will American cars get better??

[Moppie]

Originally Posted by j cAT

diesel engines will never be allowed in the US..... diesel exhaust is a cancer causing agent.....the europeans and other countries don't care about health issues.... in the long run with cleaner fuel technology , the us will once again be top dog....the other countries , that stay on petroleum, will suffer the effects of petroleum addiction.....


just look at china. the olympics will probably not be held there because of the huge pollution problems.....they will have to stop all vehicles from operating for 2weeks.... can you imagine that in the US!

ye haw Pa, did you hear them neighbors got one of them black n white telingvisions? There was a man if that wee box telling us how we goin to war on them thar comminuniaists.

[Steel]

Diesel exhaust as a carcinogen? Proof.

Switching to diesel is the best thing that could happen to this country. Hint: biodiesel.

[KiwiBacon]

Originally Posted by j cAT

diesel engines will never be allowed in the US..... diesel exhaust is a cancer causing agent.....the europeans and other countries don't care about health issues.... in the long run with cleaner fuel technology , the us will once again be top dog....the other countries , that stay on petroleum, will suffer the effects of petroleum addiction.....

That's funny.
Unless of course you're being serious, cause that'd be funnier still.

[200sx power]

Originally Posted by Steel

Diesel exhaust as a carcinogen? Proof.

Switching to diesel is the best thing that could happen to this country. Hint: biodiesel.

[Polygon]

To put it mildly, I wouldn't buy a new car from an American manufactures.

[curtis73]

Originally Posted by UncleBob

you are so off based there.

Diesels can be very clean. The US has pretty strict regulations on new gas cars, but our diesel regulations dont' compare with EU regulations
.

You have no idea how proud I am of you, Bob

I do have to say I've been watching this thread with much interest but I haven't really jumped in.

We're all dancing around politically correct things. No one wants to say that for decades, Japanese cars have been driven by employees who would be personally disgraced by a substandard car while American union labor of the past were held in a self-entitled, politically driven workplace. If you've ever watched the movie "Gung-Ho" you know what I'm talking about. That movie (while comical and exaggerated) hit the nail on the head concerning car companies in the 80s.

While Japanse cars shot to the forefront of reliability, their general employees' family life sucked. I know because I was there watching as substandard employees were flogged and confined to employee housing until their performance improved. In America, we focused on employee rights and the cars sucked.

The bottom line is that American cars are getting infinitely better while "westernization" of foreign civilizations tends to drag employee devotion down a peg. I can see the writing on the walls. American cars are getting much more reliable. Japanese (and other Asian) cars are in a bit of a holding pattern. As quickly as they add reliability, they are adding complicated luxury to keep up with the market. European cars are blossoming quickly with a fair share of reliability issues, but overseas cooperation is helping.

What I'm seeing is a more globally focused goal. In the past, Japanese cars were reliable, European cars were stylish and ergonomic but problematic, and American cars were brutish cavalier muscle. Now (given the universally available market) I see a homologization of directive. All continents tend to focus on the same things. Now that all of the major automakers are targeting every market and continent, they have to ascribe value to every aspect. It used to be that each continent's manufacturers sold mainly to their own continent. Now that isn't the case and we're seeing the target demographic change accordingly. For cripes sake we now have Cadillac, Mercedes, BMW, and Lexus/Toyota all competing for the same market. Would that have happened in 1970? I think not.

[UncleBob]

not to mention all the odd ball international company mixing we have going on. GM and Saab, Ford and Jaguar and Volvo, Chrysler and Mitsubishi and Mercede's...just to name a small few...its becoming quite a mixing pot of ideas, ideals and engineering

Imagine what will happen when Ford gets bought out by Toyota....there's been talk anyway.

My biggest worry is the "little guys" getting swallowed up and turning into ugly monopolies.....I'd rather see competition stay alive. But I fear it will be harder and harder the further we go. Its just too difficult to be small scale in this market

[Moppie]

Originally Posted by UncleBob

My biggest worry is the "little guys" getting swallowed up and turning into ugly monopolies.....I'd rather see competition stay alive. But I fear it will be harder and harder the further we go. Its just too difficult to be small scale in this market

I would like to introduce exhibit a: British Leyland - How not to form a larger corporation out of a nations worth of individual manufacturers.

There are VERY few independents left.
Honda and BMW are the only 2 that stand out on a global scale with large mass production and only limited interaction with other manufacturers.
Ferrari simply don't produce the volume to really qualify, but would be in there just.
Toyota would come in next, but are heavily involved in badge engineering with GM.