lexusls430

My sons paper i thought id give him some info by posting here.

SC400-V8

iTrader: (1)

There is alot of dicussion of body integrity for the two. In my opinion, modern Jap cars tend to be much better... my Lexus has not a speck of rust on it, and its closing on 14 years of age. ive seen cadillacs that are from the mid-late 90s that already have rust in a few trouble spots.

This would make sense, but one thing you may notice at junkyards is that the japanese cars in it are usually the victims of a major accident, wrecked hard and tend to have alot of corrosion due to operating for many faithful years....

Domestic vehicles doomed to a junkyard tend to have bodies in relatively mint condition, usually no colision damage.... almost as if they just stopped working and the cost of repair was too much for the owner to swallow... so the vehicle is junked.

LexFather

Your gonna look like a hero... Give me a couple more minutes here...

LexFather

http://www.jama.org/autoTrends/detail.cfm?id=154

oreign Companies vs. Domestic Companies - Distinctions Getting

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in its trade priorities report to Congress released on April 30 expressed "disappointment" that foreign auto and auto parts sales in Japan had not met its expectations due in part to the weakness of the Japanese economy over the past three years. The report concludes: "The effects of the Japanese recession have been disproportionately felt by foreign firms." Inherent in this conclusion is the premise that success in the automobile industry in Japan, and elsewhere for that matter, is still measured by the performance of imports relative to domestic brands.

Import statistics can, of course, be compiled to support the old "we-versus-them" premise. After all, last year import auto sales in Japan hit bottom at 32 percent below their 1996 peak. The Japanese market, on the other hand, is now only about 9 percent below 1996 levels having recovered slightly over the last couple of years. Using these statistics one might conclude that imports are not keeping up with the market. However, the picture this presents is incomplete.

The compiled numbers disguise the fact that auto markets, including Japan’s auto market, are becoming increasingly global. A true analysis is not reflected in country-versus-country statistics but rather company-versus-company statistics. BMW, for example, now sells its U.S.-built cars in Japan. DaimlerChrysler sells U.S.-built and German-built Mercedes in Japan as well as U.S.-built Chryslers. GM sells U.S.-built Chevrolets and German-built Opels.

Furthermore, not all imports move together. There are winners amongst the import companies as well as some losers. (See, "Winners and Losers.") For example, VW/Audi, Japan’s leading importer, sold record volume last year, about 8.5 percent more than it did in 1996. Mercedes, Japan’s second largest importer, lost sales last year, but, even so, Mercedes volume was up 14 percent over 1996. These two companies also have performed well in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period last year. VW/Audi sales in Japan are up 12 percent and Mercedes sales are up 28.5 percent in an overall auto market that declined by 0.2 percent during the same period last year. (See, "What’s Happening in the Market.") The two largest import sellers in Japan are beating the market in a weak economy. In short, all imports are not alike.

By contrast, the Detroit companies have experienced a reverse pattern. The Detroit companies’ sales did well in the early days of Japan’s downturn until about 1996 but since then have declined sharply. Last year, GM, Ford and Chrysler sold 55 percent fewer of their U.S.-built cars in the Japanese market than they did in 1996, their peak year. So far this year, GM and Ford sales are down 55 and 40 percent, respectively. GM recently announced that it was withdrawing its Saturn from Japan. Certainly sales from these companies have been declining in the Japanese market while others are gaining. But even this is not the entire picture. Chrysler, now DaimlerChrysler, is a German company with its Mercedes division cars, some of which are built in the U.S., beating the market and its Chrysler division cars, also built in the U.S., losing sales in Japan’s market.

The "foreign firm" versus "domestic firm" picture is further blurred by the integration of the two. Over the past several years, enterprising vehicle manufacturers from both Europe and America have seized opportunities by purchasing equity in Japanese vehicle manufacturers. As a result, many foreign companies, including the Detroit companies, are positioning themselves as part of the domestic Japanese industry to take advantage of a recovering vehicle market. We have documented this trend in detail in previous issues of Japan Auto Trends. (See Article Index, Japan Auto Trends, March 2001 and March 2000)

Future?
While politics between the U.S. and Japan may strive for a while to perpetuate past rhetoric, the internationalization of the automotive industry is rapidly overtaking the ability to credibly sustain the "we-versus-them" approach to the U.S.-Japan automotive dialogue. In the future, governments will be unable to delineate benefits accruing solely to "domestic firms" versus "foreign firms." In global auto markets some companies may win and some companies may lose, but when it comes to corporate nationality, drawing distinctions will border on the impossible if not the absurd.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...3/ai_110405001

http://www.ai-online.com/issues/arti...ail.asp?id=318

LexFather

Well my paper would read like this.
1. japenese vs domestics (the basic quality arguement that Japanese is better)
2. Japanese=domestics (the line is blurrin),
Acura CL/Tl Benz ML, BMW X5, Z4, Infiniti QX56, Nissan Armada, Titan, Altima, Maxima, Toyota Sienna, Taoma, Tundra, Sequoia, Solara Camry, Honda Accord, CR-V, Element, Ridgeline
Of the top of my head, these are all made in America, for America by Americans. Most are not exported out the United States.
3. Style, American cars looked American, they were huge, after the oil embarfo of the 70s, they had to get smaller, the Japanese were already small. American cars started looking more and more Japanese. Only cars like the 300C, Mustang, etc look American in design.
4. Domestics have the power advantage. Big V-8s, the Vette, Viper, GT Ford.
5. Domestics dominate trucks/SUVs.

I would close with point 2 and say the cars are getting more global.

lexusls430

Thanks sick this is great i just need some more sources dont mean to be a pain could you find some more like 8-10 more? Thanks alot. He needs at least 20 but i found a couple.

LexFather

http://www.yeald.com/Yeald/a/34021/t...e_details.html

http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_vehicles...fm?pageID=1567

lexusls430

Thanks sick your great help keep them coming how do you find all this.

mmarshall

This has been true up to now but will probably not continue much longer.
The die-hard F-150, Silverado, and Ram junkies are not getting any younger. This market has been EXTREMELY hard to crack for the Japanese manufacturers...primarily because of brand loyalty but also because of Toyota marketing errors that falsely presented mid-sized trucks as full-sizers when in fact they were not...and STILL are not. The only true Japanese full-sized truck is the Nissan Titan...Nissan did it right to start with.
However, the truck-buying generation that is steadily replacing the F-150 and Silverado cowboys and construction people is younger, more sport and trim-oriented, less likely to use trucks for heavy work or off-roading, and MUCH less Ford and Chevy-oriented than in the past.
They are the ones buying Toyota and Nissan trucks...including the smaller Tacoma and Frontier...and, of course, the new unibody Honda Ridgelineand the upcoming Mitsubishi Dakota-based truck.......and are likely to do so even more in the future. And, of course, who is eventually going to lose? You guessed it......the cowboy trucks.

The BIG question that nobody seems to be able to answer.....when will we see European pickups?
Years ago we had a FWD VW Rabbit-based pickup that went virtually nowhere in U.S. sales.

WhiteTiger

Between this and your other post you have made some very "absolute" inferences. I have a 95 Camaro (heavily modded), had a 2000 Blazer, and a few other Domestic Vehicles over the last 20 years and have found them to be very reliable (usually just regular maintenance and few rattles). Maybe there are some generalizations to be drawn, I don't disagree, but I disagree with how far fetched your statements are. There are tons of totalled Vette's, F-Bodies, and Mustangs sitting in junkyards. To think many or most domestic vehicles just broke down early and were abandoned is inaccurate IMO.

Any car that is cared for should last you many years, whether it is domestic or foreign. yes, there are the lemon law cases. But compared to overall car sales, I have to believe is it a small percentage of all vehicles, regardless of make. Plus I think that many that buy the run of the mill Taurus, Buick, or any other point A to point B type car are not going to care for a car like an enthusiasts.

Bottom line, I just think your generalizations are way too general and unfair to domestic vehicles. Plus as Sick pointed out, many non-domestics are actually made and sold here. So how do you distinguish?

Baby ///M3

Wow that's way too literal!

But good stuff nevertheless!

Jon

mmarshall

Today, as you indicate, the car buisness is indeed global....and getting more confusing all the time.
Generally....in TODAY's market, a car is considered American, European, Korean, or Japanese according to the home country of the parent company. That is why, for instance, the new Toyota Avalon and Nissan Titan are still considered imports even though they were conceived, designed, built, and driven here in the American market by Americans.
Now.............when you get into the EPA and DOT legal definitions of what is American and what is not, that's another whole ballgame. You get into things like domestic parts content and outsourcing. That is why Ford is not fined for the Crown Vic's low gas mileage even though the Crown Vic drags Ford's CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) gas mileage figures down below the cutoff point for fines. The Crown Vic is legally considered a foreign car by the EPA for gas mileage purposes and does not subject Ford to the regulations because Ford shrewdly out-sourced just enough components the avoid the "Domestic" label. GM did the same thing with the Impala/Caprice, Buick Roadmaster, and Cadillac Fleetwood before they went out of production.

Did you HEAR that, officer?...............you're drivin' a FUREIGN car there !