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June 16, 2005

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haha im with you on this one. Ive only driven Japanese my whole life. Can't beat em

I don't know what you are griping about... my Honda was made in the USA, and my fiance's Chevy was made in Mexico. Buy a Honda and you are buying an American-made vehicle.

What benefits do GM workers receive that makes their payout so large?

Where is Saturn made? Isn't that an American car?

I don't see the connection. If I read the post correctly, you are saying that American car manufacturers (ACM) make a poor quality product because they pay their workers too much. I don't see a connection between the two.

Also, how does that compare with the Japanese car makers?

I don't have the answer to your posted question: Why can't America build a better car? I can, however, offer some observations. First, the ACMs don't seem to understand what consumers want. Let me use advertising as an example. The ACMs spend small fortunes to tell us how our lives will be better and our lifestyles more adventurous if we drive their largest SUV (I seldom see US small car commercials). By contrast, the Japanese car manufacturers focus on the more ordinary -- grocery store trips replace driving up mtns. While I don't blame advertising for the poor quality cars, I think it demonstrates a lack of addressing the desires of consumers.

I also have the impression that the ACMs spend most of their time fighting changes (eg, regulations, changing consumer attitudes, market forces) while the Japanese and Korean car manufacturers focus on adapting their operations to these changes. Perhaps that's just a function of size.

I agree partially, but I don't think the companies have much choice. The labor unions have been getting out of hand lately and the car companies have to pay their workers pensions, health care, and other benifits. Other countries don't have to worry about paying their workers all those benifits. If the car companies don't want their workers to go on strike, they have no choice but to pay them that much.

it isn't GM that wants to pay exorbant healthcare costs... its the UAW that thinks they "deserve" those benifits, and they are "deserving" themselvs right out of a job... as for the "american made" honda.. its not where the car is assembled, its where the components are made, for every assembly job there is in a japaneese (or korean) assembly plant there are 40 jobs overseas making those parts... and guess what, by assembling here honda and toyota avoid paying tariffs on importing cars.. so they can make more money... so dont be fooled, that money your spending on an "american maqde" honda goes overseas.... (they gotta pay for the 40 people making the component that the one american bolts on somehow..

NOW as for quality, do some reasearch... its no longer the 80's earily 90's... american companys have come a long way and in many respects have HIGHER quality than ther japanese rivals.. its the public perception that is slow to change...
for example- toyota has had 3 major recalls on its new trucks (tailgats folding up due to poor design, camshafts breaking in half due to poor manufacturing (in japan I might add) and transmission issues that seem to be an engineering issue as well.. do a search on google if you dont want to take my word for it)

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