This is an ongoing debate I have been having with some of my buds. Should a Honda built in Marysville Ohio be considered a US made car or Japanese car?
Should a car assembled in America, from parts made in Mexico and Malaysia be considered an American Car?
The ultimate insult, a friend of mine lost his job at the Volkswagen plant in Valley Forge, Pa., after the company moved the production to Mexico. Should these cars now be considered German or Mexican?
I think you get the point. What should have to happen before we can slap the “Made in US” sticker on a product?
Some “Japanese” cars have been considered domestics. The previous generation Mazda 626/MX6 (and I’d assume the current 626) are considered domestics cars by the …errr…EPA, or something. I think for any car to be considered a domestic it has to have 75% American parts and 75% assembled in America. This LINK can explain it much better than me, although it’s still confusing.
How about a Nissan truck assembled in Mississippi? Keep in mind that Renault has a controlling share in Nissan.
So is it a French, Japanese or American car?
To me it’s rather silly. Drive the best car you can afford.
well, are Chryslers’ American or German cars since they are owned by Daimler?
I consider my Honda Accord, built in Marysville, more American than a Chrysler built in Mexico. I consider my Honda only slightly less American than my old Caravan built about 10 miles SW of me in Fenton. This seems like a rather philosophical arguement, so I don’t know how much it counts as a great debate. But IMHO, what counts is not where the headquarters of the company are, but where the car is built and where the labor and majority of work go into the car’s production.
Okay, that was weird. The post above from “Pointless67” was by me. I don’t know who “Pointless67” is - this is my laptop and I haven’t loaned it out to anyone, and I’ve posted as SanibelMan before on here and assumed it was the saved cookie without looking. Anyway, wanted to clarify, and I’m off to e-mail an admin about this in the hopes of clearing it up.
I’ve never understood why it really matters if a car is “American” or “Japanese”. More than likely, it’s an international car made from about a half-dozen different countries anyway.
The Toyota Tundra pickup is “American” enough for NASCAR (much to the consternation to NASCAR’s core redneck fanbase). NASCAR’s rules say that the cars that compete in the series must be “American made”. The fact that the pickup is assembled in Indiana is good enough now. An American made Toyota sedan should be racing in Winston Cup within a few years.
Of course, denying Toyota entry into the series would be a little hypocritical since Dodge is run by Daimler. Japanese car companies have a history of beating the pants off of American companies when they enter American racing series…should be interesting to watch.
And you get the $64k prize for the right answer. Good job!
And this is one of the primary reasons why I think that country-wide boycotts (like, lets boycott “the French”) are ridiculous.
Thank God we live in such an interdependent economy. It’s the best peace guarantor around.
The american made Honda Accord is made in Ohio with minimal foreign parts. While the Ford Fusion Is made in Mexico. So that’s when you ask yourself what sounds better, and to me i would rather buy the Accord to give a US employee my money.
It used to matter, when cars were built in other countries. It mattered a little when major components were all made in another country and assembled here. It matters not at all when most of a car is made and assembled locally, with some assemblies (typically engines and transmissions) imported from elsewhere.
I was amused/pleased to find the 2003 Subaru Outback I recently bought was built in the exotic locale of Indiana.
Well, hypocrisy has never stopped Dodge in the racing world; Google up the fate of the Ford 427SOHC.
Not that it matters much in NASCAR, which may as well drop the “stock car” designation from its name. Aren’t all of the cars and engines a few standardized pieces, with the only maker contribution being the outline of the body shell?
I thought Dodge was owned by Fiat?
It is now (as part of Chrysler) but check the dates on those posts. This thread is about a decade old.
I just want a car sturdy enough to run over zombies.
The place of assembley seems as curious a basis for determining ‘nationality’ as where the company has its world HQ.
What nationality is an iPad?
Apple products transcend nations.
Exactly.
Determining a products ‘nationality’ becomes increasingly bogus as globalisation of the sourcing/creation/manufacture process, and also capital ownership prevails.
While the Hermosillo Mexico plant continues to produce Fusions, Ford’s plant in Flat Rock Michigan is now making a sizable percentage of the new models.
A couple of decades ago when I was attending a technical college Toyota made a donation to the school. They sponsored a program in Automotive to specifically train technicians to work on Toyotas. They had a big dog and pony opening which included putting a Toyota car on top of an abandoned water tower or some such on campus.
Predictably some rednecks grumbled.
Toyota was building cars in America and selling them to Americans. Toyota was training Americans who needed jobs to work on cars in America. It was good for the school, good for the students and good for Toyota.
Did the school turn down similar offers from Ford or GM or Chrysler? No.