With the commercial Toyota has now, showing how they're the most American made vehicle in this day and age, it makes me ask, how American are our beloved third generation Camaros and Firebirds? Should I be proud to have a piece of what GM used to be, or be disgusted that it's a GM vehicle?

 

**** toyota. there is not anything less american a person can do then buy a foreign car...

 

They may be made here is the states, but they are still not an American company.

 

Amen! I know people buy them but right now we need to BUY AMERICAN!

 

sadly i do not think any U.S. cars today are 100% U.S. . our cars for the most part are U.S. made . many smaller parts are made in canada & mexico . very few replacement parts are made in U.S.A. . anyway they say made in U.S. , should be assembled in U.S. . it's cheaper to import parts here , assemble a complete vechicle here then sell it instead of importing a complete vechicle . bottom line is where does the final dollar profit for TOYOTA go ??? where does the final dollar for G.M. go ??? just my personal thoughts . i am a retired A.F. M/sgt. that remembers how Japan was re-built after WW2 (rebuilt by America) . i remember when U.S. products were quality & Japanese were JUNK . now japanese products are top quality , sadly U.S. products are not . i know many will have a comment that differs from mine . to those that do , ask your grandparents . sadly many are not still around . if you do not have that option , read your history books . just my thoughts (i could go on longer) , GOD BLESS AMERICA , good luck (we need it) .

 

Right on. It's nice to see someone else gets it.

On the domestic auto quality topic... I just tonight saw a brand new Ford, hasn't even been detailed yet, with orange peeled paint.

 

the ford edge and the ford fusion are probably the 2 best built new vehicles right now on the road.

from experience at my shop Hondas are the biggest P.O.S.'s on the road. Well next to VW...


way i see it if you buy a honda have fun putting that $3500 trans in it and if you buy the VW have fun with the $4500 trans it will inevitably need...

 

i love those toyota commercials, pretending they are american. Mother country is japan, money goes overseas, does not stay here.

 

I never said I cared if new cars are good or where the dollar for it goes. All car companies now are money hungry economy killers. GM deleted the middle class worker, forced the lower class to do all the work and still finds a way to cut hours, wages, and jobs while the CEOs make money. Extreme economy killer, the evidence lies with the state Detroit city is in. I just wanted to know if my car is truly American, or one of GM's fake American cars.

 

Do you people not realize that even though Toyota is a foreign company, them assembling more of the vehicle in America is putting more money into the standard American's pocket, helping our economy more than GM. I HATE foreign cars, but I HATE new cars more. Spending your money on new GM cars to "help the economy more" is repugnant. Lining the pockets of the higher class.

 

the money ends up overseas.

 

3/4 of the crap you buy and 3/4 of the crap in your house was produced overseas, whether you like it or not. Very "unamerican" to buy most things by that logic. At least the Toyota or Honda are built here--much more than GM can say for most of its products which are now north of the border (sorry Canada doesn't count as America). The Honda and the Toyota are going to last forever too. Who cares where the profit goes? It certainly doesn't go to you or me. It either goes one of two places: an executive's pocket overseas, or an executive's pocket here. End result, it doesn't matter. If anything, it's better to buy foreign since it will support an American job, if that's what really matters to you. Buy from GM/etc. and you save a Canadian job and fatten the pockets of the executives who keep building uninspiring garbage with bulky, crappy, cheap, bubbly, plastic interiors. That said, I wouldn't really want something built by lazy American UAW workers. A few years ago the local news did an undercover story where they caught the workers at the St. Paul Ford Ranger plant smoking pot on their lunch break.

Dollars invested in foreign markets are reinvested in America. America relies heavily on foreign trade.

"I'm an AMURRRR'CUN, UNGFFF!"

Sorry, but threads like this really make people sound like uncultured hillbillies. The world is a global marketplace, get over it.

EDIT: This thread probably shouldn't be here anyway, it has nothing to do with H/R and it's political in nature.

 

This thread is here because knowing whether or not our cars were made in America is the original question that is part of their HISTORY, and I guess no one can answer it.

 

Yes they were made in America, they were all built in either Van Nuys, CA, or Norwood, OH.

Doesn't mean the parts were all made or sourced in America though, just that they were assembled here.

 

Thank you! Does anyone know a percentage of where the parts were made before assembly?

 

Well it's not like the foreigners are doing anything better. The entire auto industry is a shadow of what it used to be.

 

On the early 3rd-gens there is probably around 90-95% US made parts. Some plastics and certain drivetrain options came from Canada.

Beginning in the 80's GM's CEO Roger Smith pushed the closure US factory and suppliers(causing the loss of over 70,000 jobs in Flint, MI area alone!) and building factories in Mexico with cheap labor. By the late 80's there were a lot more parts used in 3rd-gens that were sourced from Mexico.

 

jap cars are absolutly no better then the americans, trust me. work on these things everyday. and the european or even worse.

if you go buy a mercedes better be prepared for the 800 dollar brake job, the electrical nightmare they all end up turning into when they get older, and the 6000 dollar transmission repair.

hondas are the worst car on the road, there false good reputation is the best thing to ever happen to the aftermarket repair industry

 

Fusion is built in Mexico. I do give kudos to foreign manufacturers who use U.S. labor. I don't see where expensive transmission repairs are limited to foreign cars either. GM really needs to start getting back on the ball in terms of quality and products.

 

Meh.

Ford.

 

Half of my neighbors earn thier living building Toyotas. They bring thier paychecks home and buy Chevys.

100% of 4th and 5th gens were/are assembled here in Canada. And for the record, we aren't exactly a third world country.

 

Just for the record. I pulled an electric antenna out of an 85 Iroc yesterday and it has an "assembled", in Mexico sticker on the inner mast.

 

I've got an 82 Camaro NOS dash pad. Right on the original box it says 'Made in Mexico'.

 

Win!

Just because a vehicle may have a foreign name plate, doesn't mean that it's making anyone richer over seas. Toyota employ hundreds of thousands of people in and around the Cambridge area in Ontario, I have several friends that work there, and we all live about an hour from the plant.

If you look at who is getting paid to work there, you'll see that Toyota is paying people that live in North America, and spend their money in North America.

As said, it's now a global economy, parts are bought and sold overseas, and will continue that way. If you think for an instant that just because the name plate is a North American company that you are putting more money back into the North American economy, you'll be sorrily mistaken. This is especially true when it comes to North American auto manufacturers, that buy parts from the cheapest bidder, usually Mexico.

I own a few Domestic vehicles, and one foreign vehicle, and my Foreign vehicle is from the early '70s, still in great shape, solid, and runs like a champ, even though I have updated some of it using some domestic EFI parts, and wouldn't for an instant consider a newer domestic vehicle unless I got a smoking deal on it. I wouldn't even consider an older one at this point, because they will be nothing but trouble, though they are generally easy to work on.

 

American employees aren't getting WEALTHY off the sale of Toyota vehicles. They're making a meager existence. And where do they spend their money? Walmart. Everything in Walmart is made in China, Korea, Taiwan, Mexico. So those profits go over seas too.

 

Before the close on this, let me make a couple comments.

I own a 2006 Silverado Z71 4x4 Crew Cab. It has 105k miles on it and the only repair issues I've had to deal with were all well known issues. None of them were major. I replaced the intermediate steering shaft at 30k miles with a new designed one and haven't had an issue since. The tranny, rear end and engine have run flawlessly! The only other issue was a slight creaking in the body and it was because I installed aftermarket nerf bars. All other "repairs" are due to mileage and I've replaced parts before they needed it. Sounds like good quality to me.

I also own a 2003 Monte Carlo SS. The only issues with this car were a lower coolant elbow, made of plastic, that finally cracked and gave up. Repair cost was about $85 for parts and labor. The battery failed a few times because Delco's battery supplier had an issue found on many vehicles. Finally resolved with another new battery. And recently, the power window switch started acting up. I replaced it for $30 I think! The quality of GM products really sucks today and is costing me a ton of money to keep a 9 year old car and a 6 year old truck on the road. American quality is surpassing the quality of imports and people are too blind to accept it.