On Dec 7, 1:58*pm, "Marko" <tr...@army.mil> wrote:
>
> The ironic thing is many of the foriegn owners have never even once in there
> life owned an American car, and at least not in the last 10 years. So they
> are simply caught up in the hype that japanes are better. Consumer Reports
> magazine is even caught up in it, saying the Toyota Matrix was a good car,
> then doing a review on the Pontiac Vibe giving it a low review not even
> knowing they are the same vehicle coming right off the same assembly line..
> They blew there whole credibility on that fiasco.

I have owned 1 American Motors car, 3 Chrysler cars, one Chevy Bereta
(the worst - had to be towed at least 12 times). We now own a Toyota
and a Honda. Absolutely no comparison.

You probably missed this article I posted. There is no such thing as
an "American Car". A Toyota or Honda made in the US is probably as
much or more American than one made by the Big 3.

Detroit spinners?
By John Reed and Bernard Simon

Published: November 19 2008 02:00

The plant that assembles Chrysler's Jeep Wrangler near Toledo, Ohio
sprawls across four buildings, but Chrysler occupies only one of
them. The others house three of the troubled carmaker's suppliers.
South Korea's Hyundai Mobis builds the Wrangler's chassis, while Kuka,
a German maker of robots and welding machines, puts together the
body. The facility's paint shop is operated by Magna International of
Canada, with Chrysler responsible only for the vehicle's final
assembly.

The plant, opened in 2005, illustrates the interdependence of
Detroit's troubled carmakers and their myriad suppliers in the US and
overseas. Relationships like these lie at the heart of the intense
lobbying effort by Chrysler and its two bigger Detroit-based rivals -
General Motors and Ford - to persuade US lawmakers to approve a $25bn
(€20bn, $17bn) rescue package.

Congress began hearings yesterday on the plan, aimed at averting the
collapse of an industry that accounts for about 4 per cent of gross
domestic product but is quickly running out of cash. Were either GM or
Ford to go bankrupt, it would mark the biggest business failure in US
history. The Detroit carmakers operate 105 US assembly and component
plants, with close to 240,000 employees. They provide healthcare
benefits for 2m Americans and pensions for almost three-quarters of a
million people.

Proponents of the bail-out claim that the damage would spread much
further. Carmaking, they argue, has one of the largest "multiplier"
effects of any industry: for every job, at least seven more people are
employed indirectly. Manufacturers, parts suppliers and dealers say
the impact of a collapse on the real economy would dwarf that of this
year's bank failures. Nearly all the jobs lost would be blue-collar,
with the pain felt largely in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. Michigan
already has unemployment of almost 9 per cent, the highest of any
state.

(Article continues)
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b1ebe4b4-b...nclick_check=1

Here's a video about Ford's plant in Brazil.
http://info.detnews.com/video/index.cfm?id=1189