Asking this because it’s known that the reason everything’s been offshored is for profit, so I’m curious as to how much people here are willing to pay extra for a product if it gets made in the US again. 10% extra? 20%? 30%? How much of a markup for American labor is too much?
You're viewing a single comment thread. View all comments, or full comment thread.
Comments (55)
sorted by:
To apply to non Americans here, can change it to 'made in the country you reside'?
As in that case , it depends on another issue: quality. The reason the American car industry got sodomised by the Japanese and Europeans was they offered a better product. There's no point priding yourself on 'it was made here' if the product is vastly inferior at a marked up price compared to a cheaper product outside that is just as a disposable.
So that you can't go 'you're just hating on Americans' look up British Leyland as an example of what I'm talking about.
To be honest, some international cooperation is for a better product
It's like the British and Italians designing their cars but getting the Germans to build them so they are reliable and great to drive.
Germany makes reliable cars? That has not been my experience. Powerful and fun to drive, absolutely. Reliable, not so much.
Compared to when the Italians FULLY make a car, they do.
Look at Alpha Romeos, beautiful cars...... even stationary after their brakedowns...
Here in Europe, German brands are considered as no thrill, straight cut, solid car manufacturers that offer many wallet friendly models and specs. Models off the top of my head to fit that category are: Any Polo or Golf, A-class Mercs or BMW 1-er.
However when elsewhere in the world they are regarded as luxurious brands with the high expectations for said brands. A dinky 1-Series BMW is suddenly more appealing in China because its a BMW. Because of their perceived status, and price, people treat them as "rugged" cars that should withstand the abuse. Generally they will do just fine. Only a small catch, they must be serviced properly at the right intervals for said abuse!
Sadly this last part is lost in translation somehow and your beloved BMW 335i doesn't get thoroughly inspected and serviced, and before you know it a hefty bill is revealed once you take the car to a main dealer for a "weird duck like sound" coming from the front passenger side suspension area.
I may not know all factors which contribute to their reliability of a vehicle, but a major reason could be the lack of strict annual road worthy tests which are the norm in EU. You might have heard of UK users refer these as MOT in the UK, or TÜV inspection in good ol' Germany.
I may be oversimplifying it, but this is what I have seen on a personal account based on family member who lives in Snowy California.. err I mean Canada. She has a Toyota or Honda crossover but she always complains that every garage in town charges too much for each repair. What's the punchline? Well, she doesn't get her car serviced only once stuff starts to break :/
My Audi has been mostly reliable. I've only had 2 things actually fail on it where it stopped working in the 11 years I've owned it.
Then again I don't have the 2.0T engine that drinks oil.
and getting completely in America is very tough. There are components of product that are going to just be much easier to make in other countries, if only because that is where the mines for the raw materials are.
The US has domestic sources for a lot of rare earth metals that we aren't really mining or refining due to environmentalists and anti-civilization communists.
GM and Dodge, yes, but Ford trucks are like 75-85% American made, depending on the year and model.
https://gmauthority.com/blog/2020/09/general-motors-has-more-american-vehicle-content-than-any-other-automaker
I think he's exaggerating. GM, Ford, and FCA all generally have high NA-sourced parts content.
Considering most of the companies in my country are ultra woke and my government is a far-left eco-fascist nightmare factory ... I actually do the opposite.
If possible I order from other countries. I also prefer products from non-European/non-US manufacturers.
I occasionally make an exception for smaller brands that don't have any leftist shit on their website or social media, but in the end the less money my government and those that support them get the better.
I made that exact argument. Are they so universally understood to be shit that they're a byword for complacency?
Damn did it at the same time lol, anyone unaware of how bad they were, look up Top Gear British Leyland on YouTube, they did an entire episode on them when it was he trio working there.
One had no brakes and the other actually had a door 'not work' and then fall off.
"Your Rover leaks so badly that they're going to use two hoses."
"Eventually, we became bored, and the tankers became empty."
Ahh, when British TV wasn't just "women are better than you" propaganda reminiscent of Nazi Germany.