The letter below was printed verbatum in the 10/13/06 Oakland Press.
WHY BUY AMERICAN
There is a great deal of bad and distorted information and inaccurate perception in the minds of potential new car and truck buyers who question why buy American. There are very good reasons for Americans to buy Ford, GM and Chrysler in today?s market. Substantiable facts from the Level Field Institute are as follows:
- In 2005 the domestic companies (Ford, GM and Chrysler) employed 377,000 workers while all of the Foreign manufacturers combined employed 103,000 people - a ratio of over 3 to 1.
- Additional facts per Ray Windecker of American Autodatum, based on production and sales figures from Automotive News, for US production and sales, are that vehicles built in the US and sold in the US are Ford 90%, GM 80%, Chrysler 72%, Honda 64%, and Toyota only 54%.
- Also to be considered is the fact that the majority of the Foreign manufacturers administrative and research and engineering is done in their home countries by foreign nationals.
- Finally, the profits from US sales go back to the home country to be used there rather than in the US.
As we all know the playing field is not level because the three domestic companies have a large obligation to their retirees for health care and pensions that the foreign manufacturers do not have. Do we need any additional information to influence US buyers to buy cars and trucks from Ford, GM, and Chrysler - partiucularly since the latest data says quality is relatively equal?
Howard Freers