As soon as I start getting orders from Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese and Chinese companies, I'll start buying their products. One of my customers is a soft drink company. You won't catch me with a competitor's product in my hand. Another is a cell phone company. One is a grocery co. Two are American auto manufacturers. The list goes on. That's who I buy from. Think about who your customers are (or your employer's). If they go away, where will you be?

People who buy Japanese cars are kidding themselves. Lexus is a prime example. They teach the Lexus marketing model in many B-schools. They created a mystique and then sold the converts fancy Toyotas. Incredibly profitable business segment. My neighbor owned a Honda dealership. Made a fortune out of the service department. The Honda converts believe in their dealer maintenance schedule like it's the tablets of the ten commandments. He told me of the droves that his service department sold new cars to. The customer would come in for their 60K service and when seeing the cost, got spun to the sales department.

Nissan isn't a union company but by God every time the UAW gives something back Nissan takes it away from us. I've been here 25 years and the union couldn't get in because it didn't have anything to offer. Now all auto co. are competing globally and were are expected to build as cheap as Mexico and other third world co. There is no such thing as company loyalty to workers anymore. Even in Japan the retired people are getting booted off the company tit.

By the way, only about 20% if that much is imported from other countries. Nissan has stock so anyone can own and profit from them.

Oh, I also have 3 Fords a GMC and a boat, No Nissans because I can't afford one!

The amercan auto markers do the same thing. EG: Caddy Esclade essentially a chevy tahoe and the list goes on. BTW, I am in no defending the foreign auto makers just making a point.

Yep, that's right... all of them do it.

Escalade = Upscale Tahoe/Burban
Lincoln Aviator = Upscale Explorer
Lincoln Navigator = Upscale Expedition
Infinity = Upscale Nissan
Lexus = Upscale Toyota
yada yada

Marketing is marketing. There all brands that people associate with and buy because it fits, feels right, or whatever.

Acura-honda!
Does that toyota truck have a 3' bed?
Out of all the dealerships we have,2 chevy,2 hummer,1 honda auto and 1 honda-suzuki motorcycle,
only the honda auto is making money right now!

Yeah, Brunswick dresses up a Baja, and calls it a Fountain.









(TOTALLY KIDDING)

id be interested in reading what byrd has to type he does a lot of research on big trucks....thoughts?

Well. for what it's worth, I live just outside Windsor Ont Canada, For you geographically challenged, that's just across the creek from Detroit Mich.
Our town USED to have 6 Chrysler plants, 2 GM plants, and 4 Ford plants. We now have 1 Chrysler plant, 1 GM plant, 2 Ford plants,soon to be 1.
But just because the vehicle has a one of the big three name plates on it does not mean it was built in North America. The Pontiac Vibe for instance, is wholly engineered, stamped and assembled in Korea, but it has a big three name plate on it, so does that make it OK to buy it, guilt free, it say's Pontiac on it? The Chrysler Crossfire, same thing but from Germany, not one American, or in my instance, Canadian had any input into building either one.
None of the "Big 3" have built a new plant in North America in about 25yrs. Huyndia just spent 50 million on an engineering facility in Mich, and 1 billion on an assembly plant in Alabama, is it wrong to by a Huyndia?
Don't tell me about the profit's staying in North America, that is misinformation, the profits go to the shareholders, wich are world wide. And just because the there may be some profit at the big three, that does not mean any new investment from them.
Some Huyndia's, BMW's, Toyota's, Honda's, and other "foreign" cars are built in Canada and the US, dose that make it wrong to by what your neighbor build's, I don't think so!
Please don't think that I am some bleeding heart goof ball, I am a small business owner, that drives a GMC diesel dually, an S 10 4x4, and my wife drives a Jeep Liberty, ALL MADE IN NORTH AMERICA!!
I am in boat repair, and the first thing to go, or not be fixed are peoples toy's. If my neighbors build a Toyota, and are spending their pay check in my shop then I would support them to.
Unfortunately there are no foreigen assembly plants in our town, come to think of it there are getting to be fewer and fewer plants in our town, and Chrysler just announced in our paper today, that the cuts they just announced will cost us about another 1000 jobs.
So before you ranting about BUY AMERICAN or in my case CANADIAN, make sure you actually know where that vehicle was built. Your neighbor may have built that Toyota diesel. And that DODGE 1500, good chance it was built in Mexico, and there's lots of those running around with flags waving off them?

I'm sure to have pissed more than a few off, can't help it if I actually have a stake in the auto industry.

Feel free to send your hate mail directly to me, www.offshoregroup.net or [email protected]

Thanks, and buy what's built here, not just a name tag

More pics of the truck
http://www.truckblog.com/story-1473-...dually_crewmax

The quality issues challenging Toyota are not new news. The quality of american build has dramatically increased and that is supported by JD Powers. What bothers me is the cost advantage the imports enjoy. Their advantage in vehicle development because they are kings when it comes to copying the engineering design efforts of the domestics. From a drive train, specifically GM. From a labor standpoint, they have no legacy costs and their labor $ per vehicle I would believe has to be substantially lower. The legacy costs the domestics pay definetly find their way into our economy and support many of our industries, indiectly helping all of us. From a parts standpoint, last I saw Ford and GM were at 70% domestic content, Diamler slightly less, Toyota in the high 40's, Nissan in the 20's and Honda in the teens. These parts dollars also help all of us. At least if the company is dometic they pay property, income and employment taxes. Now, the import companies with operations here send their dollars back to their homeland where they pay their taxes. They pay little if any property taxes, but they do pay employment taxes. What a deal

At the end of the day, if a person chooses to purchase an import vehicle...so be it. But the rational to support that decision is slowly evaporating. Don't forget, back in the 70's the imports produced garbage. Their quality didn't improve until they bagan knocking off our engineering and designs.