Democrats

Japan Automakers Are Becoming More American Than American Automakers

August 29, 2006 ⋅  E-Mail Article ⋅  Print Article ⋅ Post a comment

If you build it they will come, a very telling line for a great movie (Field of Dreams). However, corporate America has abandoned the concept of the ‘If you build it they will come’ form of business and economics. However, Japan has embraced America’s workers and many believe it is this reason, and not cheap price tags, which have Japanese automakers outselling their American counterparts in North America.

A recent article in the Detroit News underscores the fact that the Japanese automakers appear more dedicated to the American workforce than do traditional American automakers. The Japanese get it, they understand that if you pay workers to build it they can afford to buy it. Conversely, American auto manufacturers are trying to rely on outsourcing and cheap foreign labor, and then they wonder why their workers, or laid off employee’s, aren’t buying their cars anymore. They say ‘Buy American”, we respond with ‘Build American.’ Lets see who lives up to their words.

The title of the Detroit News article says it all, “Japanese put faith in American designers.” American manufacturers say they can’t find good engineering in America. However, foreign companies seem to have no problem whatsoever finding talented American workers for jobs inside domestic America, imagine that.

Here is a list of so-called imports now being extensively built here in the domestic United States:

Toyota:

• Tundra pickup
• Avalon sedan
• Solara coupe
• Sienna minivan

Honda:

• Accord sedan
• Ridgeline pickup
• Acura MDX SUV
• Acura RDX SUV

Nissan:

• Armada SUV
• Quest minivan
• XTerra SUV
• Pathfinder SUV
• Frontier SUV
• Titan pickup
• Maxima sedan
• Altima sedan
• Sentra sedan
• Versa subcompact

The problem also lies with the Big Three and their penchant for outsourced suppliers as well. Numerous American suppliers say they do good business with the Japanese automakers in America because the Big Three wants no part of them. Many domestic suppliers say they cannot even get a sit down with any of the Big Three because these companies are so focused on outsourced labor rather than good product and service.

The Detroit News article advises that, “When Honda Motor Co. set out to develop a turbocharged SUV for the American market, the senior bosses in Tokyo didn’t tap a Japanese engineer for the project. They turned to Gary Evert, a veteran of Honda’s Ohio operations, and brought him to Japan for two years to oversee the development of the Acura RDX. This is the second time Honda has put an American in charge of a vehicle program, underscoring the growing importance Japan’s automakers are placing on their U.S. operations and executive talent.”

When is the last time you heard of American automotive companies opening factories, or R&D facilities, in America? As the Big Three outsource their jobs, they also outsource their clientele. In case these geniuses cannot figure it out, most auto workers purchase cars from the companies they work for.

How can Ford, GM, or Chrysler, think they can lay off employees and yet still sell cars to them? Do they really consider the American worker this idiotic? They should learn a lesson from Japan and invest in a future in America, if not, then they better get ready to sell their precious SUV’s for peso’s, and Yuen, on the dollar. How many Rupes does it take to buy an Explorer? Maybe this all should have been thought out prior to the greedily hastened plant closures and layoffs.

The Detroit News states that “most Japanese automakers still design and build the majority of the powertrain and underpinnings for their vehicles in Japan. But they gradually are shifting responsibility for model design and engineering to research centers and studios abroad.From the RDX, which went on sale this month, to Toyota Motor Corp.’s next Tundra pickup, more Japanese-brand vehicles are being conceived and engineered by North Americans, as well as being manufactured locally. The next-generation Acura MDX, a larger SUV that will hit showrooms in the fall, was developed almost entirely in the United States.”

How much longer will the Big Three flounder around before they finally figure out what Japan already knows. Americans are loyal to their country and the companies within their country who supply them the opportunity for a livelihood. If American auto companies want to outsource then they better expect to out-sell. Hoepfully they learn a lesson from Japan and they build it here so we can buy it here, I hope they learn this lesson before it’s too late.

Japan Automakers Are Becoming More American Than American Automakers

Related Posts