Originally posted by pupik
Seen a Native American lately? Most of our last names (and given names) derive from non-American origins. Thus, the fact that my ancestors came to this country 5 generations ago doesn't make me any less of an American.
By that logic: A Honda where over 75% of its parts are manufactured in the US, assembled by Americans, managed mostly by Americans, and sold in America definately makes it as much an American car than a Japanese car (if not more). You could argue that there are Japanese engineers building the whole shebang, but they are making a tremendous sacrifice to live in a land that is more alien than what they are used to residing in, and offering a variety of cars rather than a less choices.
The other Japanese automakers laughed when Honda announced it would bulid a plant in Ohio back in 1982; nowadays, Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, even BMW and Mercedes have a plant in the US. The truth is, Japanese automakers have the experience in buliding lighter, more fuel efficient, and better engineered cars than the US can bulid. Sure, we have our sports cars, some luxury sedans are better values as well; but in the small car game, the US is still 10 years behind in my opinion. Too many dinosaurs...and the asteroids have been striking for a while!
To sum it up, It really doesn't matter one bit to me whether the car is American, European, Japanese, or whatever. To the educated consumer (and not the brainwashed one), quality, performance, and value will still be the 3 most important factors of choosing the right car.
no offence intended
