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Comments
Well, they are on the ascendancy and we are on the descendency, so what does that tell you? :shades:
China still doesn't innovate or create much, that so-called "ascendancy" is fragile at best.
I know you want us to emulate Chindia, but dude, it's not going to happen without a fight. Maybe we can emulate mysterious tax havens that someone doesn't seem to have the stones to name, too :P
What did you do to make your way? You wouldn't have it there.
That was happening in the U.S when we were on the ascendancy, too. :shades:
Relocating to irresponsible banana republic tax havens (which some don't have the ability to name) , allowing criminal systems to have access to our markets on unrestricted grounds, continued coddling of the sinister corporate elite, a better future it will not make. Progress is seeking something better. These policies seek something better only for the top few who have unjustifiably made out like 19th century robber barons over the past generation.
Most of the mentioned items are cultural, not technological. It's a societal maturation issue. Remember how backward China was only 20 years ago. The institutions that we take for granted are still forming. They are beginning to address their environmental issues. They are adding worker protections. I would be highly surprised if a backward society could evolve culturally in only two decades to get where we are today after 100 years. Kind of optimistic and unrealistic.
Now of course our "evolved" state has led to a different set of criminal behaviors and problems that are not even there in China. So it's a pick-your-poison type of problem. It's not as if we are the great moral perfection of the world.
Why should we subsidize such an irresponsible, unrepentant, and criminal empire while conditions here continue to decline?
Do you honestly, sincerely believe the issues in this society compare with the hell there? Drop that moral relativism garbage, please. Would you want to live there given identical relative socio-economic status? I wager you would not, and rightfully so. What did you do to make your way? You wouldn't have it there.
I have to genuinely question the longterm thought capability of those who defend doing business with the insane criminal. We commit suicide so their highly connected elite can advance, and our already criminal top few can consolidate undeserved wealth. That's what it comes down to. Believing anything else is "optimistic and unrealistic" IMHO.
There is no mystery, as the legal tax havens are well known. And I know my own experience and I certainly don't have to name all the particulars regarding my professional experience to others on an auto board. Do you wish to name your own employer, profession, etc.? I would think most people could understand the need for some privacy.
And on topic, we would be smart to consider domestic content as defining what constitutes an American (specifically US/Canada) car. So a Fusion is much less an "American" car than a Camry or Accord or Cruze. But I'll still buy the vehicle that best suits my needs, anyway. And to my knowledge, no Chinese cars are imported into this country a the current time -- not sure how we got onto China.
Domestic content is tough to define, is there an agreed-upon standard? There are already significant Chinese parts contents in vehicles sold here - remember the cruddy Chinese-sourced 3.5 GM used not long ago, for example. It is relevant. Not to mention, they want access to this market.
If it's a lemon, it was probably built in the US or Mexico.
I have no opinion or experience with cars from Brazil. I have however, travelled to Bolivia, South America, and I can tell you that all the Cab drivers were driving Toyota's, Old Camry's and Corollas. I'd say over 95% easily, no exaggerration.
Although my aunt had an old GMC Jimmy SUV monstrosity, and that was a big pile of POS's. :lemon: They seem to have more respect for american cars down there then we do up here though, or they wouldn't have bought it. Of course, that was decades ago.
But, by the late 1970's, Cadillac reliability had declined to where it was worse than Chevrolets or Buicks. We used to joke about how Cadillac was coasting on a reputation it had earned decades previously; and if owners actually realized how other GM engines compared to their prestige model; they would be ashamed of their choice. The scandal that later arose when it was discovered that GM was using small block Chevy motors in Buicks, Olds, and Caddy models became a huge joke among mechanics; because the small block Chevy was so much more long lived than the other GM engines. Owners were actually getting a better motor; but they couldn't stand the shock to their egos.
The advent of EGR systems in 1973 began the finishing touch to destroying Cadillac's reputation for reliability. I've seen all sorts of valve burning and carbon deposit damage in those crudely designed models. And then; there was the 4-6-8 multi displacement motor. There were numerous lawsuits and accidents as a result of that inadequately tested design. The Cadillac Cimarron; which was just a rebadged 4 cylinder GM compact; and the Cadillac Catera; which was a rebadged German Opel, further dragged that reputation down. And the FWD Cadillac Seville became known as the cheap status symbol in ghettos; where the paint quickly faded from repeated trips through brush type automatic car washes and the body dents were not repaired. The hand built Allante was a valiant effort to salvage that reputation; but it sold in such small quantities that it was largely unrecognized and had little impact.
The use of the DOHC 32 valve aluminum head GM Northstar motor in more recent Cadillac models was a worthwhile improvement; but by that time; the old reputation for Cadillac reliability was lost in the past.
"industry experts forecast that the Detroit Three will add as many as 35,000 jobs through 2015."
GM, Ford, Chrysler adding jobs, near pre-crash employment levels. (Detroit News)
"Yes, there’s something about the Camaro convertible. I have been test-driving one for a few days and its appeal shows no signs of wearing off. It does so many of the things people unreasonably ask their cars to do for them: Make me smile at the prospect of an hour-long commute. Lift my spirits after a bad day. Make me more appealing to a potential mate.
How’s a hunk of metal supposed to do that? Well, if it’s a Toyota Camry, it won’t. Honda Accord? Nope. And no matter how many swoopy lines Hyundai embosses on the flanks of its Sonata sedan, it won’t help you land a date.’s not going to get you a date."
Did GM Finally Build a "Gotta Have" Car? (WSJ)
Same with the Toronado or Riviera, versus the Eldorado.
Getting Government Motors and Ford to pull their operations out of
China,
Mexico,
Canada,
Korea,
India,
Austria,
Germany,
Australia,
France,
Indonesia,
Hungary,
Brasil,
Uzbekistan,
Thailand,
etc, etc, etc
would go along way to reducing the amount of imports...
But I'm thinking you have alternate elimnations in mind. Ones that aren't based in Detroilet. :sick:
Hey, while we're at it, why don't we just ban people from outside the US to even come here for vacations, business, etc. too?
And then there's the black gooey stuff that we import from those arab lands, should ban that too... :lemon:
OTOH, it makes sense that car guys really know the rides that please.
Nice!
Regards,
OW
Sort of like Toyota, Honda, Subaru, Kia, Hyundai, BMW, Mercedes, etc. in this country. :shades:
Perhaps
Cruze production sites include Bupyeong-gu, Incheon, South Korea; Saint Petersburg, Russia; Shenyang, China; and Halol, India; Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan from May 2010; Rayong, Thailand after December 2010, and São Caetano do Sul, Brazil from 2011 or 2012. Holden's localized hatchback version of the Cruze to be built at the Elizabeth, South Australia factory from late 2011 will join the Cruze sedan manufcatured there since March 2011. GM in the United States have extensively upgraded their existing plant facility in Lordstown, Ohio to manufacture the Cruze, investing more than US$350 million.
As usual, GM is so far behind and now playing catch-up here at home. Sounds familiar.
A summary of the plan, obtained by Dow Jones Newswires, shows that GM plans to import 17,335 Chinese-built vehicles into the U.S. in 2011. The imports from China would jump to more than 38,000 in 2012 and more than 53,000 in 2013, the document shows. Imports from other countries, including South Korea, Japan and Mexico, would also increase. The plan is part of a broader cost-cutting strategy by GM, which has said it intends to cut 21,000 manufacturing jobs in the U.S. while increasing imports into the country.
Those plans are being devised under the guidance of U.S. President Barack Obama‘s auto-industry task force as part of GM’s restructuring.
Here is why GM still doesn't get it:
At the ceremony of the start of production of Cruze at Ohio, Mark Reuss, the president of GM’s North American operations said, "This is everything for us". It is described as GM’s most significant new vehicle introduction into North America since the Chapter 11 reorganization in 2009, and is GM's latest attempt to build a small size car that North American consumers would "buy because they like it — not simply because it is cheap".
The quote assumes everyone buys a car because it's cheap. Means all the market share GM lost was to cheap competition that consumers bought "not because they liked them".
Regards,
OW
Not heard that about Caddy, though.
Regards,
OW
Or Avalanche
Or HHR
or Camaro
Impala
Equinox
Terrain
SRX
1500 series Silverado/Sierra
etc.
472 V-8 = Cadillac
500 V-8 = Cadillac
425 V-8 = Cadillac
350 V-8 = Oldsmobile (used in 1975-79 Sevilles).
Probably good because the rear quarters were bubbling with rust about 28k miles so the conventional fuel door may have had nothing to hold onto by the time I got rid of it.
It also had barely any paint on the hood because it was all flaked off. GM had some paint issues around that time because the same flaking and peeling happened on all of my friends cars noted in my previous post. I also went through about a dozen of the plastic clips that held the chrome trim around the bottoms of the quarters which kept breaking off.
Shame, the car was a sharp electric blue color, but the flaws were disappointing. But hey, I was in school at the time so it was "just a car" for me :shades:
Then I got my [non-permissible content removed] handed to me by a Honda Prelude about a year after I had it. And a 92 Ford Taurus a few years later.
Made a lot of noise, that big V8...
but the car was a dog. :sick:
A guy at work, a couple years younger than me then but a "GQ" kind of guy, bought a new Prelude, first-generation. It was the first car I ever saw where the driver's seat was actually touching the back seat cushion...no sh*t.
If I remember right, it also had an antenna above the windshield--like an old Hudson Hornet. I'm less certain about that though.
I had two Monte Carlos and Dad had two also, same general period, in western PA and eastern OH. No such bubbles at that mileage. Hmmmmm......
Well, there ya go...I'm sure the Toyota dealer poured rock salt or something down in the quarter panels to sabotage it, and perpetuate the myth of Toyota supremacy! :P
I'd be curious to know how the car ended up with a high-output 305 under the hood? The only V-8 the Cutlass officially offered then was the 140 hp 307-4bbl, or the 180 hp HO 307, which was only used in the high performance 4-4-2.
I had an '82 Cutlass Supreme coupe, bought used in 1993, for $800. It had 61,000 miles on it. Only had the lame 110 hp 231 V-6. It was a comfortable, nice-riding, good looking car, and I loved the color, a light silvery greenish they called "Jadestone". Unfortunately the transmission acted up soon after I bought it and I had it rebuilt, thinking I'd keep the car forever. Then, around 71-72K miles, it lost all oil pressure. A friend of mine got it running again, but said it wasn't long for this world. I sold it with 73K on it for $400.
And because of that, 73,000 miles is sort of a mental goal with my 2000 Park Ave. I bought it with 56,372 miles on it, and it currently has around 71,400. If it makes it beyond 73K, I'll feel that it vindicated the Buick 3.8, and will help erase my bad memories of that '82 Cutlass.
Would something like that have been covered on a car purchased used, though? And if that rust-out was caused by rock salt or something like that, I'm guessing they'd use that as an excuse to deny the claim.
There sure are a lot of rusty GM cars around me. And one rusty Subaru that doesn't look quite as old as mine. Everything else is likely rusted too, but GM has to be the majority of rides around here, especially Buicks. Got me worried that mine are going to be shot in two years.
I paid so little for the car, I think I'm still ahead of the game though.
That's pretty sad. I wonder if Chrysler realizes that, often, that comes back to bite them on the butt, because the customers do remember it? A little good will can go a long way.
Reminds me of an old "Mama's Family" episode, where Mama bought a lemon of a used car and tried to return it. Another customer in the office asks the dealership owner "Don't you stand behind your cars" and she blurts out "Well he sure as hell wouldn't stand in front of them!" And, hate to say it, but it was a GM product...a '73-74 Nova coupe.
Back in late 2003, when my Dad bought his Regal, I came close to trading my '00 Intrepid on an '02 Intrepid R/T they had on the lot. The thing that killed the deal was that they wouldn't tell me whether the car had the 3/36K warranty or the 5/70K, and it had 35K miles on it at the time. Chrysler had switched to a longer warranty in the '02 model year, but it didn't start at the beginning of the year, meaning some cars had it and some didn't.
But, if the warranty wouldn't transfer, guess it would've been a moot point, anyway.