Auto industry observers who have been around awhile might arguably admit that the 1970’s and 80’s were not the best of times for the American Auto Industry.
And, arguably, we let / helped the Japanese point that out to us ( The Big 3 ) and major strides in American quality were made.
But, with all due respect, that was pretty much 30 to 40 years ago. Almost half a century now.
There have been a lot of crummy imports of all ethnicities before, during and along the way.
American Made cars have proven to be just as good as / reliable as any of the imports for maybe 20 years or more now.
How many years does it take before one let’s go of the past and grasps the present and future of the American auto industry ?
As for the present, my original point to this post was basically, what can we as Americans do now, to ensure that what we “let” the Japanese do to us 35 years ago not happen again with Korea, India and China. Must history continue to repeat itself ?
Take a teenie, tiny, itsy-bitsy step, and join me in respectfully asking Jeff Bridges to deep six the Hyundai voice-overs, jump ship to his “alma mater” and prove, once and for all, that charity begins at home.
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Paddy: If we look at the American auto industry from it’s humble beginnings with Henry Ford’s Model T (which was the original clunker) to about 1974/1975 (when things started to turn bad for Detroit’s Big Three), there was a period of some 60+ years when Americans were ferociously brand loyal to Detroit.
My point is that it takes a while to build loyalty and, once lost, it will take a long time to restore it.
I don’t argue that quality is now fairly level amongst American and Japanese brands, however, the perception that Japanese cars are superior is still fairly strong.
Moreover, until Detroit is able to negotiate more reasonable labor rates, GM and Chrysler will both still be playing from behind.
It is especially telling that Obama chose to screw the corporate bondholders of Chrysler, but was absolutely unwilling to take on the unions and the CBA (collective bargaining agreement).
It is a financially unsustainable model at work and it needs to be corrected. I’m rooting for GM and was very heartened by how quickly they exited BK. I hope that they embrace this second chance and move to restore GM to her former glory.
IMHO, Jeff Bridges can shill for whomever he likes. Whether or not we embrace the notion of “Buy American” first, we can all still agree that this is a free country. Or, it used to be.
