Since another thread is veering off topic, I thought it would be good to give this its own thread. State your case.
This question is flawed as you cannot categorically state whether or not one vehicle is "made" in a country without providing figures for domestic content of the vehicle in regards to the regulations that govern production. However in light of this, the answer is clearly an American car assembled overseas. All else being equal, Americans have more control over the capital accumulated from an American car assembled overseas than a foreign car assembled here.
What is more American? a) A car which runs on gasoline, which may come from domestic or imported oil. b) A car which runs on solar energy. I wonder, is solar energy considered to be imported? Because it comes from the sun and the sun is not in America, right?
This question simplifies everything but it's a good one IMO..... I picked MADE IN THE USA I'll choose American middle class income and exports over American CEO income and imports Problem is, in genereal, "W"'s administration is working towards #2, which is a big reason why this economy's going downhill IMO
Technically I guess you could say the sun is being used and it's energy is being manufactured in the US. So I pick b). Would result in less dependence on overseas oil.
From Greenspan thread. My old '93 Camry was at least assembled in Michigan. I confess I don't know if it was 'made' or assembled, but I'll take your word for it. My new(er) car is a Hyundai. Don't hate me because I'm 'cost conscious'.
To me, it depends on where the parts were made. If the steel was processed in the US, the parts made in the US, shipped to Mexico, assembled in Mexico, sold in the US with profits going to a US-based company, I'd call it an American car rather than a Mexican car. I think the Big Three see it the same way because, as a vendor to all three of them, we are only allowed to park cars with their logos on them in their parking lots. You can park a foreign-assembled Dodge in any of their lots but if you are driving an Ohio-made Honda, you'll have a long walk on your hands. I remember the Machinists Union having the same policy in Northern VA when I worked down there.
Maybe so, but they don't answer the question. You only have 2 choices under this we-all-know-it-is-simplified scenario
not to threadjack... but a similar question is... whats more american: giving up personal rights and freedoms to "fight" terrorism. keeping personal rights and freedoms, cause, god dammit, im an american and thats what america is, the land of the free.
I went "Foreign Car made in the USA" because the workers and their salaries stay in the US, the companies have made big investments into these plants, and the fact that a factory is there increases the tax base (although I know that they get big initial tax breaks from bot the state and cit level). Isn't there also a law that requires any vehicles made here in the USA to contain over "X"% US parts in order for the car to be sold as "made in the USA"? What ere there, 5 foreign automakers who build some cars here? Honda, Toyota, Nissan, BMW, and (not for very much longer) Mitsubishi?
I used to drive a Saab but quit, not out of patriotism but because Click and Clack are right when they say "Where there's smoke, there's a Saab." edit: for what it's worth, when I bought my Saab-replacing Honda Civic I asked if it had been made in the States before I bought it.
Isn't the Mercedes M-series (SUV) built in the US, too? VW builds big in Mexico as far as I know (Jetta and New Beetle afaik)
Not necessarily. If all the parts of the M-class are built abroad, and it is merely assembled in the United States, it is not built here. It is assembled. To gauge whether or not a car is considered domestically built you must go by domestic content. IIRC, domestic content takes into account US/Canadian parts and value added. Either 70% or 75% is the minimum amount of domestic content a vehicle must possess to be considered built here.