Does the U.S. Car Industry need its own bailout?

[acroyear]

Greg Laden's Blog : Found On Road Dead: A rant about vehicular attitudes:

I know some contractors who need to use only US built trucks because their subcontractors or others will not like them if they purchase the Toyotas that that KNOW are superior. You are not considered to be a good American if you drive anything other than an American car.

Me? I bucked that trend a long time ago. It was not an act of radicalism when my first car was German. And my second car. And my third car was Japanese. And my fifth car was a Japanese truck. And my sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth car ... the one that is sitting in the driveway right now, and that I got two days ago ... were all Japanese but one, which was a Volvo.

No, these were acts of selfless patriotism.

Why? Well, actually, much of the time, I didn't have much choice and ending up with one car or another was an act of desperation mixed with certain (good or bad) luck. For me (see the other essay I'm writing about this, when its done) my choices in which car I've actually owned has not been entirely mine. But where I have had some influence, I've always encouraged the purchase of a good car, the best car for the circumstances that one can afford. Since most American cars totally suck, this usually means a foreign model.

And that, my friends, is the American way. That, my friends, is not being a socialist. That, my friends, is not giving big corporations welfare. That, my friends, is allowing market forces to optimize the economy.

And it hasn't worked at all. My intention was to force the American car industry to make better cars, more efficient cars, safer cars. Overall, more excellent cars. And this would have worked had it not been, my friends, for the preponderance of jingoistic Right Wing Morons busy buying Buicks, Chevies, Fords, and GM's no matter how much they sucked, and thus swamping out my patriotic efforts.

You all know what I'm talking about: The US car industry has relied, in no small part, on the fact that a certain none-too-small percentage of Americans would by American cars no matter how much they sucked. They did not need trade sanctions, they did not need protectionist policies, they did not need tariffs, they did not need subsidies, they did not need tax breaks, to obtain and retain this part of their customer base. Sure, they got all these things. But the American auto industry did not need these things to maintain the loyalty of a bunch of jingoistic red-blooded 'Mercans driving shit and not caring.

Comments

[thelongshot.livejournal.com]

He should also point his finger at rental car companies, which is mostly American makes as well. Cars that few Americans would actually want to own were the ones that we most rented. Problem is, it didn't help sales much outside of fleet sales. Then again, that was never their bread and butter.

Course, my parents have almost exclusively owned American. The only time they owned a foreign car was when we had the Mercedes in Germany. That wasn't a positive experience for them, since it always had issues.

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

actually, that's often 'cause the car industry gives major discounts to the rental agencies (far beyond volume discounts). and some of that is also the same "buy american" thing. just as mentioned where contractors can't buy japanese, far too many people out there won't rent non-american...a vocal minority to say the least, but loud enough to make a difference.

we had a dodge SUV (in the RAV4/CRV/Forester size-range) and hated every aspect of it. there were just some very poor design decisions from an aesthetics and usability standpoint.

[kiltboy]

First car was a Volkswagen, then a Toyoto truck, and it ran so well that I bought a second one. Almost 300,000 miles later, it's finally dead. Now I drive a Volvo. If America made a car that I had the slightest confidence in, I might buy one. But with every rental car (save two) that I've ever driven having been American, I would not buy a single one of them.

[faireraven.livejournal.com]

*bingo*

Every american car I've ever owned or rented has sucked.

We recently got saddled with a Dodge Nitro (which they claimed wasn't an SUV) when we rented a car in Charlotte. Freakin' thing steers like a cow. IF that's supposed to be my example of good American cars, I'll go foreign, thanks.

[faireraven.livejournal.com]

Dad used to buy American, only because he wanted to make sure that American jobs weren't being lost to other countries.

Then he figured out just how many foreign imports actually were being MADE here. That, and the fact that the American ones ran like shit, like the pontiac 6000 that he gifted to me on my 17th birthday, which at only 7 years old and 95K miles died a miserable death only six months later because the transmission, power steering, radiator, and horn all died in the same month. And no, this was not due to me misusing it, because I didn't get to use it the entire time because I was in college and they didn't let freshmen have cars on campus.

My next hand-me-down car, also a Pontiac, rusted from the inside out.

My next car, a honda, went 10 years and 160K miles before I donated it, and it was still running strong. Only reason I donated it was because of that annoying noise that came from the heat shield on the catalytic converter (which would have cost $400 to fix. Since there was nothing wrong with the catalytic converter itself, I saw no need to do so).

The foreign cars run longer and stronger, and are still assembled HERE.

If the US made better cars, I would be happy to buy one. IF they made better cars.

But as has been pointed out, I went with the capitalistic version and bought something that actually *worked*.

[thelongshot.livejournal.com]

My Saturn lasted a long time. I put 175K on it before I wrecked it. It managed to survive a couple other accidents. It is probably the one American car I'd recommend.

I won't talk about the two Ford Tempos before that, because they were both former rentals and I was tough on both vehicles.

Course, now I own a VW.

[blueeowyn.livejournal.com]

There have been American cars that didn't suck. The 1972 Ford Wagon we had lasted until 1987 (respectable lifetime) and before my sire murdered it with his stupidity would quite happily go 100mph (no, I wasn't driving) with the A/C on. Granted, it was a land-yacht but it was surprisingly nimble for its size.

Java's old Saturn lasted for 12 years (I think) and 204,000+ (since the odometer died at that number and he had the car for another year) and was getting approx. 30-32 mpg when he donated it (sudden major problems). IIRC it was made in Tennessee back when Saturn was separate.

That said, when we have looked at cars, the only American ones we have looked at was Saturn and we were not impressed (I think Java said something about GM taking over active management and fixing something that worked until it was broken). His sister got a Ford Explorer a few years ago and it is already having major issues (right after the warranty ran out of course).

Let's see, the cars I have experience with: 1972 Bug, 1973 semi-automatic SuperBug (which had some interesting problems), 1972 Ford Wagon, 1975(?) Porsche (rolling disaster) and another Porsche whose year I don't remember (and was as bad as the first), 198? ford something (that set itself on fire ... at least twice), 1986 Mitsubishi, 1987 Plymouth Colt (made by Mitsubishi), 1992 Mitsubishi, 1996 Eagle (made by Mitsubishi), 1994(?) Saturn, 2002 Honda, 2007 Honda, 2004(?) Kia.

The Mitsubishis tended to get good milage but some of the earlier ones had some interesting issues which were well repaired by a competent mechanic. They handle well, survive accidents reasonably well, but have some road noise.

The Hondas have gotten good milage (except for the 07 Accord which is in the upper 20s). The 2002 had some major issues (trunk lock not working quite right, front strut issues, etc.).

The Kia (automatic) has a nice ride, reasonable handling, good stereo and moderate mileage (27ish for most of the city type driving it gets).

[shalandara.livejournal.com]

Saturn is one of the few American car makes that does not seem to suck badly, and they were (and still are) lambasted for their insistance on not "haggling" the price. Siegfried's car is a 1999 saturn, and it is going strong (other than the fact that he is not good about putting/changin oil and is very hard ont he engine because of that).

I used to only drive Hondas. And then we had to buy the Saturn as a family car since twins would not fit in my Honda at the time. I sold that one to my sister and it made it to well over 200k before going on to someone else.

My "car" is a 2001 Ford Windstar. Not my most favorite choice (I had to be dragged into buying a minivan but when you have 3 kids all in car seats at the time there is no choice really). It has had problems over the years (I go through tires like you would not believe). But, it was the only car we could afford at the time. When you are trying to budget car payments, even an extra 1K in price is a lot. And for minivans we could not afford the higher prices of the Honda or Toyota (which I would have preferred).

Now we are waiting for the next few years to bring some new innovations/improvements to the auto industry, and then we'll see what we can replace the van with.

My personal problem with the auto industry has more to do with the fact that they marketed aggresively for people to buy new cars each year, something that I just cannot fathom. I drive a car into the ground. I dislike paying car payments, and am happiest once we own the car free and clear.

[saxbabe.livejournal.com]

Hmm, first car that was *mine* was a Pontiac 6000 (couldn't tell you the year though) which died when I blew a head gasket.
Enter next a 2001 Chevy Prizm...which had to have the engine replaced at 75,000 miles and was basically dead this year at 125k...as in wouldn't pass inspection in Maryland without spending more money to fix it than it was worth.
Briefly drove my Mom's 2000 Chevy Venture van with 90some-thousand miles and it was nearly as bad as the Prizm!
I am now driving my sister's old 2002 Toyota Corolla with only 38,000 miles. Hoping this one lasts for quite awhile :)