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2017.. American Content in Cars


mettech

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Tesla is the most American car company. The company is headquartered in the U.S. They design and assemble their entire model lineup in the U.S. too.

 

By next year, the 2170 lithium ion battery cells made at Tesla's Gigafactory are expected to be used on Model 3, Model S, and Model X. With those 2170 batteries, Tesla cars should rate 95% all American designed and made according to the Kogod Made In America Auto Index. https://www.torquenews.com/3855/tesla-praised-most-american-made-car

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http://kogodbusiness.com/reports/auto-index/

 

 

Here is a link to the study quoted in the article. This makes much more sense.

 

That CR stuff is absurd, and fuels the rationalization of the ignorant consumer: "...but my Honda was made in the USA..."

 

I fully support the personal liberty to buy what you want, but once you make your choice, please don't pretend nor try to convince me that your Honda, Kia or Toyota is 'American'.

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I fully support the personal liberty to buy what you want, but once you make your choice, please don't pretend nor try to convince me that your Honda, Kia or Toyota is 'American'.

 

Until Japan starts letting US automakers start building/selling their cars in Japan, I will never consider the Japanese cars American. You can't have it both ways.

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http://kogodbusiness.com/reports/auto-index/

 

 

Here is a link to the study quoted in the article. This makes much more sense.

 

That CR stuff is absurd, and fuels the rationalization of the ignorant consumer: "...but my Honda was made in the USA..."

 

I fully support the personal liberty to buy what you want, but once you make your choice, please don't pretend nor try to convince me that your Honda, Kia or Toyota is 'American'.

 

Yes sir, the Kogod School of Business Made in America Auto Index is more comprehensive than Consumer Reports'. However, it has problems too.

 

1.) It uses AALA parts content data, which does not dis-aggregate parts made in the U.S. from parts made in Canada.

2.) Kogod unfairly assigns a value of 0.5 in the "U.S. HQ" category to certain vehicles made by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. which is headquartered in the U.K. It should be assigned '0' like all the other car companies not headquartered in the U.S.

3.) It underestimates the U.S. R&D contribution for certain models from non-U.S. companies that were styled, designed, and engineered entirely in the U.S.

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http://kogodbusiness.com/reports/auto-index/

 

 

Here is a link to the study quoted in the article. This makes much more sense.

 

That CR stuff is absurd, and fuels the rationalization of the ignorant consumer: "...but my Honda was made in the USA..."

 

I fully support the personal liberty to buy what you want, but once you make your choice, please don't pretend nor try to convince me that your Honda, Kia or Toyota is 'American'.

Unfortunately, I think the majority of Americans do not care where their material goods are made, as long as they can buy it cheap, which has led to the degradation of the American manufacturing base. I feel like I'm one of the few who makes a conscientious effort to buy American made goods where feasible, but I don't think most of my friends and neighbors do.

 

Plus you have to be careful about what "Made in America" means nowadays. My neighbor works for the company that owns Warn winches in the material sourcing area, and you would be sad to know how much Chinese content is in that American made Warn winch.

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Tesla is the most American car company. The company is headquartered in the U.S. They design and assemble their entire model lineup in the U.S. too.

 

By next year, the 2170 lithium ion battery cells made at Tesla's Gigafactory are expected to be used on Model 3, Model S, and Model X. With those 2170 batteries, Tesla cars should rate 95% all American designed and made according to the Kogod Made In America Auto Index. https://www.torquenews.com/3855/tesla-praised-most-american-made-car

 

You missed the part about "makes money" I guess...

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You missed the part about "makes money" I guess...

 

Kogod School of Business Made in America Auto Index only considers the location of an automaker's headquarters for its profit margin criterion. It doesn't account for a firm's actual profit margin. http://www.american.edu/kogod/autoindex/upload/2015_AutoIndexMediaKit_Final.pdf

 

 

Profit Margin - This was measured based on the location of an automaker’s headquarters. If an automaker’s global headquarters is located in the US, the model receives a 6. If it is not, it receives a 0. The assumption here is that (on average), 6% of a vehicle’s value is profit margin, so if it is a U.S. automaker, the profits remain in the country."

 

 

All models from GM, Ford, and Tesla got a 6 no matter where they were designed or assembled; all other models except some from FCA got a 0. Certain FCA models inexplicably got a 3. I think all FCA models should get a 0 as mentioned earlier in this thread. That would be consistent with Kogod School's own definition.

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I have told this story a dozen times on this forum:

I worked many years for an American based Software giant (hint: America's Cup) We had operations across the pond in our biggest competitor's home country. Upper management made if very clear that we were not there to be nice guys - we were there for one purpose - to take business from our rival right in their front yard.

 

Why is this any different for Japanese auto makers operating here?

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Until Japan starts letting US automakers start building/selling their cars in Japan

 

U.S. automakers (GM, Ford, Tesla) can sell their cars in Japan if they wish. They don't need to build those cars in Japan, as unlike other countries such as the U.S. there are no tariffs or non-tariff barriers on imported cars in Japan.

 

GM's and Ford's poor performances in the Japan domestic market are entirely their own fault. Neither company took Japanese customers seriously. Ford's lack of effort resulted in the company exiting Japan's domestic market last year. Good for Ford, as its Japan operations lost money and the Japan domestic market is slow or no growth anyway. GM still has a limited presence there mostly with high performance Chevys and Cadllacs. All except for Chevrolet Captiva are left hand drive which guarantees GM's Japanese presence will continue to be small. http://www.autonews.com/article/20140831/GLOBAL02/309019963/why-gm-struggles-in-japan

 

Tesla had a rough start initially in Japan too but is now doing a much better job marketing its vehicles there than Ford or GM did. Tesla vehicles sold in Japan are LHD and the company updated its navigation and infotainment systems to better support Japan and the Japanese language.

 

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U.S. automakers (GM, Ford, Tesla) can sell their cars in Japan if they wish. They don't need to build those cars in Japan, as unlike other countries such as the U.S. there are no tariffs or non-tariff barriers on imported cars in Japan.

 

GM's and Ford's poor performances in the Japan domestic market are entirely their own fault.

 

Seriously???? Japan is THE most closed and protected auto market in the world even though they make it seem like it's open.

 

http://www.americanautocouncil.org/sites/aapc2016/files/Japans%2BProtected%2BAuto%2BMarket.pdf

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Also need to consider how much business activity is generated in the US by production, parts manufacture, sales and servicing of vehicles.

If those Asian car makers weren't here, someone else would take their place and sell just as many, have dealership traffic ect.

 

It's how much business activity is generated and how much money actually stays in the US economy versus repatriated back to Asia or Europe.

If Toyota is making near $20 Billion in world wide profits, you can bet that a sizeable chunk of that comes form US sales and flows out of the country.

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