well i'm about to write this speech..
tell my some advantages of owning imports over domestic.

dont just say it saves gas.. elaborate alittle thanks

 

Better build. Better looks,(usually).

 

The statistics for reliability generally favor "imports". We have to put "imports" in quotes because the automobile business has become truly multinational. Mercedes, BMW, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, and others have assembly plants in the US. Several "domestic" models are built in Canada or Mexico.

 

runs longer with less repairs than most domestics


my parents say "i don't like american cars becuase im not from america i'd rather get somthing that was design closer to home"

are you writing a one way report or doing the good and bads?

 

BETTER RESALE VALUE. Should be high on the list. Japanese engineers historically take american ideas and expand upon them making them ten times better. Our boys have excellent ideas, but the Japs really know how to refine them. You could also site political party affiliation. Don't want to buy a car built by labor union workers. Japan doesn't have them but all domestic cars (at least the big 3) have to put up with union BS. That's why many factories are moving to Mexico. Can site the affordability depending upon the value of the yen....yadda yadda. Plus easier to pick up the chicka in a sweet ride as opposed to a Buick!

 

Here's my long winded opinion. I think the main difference between imports(Japanese made/designed cars) vs domestic(ford chevy olds etc..) is their philisophy(sp) towards design, maintaince and relialibilty. IMHO the Japanese took the stance that they had to be better than the competition in order to compete, therefore they tended to built pretty high quality(for their class)cars. They took their small engine(pretty efficent and powerfull for their size) and started to apply them to their newer larger engines(ie.. the maxima 3.0, Q45 V8, Toyota's 3.0 V6, Honda's vtec etc...) Also IMHO, the Japanese looked at the market and borrowed the best in each catagory. ie.. Japan interiors are much more european than american(thank god). Japanese cars historically have much less 1st modeal recalls than domestics. IMHO they worked out the bugs BEFORE they offered the car vs offering a car and then letting the public beta test the cars. Back in the early to mid 1980's, american cars were terrible in terms of quality. They got lazy becuase they thought they dominated the market. They soon got a harsh wake-up call didn't they? Ever since then, domestics have been playing catch-up in terms of styling,built quality and reliablity. They have made ALOT of improvements and offer a decent product for the price but you still get what you pay for.

 

You are misinformed. The Japanese auto industry is unionized. The United Auto Workers (UAW) is the big union in the domestic industry. In Japan the big auto union is called the Japan Auto General Labor Union. For more information, see http://www.jca.ax.apc.org/apwsljp/ja...9/AJ-No29.html

 

are you an Editor with Motor Trend?
your respond looks very familiar to me!

 

No, but I'll take that as a compliment.

 

Dan here is not only a do it yourself mechanic (DIYM)--but he is also the resident guru for knowledge--anything you want to know I am sure he can find something on it---

i post less nowadays because I have ran out of questions that Dan can't answer---

h,mmmmm...let me sleep on this and see what the curiousity bug might have....

 

Another possible point that Kratz brought up is the resale.
Most of the Japanese or European companies will not sell fleet cars to businesses. Ask anybody that has driven a company car and they will usually say words like Taurus and name only domestic. Do not forget rental agencies also buy cars in fleets. Guess what happens when they finish being deprecitated. They are funneled into auctions and saturate the market driving the price down.

Good luck with the speech. Some people were polled and would rather die than speak in front of other people

 

I think that was a good point up until a few years ago. You can rent Japanese cars now.

And Q45s and Maximas have crappy resale value. Maybe it will change w/ the 5-gens but the 4-gen resale sucks.

 

- Mr. Martin is the All-Holy God of Nissan Knowledge. He knows and sees all.

- It is very true about the philosophy of the manufacturer's throughout the world.
- Domestics dominated from WWII until the Seventies. The unrelenting patriotism following the Great War kept Americans buying American. Unfortunately, American car companies are all about profit without quality, hence the abandonment during the fuel crisis. We ditched Domestics for some foreign fuel-efficient cars and learned that they were quite nifty. Only now is DaimlerChrysler (German owned, might I add) starting to improve, with Ford trying to keep up. I have to mention that I once saw a Jeep Grand Cherokee "driving" down the road with its passenger side rear tire wobbling on the axle. The tire was about to fall off the truck! This thing still had the sticker on the window! This may have been an isolated incident, but I have seen all too many American SUV's rushed into the market with brake lights that burn out within months. The SUV's are the poster-child of America's obsession with profit over performance and safety. ("Yeah, capitalism!) My 1986 Honda Accord still has the original bulbs and the car is almost as old as I am! Both my parent's cars are American and we have had many, many problems. Their next cars will be Japanese or German.
- The Germans seem to go for ruthless precision. They're cars are built for European roads (the best in the world) and they are nearly flawless. Americans buy them because they either admire the car's performance or they are just looking for an expensive and uppity car.
- The Japanese share the same passion(?) for precision, but they do so at a lower cost, with brutal efficiency in mind. I admire the Japanese and am thankful to them for building great cars that I can afford, like the Maxima.
- The Italians, god bless 'em, are all about the Passion. They build cars because they love them. Unfortunately, they are thus behind technologically and reliability wise. Ferrari is finally getting things right in all the departments, but Lamborghini is still soaking up VW's money to fix problems. ("Ergonomics? We don't need no steenkin' ergonomics if our cars look like theese! Look at how the door swings up!")
- The Swedes are pretty nifty, but strive to often be quirky. They build rock-solid, well-engineered cars. And their heaters are amongst the fastest reacting and the best in the world. Don't forget their wonderful preoccupation with safety, too.
- The South Asians strive to look like their big brothers from Japan, but just aren't there yet. Their designs are, um, ugly - IMHO. And reliability is only just starting to improve.
- The Slavs, lucky for us, gave up with the Yugo.
- Russians? Yeah...
- Canada? They get all sorts of cool stuff, although they don't have any of their own manufacturers. My friend's Canadian grandparents own a new Civic Si 4-door with an automatic... That's only the start of a long list of stuff we don't get.
- Good luck with your report. Just remember to keep these motives in mind. Many of these traits sprung from the societies that the manufacturer's were born from. Look for the MOTIVES (for example, Japan had to prove itself to the world after it was horribly bombed by the USA - think along those historical lines.) ;-)

 

- We've been studying Japan in my Asian History class and I just thought that this might help some more...
- Japan was/is a very proud country. Prior to World War II, they had never been beaten in any prolonged military event. Unfortunately, their pride caused them to bite off more than they could chew when they attacked Pearl Harbor. America, under the leadership of Harry S. Truman, did not wish to loose more of "our boys" in an invasion of Japan, thus we dropped two atomic bombs on their country. (We will not get into the ethics of the bomb today.) However, this mass destruction will ultimately be a good thing for Japan.
- You see, two major things happened. First, two heavily populated cities, along with much of the rest of the country, were utterly destroyed. Second, the country was soon occupied by American troops. The Japanese learned of our culture through the occupation and were able to assimilate some ideas into their way of life. (This included a few things about automobiles.) Also, the destruction left in the aftermath of the war allowed for the Japanese to start over, rebuilding their land and their culture.
- Japan was never a rich country in terms of the raw natural resources that are necessary for a successful industrial revolution (coal, iron, oil, etc.) This is why they invaded and took over China's northern territory of Manchuria in the 1800's (I think it was the 1800's), a region rich in these resources. China reclaimed their territory a little later on, but fortunately, the Japanese have abundant deposits of gold and silver, which they happily traded for what they needed after the war. This ability to get the supplies they needed and the ability to start completely over led to two things: brand new, highly modern cities, built from the ground up AND a quantum leap forward in the production techniques required by this incredible demand. In short, the Japanese had to be incredibly disciplined and efficient to maximize the use of their purchased (not cheap) resources.
- This has also carried over to other aspects of their culture. For instance, if you have the good fortune to ride a train in Japan, you will note that no one enters the train until all the passengers have gotten off. Within a minute and a half, the train is on its way and moving. Once you reach your destination, everyone waits patiently in line for a taxi. There is no cutting in line, only one-by-one extreme efficiency. Try pulling that one in New York City!
- When the Japanese were ready to emerge from the cultural shell that had hidden their country's "work in progress," they used all of their efficiency to cut costs so that they could provide a great product at a low price. This way, much of the world, who was still bitter about the Japanese role in WWII, would overlook their prejudices for the sake of a really great deal. Capitalism at its finest, boys and girls. Thus, the Japanese were rewarded for their car's durability, efficiency, relatively advanced technology (remember, the original Civic needed no catalytic converter to meet emissions standards), and low price. So, while they share the same precision as the Germans do, they generally stick to lower priced cars for most of their profits. And we, the rest of the capitalistic world, love them for it.
- While the Japanese continued to evolve in the areas that they have always excelled in (read: VTEC, double wishbone suspension on Civic's, kick-*** V-6 on Maxima's), only in the past decade have they started to experiment with interesting design as a marketing ploy. It began with sports cars, like the Acura NSX and the last generation Toyota Supra, but is starting to trickle down to cars like the new Toyota Celica and the 5th generation Maxima (don't tell me those brake lights are run-of-the-mill). Basically, they didn't need styling to sell before, the other points we discussed took care of that. But now, other manufacturers were upping their quality levels and new selling points were needed. Also, the Japanese manufacturer's finally had the financial ability to experiment with design - If one car flopped as a result of styling, they could handle the financial burden. Unfortunately for us, now that their cars are selling so well, they're starting to up the price. Supply and demand... Supply and demand.
- The Japanese have had a wonderful experience in the automotive world. Their success has taught other manufacturers to be efficient and advanced, and they have supplied much of the world with great, reasonably priced cars. This is why history is important, kiddies. It ain't just a bunch of dates - the past is very much a part of the present and of the future. As we see continued Japanese success, though, look for prices to continue going up.

- I'm sorry if this is a bit scattered in places, but I thought it could help. Hope everything goes well with the report. ;-)

 

Yeah but it's not just about where a car is final assembled. I mean you can assemble a Pontiac in Italy, it will still be POS.
It's more about the philosophy behind it. Like Jeff said, a TL which is assembled in US, but it can output 220hp from a 3.0L V6 and does mid 15's in 1/4m, with good handling, and you can drive it for 100k miles easily with regular maintainess. On the other hand, a Buick needs 3.6L to achive the same 200+ HP but it's much slower anyway with crappy handling, and it has problems left and right since new.

 

SleeperSE has written a thoughtful and detailed summary of the post-war Japanese recovery. I'll add one element.

Japan is a mountainous country with little arable land and few natural resources. The Japanese will always have to import food, and the way to pay for imported food is by exporting manufactured goods. However, their products were known for cheap materials and shoddy workmanship. They had to improve their quality to become major players in the world economy. In the 1950s they induced an American statistician to visit Japan and teach about his specialty, quality control. Dr. W. Edwards Deming and his principles were embraced by Japanese industry. Deming's techniques helped Japanese manufacturers improve the quality of their products dramatically. It was quality even more than price that helped them take leadership positions in the camera, copier, and consumer electronics fields. Japan was openly grateful to Deming for his contributions and awarded him a medal in 1960. Complacent American manufacturers ignored Deming's work until the 1980s when competitive pressure forced them to institute changes. Deming's ideas also shaped the Japanese auto industry. Today, Japanese-designed cars (made in Japan, and made in USA) rank at the top of the new-car quality and reliability rankings.