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

[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.