Thursday, February 19, 2009

Time makes the heart grow fonder?


An article on CNN.com discussed American consumers’ thoughts on the US auto industry. Buried amongst the common sense calls for scrutiny and accountability in exchange for a bailout, and details of the benefits of buying American, there was this nugget:

By buying foreign cars, "You might as well be laying off the American autoworkers yourself and handing their paychecks to those foreign automakers personally," says Diaz.
The American auto industry can be turned around if top executives renew their focus on quality construction and better materials, says Diaz.

"I believe Americans want cars to be as durable as they were 20 years ago. No cutting corners."

Mr Diaz, I would suggest you think about that for a moment. American cars in 1989 were pretty much garbage. Poorly assembled, unappealing, unreliable dreck. Of course there were exceptions, but come on! Yeah I sure miss the good old days of cruising around in an opulent, well built Chevy Beretta. Or perhaps my old Dodge Omni with its high quality Philippine carburetor and corrosion induced passenger compartment ventialtion is more to your taste.

But hey, maybe chronic rust and engines that barely run are your idea of durability.

In my opinion it is just the last few years that Detroit has started getting some things right. Don’t get me wrong, the big three have all screwed up big time. Going all in on the SUV craze (created by their own marketing, not actual market need) proved to be a potentially fatal gambit. But they are actually producing some very good, reasonably priced cars nowdays that are very reliable. And heck, some of them actually look good too! They didn't get into the mess they are in now by making unreliable cars, they got here by making vehicles that most people do not want to buy.

11 comments:

queasyfish said...

"Not buying (and repairing) American cars is laying off workers"

So I should buy an inferior product so you can stay employed making inferior products.

I thought Republicans were against welfare.

SeanH said...

It makes less sense when you think about how many Americans are employed building Hondas, Toyotas, BMWs etcetera here in the states.

justacoolcat said...

I'm going to run you over with my SUV.

SeanH said...

Did you hear Chrysler is dropping the Durango?

justacoolcat said...

In Soviet Russia Durango Drops Chrysler.

Jared said...

I find it interesting that today Jill Homer did a post about a 1989 Honda Civic with over 300,000 very hard miles that was purchased many years ago for $700. http://arcticglass.blogspot.com/

queasyfish said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Heath said...

My last 4 American Cars were all complete crap by 130,00. Two of them died before 100,000 and they were not driven hard.

My Toyota has 155,000 and everything works. I'm OK with laying of an over priced worker who makes a poor product. I bought a Honda from an American dealership. I paid Minnesota sales tax, and I'll have it maintained in my city. Screw Detroit.

James said...

About that Diaz guy: "Daniel Luke Diaz of Diamond Bar, California, has only bought American cars his entire life -- he even drove a Hummer during his time in the military."

Considering the diversity of his experience, he's clearly more than qualified than most to offer an opinion on this subject.

I will say this, though...

I used to have a VW Rabbit and my brother had a VW Jetta. That stuff about German engineering....is bullshit!

SeanH said...

My whole point was that American cars are quite a bit better than they were 20 years ago.

justacoolcat said...

Seanh - Your points don't mean crap around here What do you think this is, your blog?

James - We've had three VW's and they've all been awesome. I know there are years and models that have problems. Maybe we got lucky.