Buying "American"
This always interests me. How do you define "American"? Is it where the car is assembled? Or where the parts come from? Or is it where the company is based, as in it's an American corporation?
If I recall, my bf said most of the cheap components that went into his Ford were made in whatever foreign country brought the lowest bid, not America. Since he used to be an engineer at Ford, I'll take him at his word.
Along those lines, my Honda is just as much Canadian as it is Japanese. The parts are from Japan, but it was mostly assembled in Canada.
Toyota employs a LOT of people in this country. I believe the company now has several assembly plants here. In fact, the Toyota Tundra truck is apparently assembled at a new plant in Texas! While the plants in Detroit lay off Americans that have worked there for decades (and I think the automakers only have themselves to blame for it), Toyota is hiring Americans. If you're wanting to support companies that support American workers and employ people here, I'm not sure that Ford/Chrysler/GM is the way to go anymore - they're trending in the opposite direction nowadays, due to their poor design and business decisions. I feel they've let American down.
The only things about these companies that seem to differ are their philosophies and vision. But they differ in a BIG way.
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Last edited by PeppyGPhiB; 12-06-2007 at 03:41 AM.
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