Travis and Michelle Fitzgerald's blog

One thing I always wondered about was subcontent. Yes, the steering gear is made in Tennessee. But it made of Korean outer tie rods, a Chinese input shaft, a Mexican pinion bushing ... does it really count?

Cars built in Mexico are required to have a certain minimum percentage of Mexican content. I once was -this- close to resourcing a component from a Mexican facility to an American one, but at the last minute couldn't because we realized that moving this one widgit would put us under the limit and the company would have to pay all sorts of fines and stuff.

You guys know me, I'd argue for an American car all day (even though my Honda is 100% Japanese content as well as assembled there and shipped here. Shows how much I stick to my own guns!). One point that your post doesn't tackle is American based company vs. foreign. In other words, where is the company based and where does the final last dollar go to? Sure the G8 is built in Australia but GM owns Holden or at least has a majority share of it. I know you've argued that they're publicly traded so who cares where the company is based and that's a fair point. I guess when it comes down to it in this day an age when you fight for American vs foreign the only leg the pro-American folks have to stand on is patriotism. And with all the American workers building Japanese cars on American soil even that isn't so cut and dry. Oh well, I'll be excited no matter what you guys get b/c new cars are cool. hehe Have you looked at the Infinitis? Upscale Nissans - they look better than the Nissan's IMHO. :)

Rob,
Yep, part of my point about the American vs foreign cars is to try to truly identify, in an objective manner, what it really means to be American-made. I'm all for trying to have the money that I pay for a car go to as many working-class Americans as possible, as long as I am not sacrificing the quality of the vehicle. I believe if I were to do that, then I am doing a disservice to the American car companies. If I settle for a lesser-quality car just because it's American, then there is no incentive for the American car companies to make better cars. I'm a believer in capitalism, even with the economy the way it is now. I truly hope that the struggles that the American car companies are facing these days will help them emerge leaner, stronger, and posed to produce the cars that everybody wants to buy in the near future. Unfortunately, I don't think propping them up with gifts from the taxpayers is going to help them get to that point. But that's another discussion. ;)

Oh, boy... you really know how to get my goat, huh... "gifts from taxpayers"? They're loans, not "gifts", not "bailouts". Money that must be repaid. And one thing that a lot of people don't realize is that Honda and Toyota got similar packages from the Japanese government.

Regardless of what you produce, if your sales drop 50% from one year to the next, you're going to be hurting and asking for help.