Today's Market of Import Vs. Domestic

[MTU 50]

Originally posted by HotRoddin
This is a perfect example. I'm a damage appraiser, i spend a good part of my day thumbing through Kelly Blue Book. The vehicle that stands out most in my mind is the little Ford Ranger ??? They have to be the best buy going right now because the resale on them just goes through the freekin floor in 2 or 3 years. Why, I have absolutely no clue ? I talk to the body shops about them and ask if they're put together poorly or difficult to work on, and they say no, not at all .... i ask one of the mechanics if they had more than the usual amount of problems with them, and he said in fact, they have very few problems with them, and overall he considers them to be good reliable little trucks ????? I'm baffled.
I know lots of import owners that tell me they have a jillion miles on their import, but i know alot of domestic owners that say the same thing. I know my only personal experience with imports is a toyota celica i inherited when i married my wife .... it was a total piece of crap!! It broke down all the time and was obsurdly expensive to work on when it did.
The longer i'm around in this world, the more i'm finding out that about 80% of the so called truths you hear are just pure conjecture, pure Urban legend. They are things that are passed off as fact, when in reality there is no basis or proof to support that conclusion.
Are imports built that much better than domestics? I know there are tons of people that will say yes, but I just don't see the PROOF of it.
All you young people take heed of this ... In this world .... especially now days, just because a bunch of people (whether experts or not) say it's a fact ... that does not make it a fact. Reality is often quite different than majority opinion.

Great Points. People have it stuck in their head that all Hondas go 200k with no problems and you are lucky to get 100k out of domestics. Not true at all. Some import models do last longer than domestics and the reverse is certainly true as well. It depends more on the specific vehicle than it does the manufacturer.

Then look at recalls. Which ones seem to get attention? Ford, GM, and Chrysler. Well guess what folks, imports have recalls too. You just don't hear about it as much. If you ever have the opportunity to read Wards Auto Report, it is a great publication that lists what's going on in the auto industry business wise, engineering wise, production numbers, global auto news, and recalls. I see just as many recalls for imports as I do U.S. vehicles. Honda had one the other day I believe on the Accord where a couple of bolts can break and you lose power steering. About 300k vehicles in Japan were affected and 140k in the U.S. Did any of you hear about that? Now, if 140k Ford Focus' had that problem, I bet you would have heard something on the news or in the paper.

Then there is foreign brands that are made in the U.S. Is that better for U.S. workers than foreign brands made overseas? Yup. Is it better than Domestic brands made here? Nope, not even close. Yes, the Big 2 1/2 are becoming more 'global' and using more parts made elsewhere, but domestics still have more parts that are made here. Look at the window stickers of new cars and they will tell you the % of parts that are made in the U.S. & Canada.

Domestic auto manufacturers also still use more American suppliers for parts as well. I work for a Tier 1 supplier to the auto industry. 69% of our sales are in the U.S. 23% go to Europe and a whopping 3% go to Asia.

When that is broken down by manufacturer, it looks like this:

Ford...............................24.7%
GM.................................13.6%
New Venture Gear.........11.1%
DaimmlerChrysler...........10.2%
Delphi............................10.0%
Dana..............................8.4%
Toyota/AISIN..................8.2%
Visteon...........................7.7%
TRW................................3.8%
American Axle..................2.3%

Those are out Top Ten customers in regards to Automotive Sales. We supply all of them with parts and 90% of our parts are made in the USA. The rest are either made in Europe or in Mexico. Headquarters is in the U.S., my office is in the US, and 5 out of our 6 plants are in the U.S.

Do you see Honda on that list? How about Nissan? Where's Kia at? And Toyota accounts for a whopping 8.2% of our business. (Sales below the top ten don't account for much, so this is basically all of our Automotive OEM business.)

Now that is just one example, but there are more. As of right now, if you are an American it still pays to buy American, and until Honda and Toyota move their headquarters over to the USA, I don't see that changing.