...I'm looking for empirical.
I owned a Honda and it sucked. Falling out plastic tabs were the bane of it's existance. Sheet metal so thin it was almost transparent.
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