The Whole Truth About American-Made Vehicles

Great article, I wish more people in this country would really see the truth about "american made".

so that's the "whole truth," huh.

Probably not the "whole truth" but at least he did a little more research than the half as job cars.com did. I am by no means, the Motleyfool fan but the article is interesting indeed but I guess you diehard fans don't want to believe anything negative on your beloved car brands.

It doesn't really matter where the cars are made, especially not to the fools.com. What matters to them is where the profits go.

exactly. thats the "whole truth" of Motely Fool, how to chase profits. Not that it's wrong to do so, but let's be honest about it.

@ thetruth01

but at some point it does become a huge problem; i.e. negligence, injury, death, misrepresentation, theft, etc. .

The comments on the article are very telling of how stupid and biased people are. Are Americans really that unwilling to educate themselves? It would seem so. Here are some points to consider:

1. Profit is not the only thing that matters. Are you saying that the wages and benefits paid to employees are of no value? Does creating jobs not matter? Does allowing people to live a reasonable lifestyle mean nothing? There is a world of difference between buying a product built in China for a substandard wage compared to buying a product built in the United States for a middle-income wage. Additionally, most of these companies are publicly owned, so profits aren't going "to Japan" or "to the U.S.," they are going to shareholders the world over. Trying to simplify the equation by saying things like "where is final assembly" or "where are the profits going" makes you an idiot.

2. Recalls are a shitty way to evaluate the quality of a vehicle because they are not equally applied across all manufacturers. Issuing a recall is a game that is based on public perception, how you can spin the recall, etc. If done right, recalls can actually IMPROVE public perception. If done wrong, they will destroy a company's reputation. Overall, however, they are a terribel way to judge quality. The best they can do is offer a very cursory overview of what categories cars fit into - things like good/bad or reliable/disaster. That is it.

3. JD Power, Consumer Reports, and all the rest of these ratings magazines have serious bias problems. If there ratings were issued purely on mathematical and statistical grounds, then they could be trusted. Unfortunately, there is a great deal of subjective input into ratings. This doesn't even mention the flaws in how they collect the limited statistical data that they do use. In the end, these publications offer, at best, a very general overview that provides resolution that is not better than above avg, avg, below avg. Trying to use them to gain any more insight than that is to put more weight on the data they collect and the methods they use than either can legitimately handle.

4. The best way to deterine quality is to look at problem boards on the internet. There you will find trends in people complaining about certain issues. For instance, the water pump on VW Jettas a few models back was a POS and would break easily. This problem is referenced all over the freaking internet and demostrates a design flaw. Compare that to the fact that many of these cars are still on the road and there is little mention of oil leaks, blown head gaskets, etc. The point is, look for what people complain about and see if there are trends. Complaints like this are unbiased and thus the most reliable source of information.

Well, news-flash my friend, idiots do rule this world, not ideologues. Car companies are businesses scrapping for every advantage they can get. If they had their way all of us would be slaves in a sweatshop hammering rivets in a new de Ville and an underpaid Chinese factory worker would seem to us like a millionaire. The bottom line is king and indeed wages and benefits are considered of value, a negative one. Fortunately for us, the proletariat (i.e. the people who have to work for a living), there is some balance.

It is great that you seem to have such strong views on the matter and I hope you stand up to your believes. But you also need to pick your battles and not fight the ones you can't win. :)

The article mentioned in the post is hardly the standard by which cars sold in U.S.A. can be judged as being American made.

This article in biased in that it includes things outside of the vehicles parts and manufacturing to determine its listed percentages. Secondly, this article is produced by an investment site.

With such factors as account labor, design, and capital spent skew the results unfairly toward the American brands.

Message to the American car buying public: Buy whatever the hell you want!