Whaat, PONTIAC doesn't exist anymore?!?! :angry:

[Tuberski]

GM dropped the 'Pontiac' brand 2 years ago, as part of restructuring. GM doesn't really produce sports cars any more. My last car was a red '99 Grand Am sports coupe. My current is an '09 silver G6 coupe.

Don't ever bend a wheel on the G6, two of mine got bent by a pothole at high speed. $1100 for 2 matching OEM wheels. I had the tire insurance when I bought the car and they would only pay for the 2 wheels and tires. I could have got 4 wheels and 4 tires at Discount Tires for about $500, but the insurance company refused, thus I made them pay the higher price. If I'm getting only 2 wheels, they are gonna match the other 2.

ACK!

ACK!

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

I remember when all the Japanese imports were considered POS and only idiots would buy them. They were commonly called sh*t boxes. They learned and improved. The US has finally learned and is catching up quite quickly. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't surpass them at some point. Depending on the metric, in some areas they already have. (I do questions some of those metrics though)

Ahh the recurring US is catching up story that has now celebrated at least its 25th birthday.

US car industry by and large has structural cost issues that prevent it from offering cars of similar quality for general conusmption. (You can find an exception here or there but the US starts from a distinct disadvantage) Hence the US car industry has found success where it can and has had to specialize into niche areas tailored specifically to unique US demand. Light truck, SUV , and minivans spring to mind. The muscle cars of Pontiac were for a period of time also meeting that niche category but with the advent of hyper green mind sets find that market segment diminishing. Especially considering in harder economic times where frugality/functionality plays a bigger role in the minds of consumers.

[Tuberski]

Huh? Logic FAIL.

Our cars were ****, and now we don't make cars any more*. That doesn't make US cars good. You wouldn't make cars any more if it weren't for gov't interventions, subsidies.

*well, aside from the factories making foreign makes

Ford never took subsidies.

ACK!

[rah]

Ahh the recurring US is catching up story that has now celebrated at least its 25th birthday.

Yes it has been a long struggle but to deny it is happening is foolish.

[Dauphin]

Ford never took subsidies.

ACK!

http://www.smh.com.au/business/subsidies-drive-ford-profit-20110520-1ewtq.html

In Australia, but still.....

GENEROUS taxpayer subsidies of more than $100 million helped drive Ford Australia to a $24.9 million after-tax profit for 2010.

[-Jrabbit]

Japanese cars are built in the USA, you know.

Most. Not all. Nissan does a lot of it's mfr. in Mexico, for instance.

[BlackCat]

Japanese cars are built in the USA, you know.

Built, yes - designed, no. And they are built after japanese standard, not american.

[Hauldren Collider]

Actually, a decent amount of the design work is probably done here too, there are several US-only models, as I recall.

[BlackCat]

Actually, a decent amount of the design work is probably done here too, there are several US-only models, as I recall.

Uhmn, yeah, some artistic designers probably, but I'll bet that tech specs and prod quality are defined in japan.

[-Jrabbit]

Lots of Japanese (and, I suspect, Korean) design work is over here -- market-centric. I know that both Nissan and Mazda have major design studios in SoCal. The new Veloster was allegedly designed totally over here.

As for tech specs etc, virtually all manufacturers utilize a large catalog of common parts/tools to base their designs around (engine X or Y, tweaked for mileage/acceleration, choice of 3 chassis, etc.). There's a reason all the gauges, radio, seats, etc. are virtually identical across a given brand. A cool design that's not economically manufacturable in existing facilities will never hit the street.

[Hauldren Collider]

There's not a huge disadvantage to us to having the car companies owned overseas. It doesn't make a whole lot of difference. The only place we truly import cars (that is, complete cars) from, generally, is Mexico, as Jrabbit pointed out.

So the whole "buy American" deal with Ford, GM, etc. is garbage.

[DaShi]

All you did was repeat what Jrabbit said.

[-Jrabbit]

If you look at components, virtually all production cars sold in the US have between 44 and 56 percent of their parts sourced in US/Canada vs ROW. Interestingly, the two "most American" cars, with 80% US-sourced parts, are the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, per a recent cars.com ranking.

BTW, Mazda was still importing whole vehicles of several models until the quake/tsunami/nuclear disasters last spring. i think certain Nissan models were also fully imported (Murano IIRC).

[BeBMan]

I don't understand the prob with car making.