Domestic Auto Industry

[DaveKCMO]

let's try not to litter the Transportation section with dozens of threads about the same topic. if you've got detroit car news, keep it all in a detroit car news thread.

thx.

[DaveKCMO]

this is now the official thread for all domestic auto industry discussion.

[Stockton]

The foreign-owned domestic auto industry of the Southeast is what I find interesting. I've heard it is flourishing and has really helped the economy in that part of the country. I wonder what type of policies and incentives are responsible for that.

Anybody know if the foreign-owned domestic auto workers are unionized and if not, if the pay compares to the unionized domestic-brand workers?

[Highlander]

Anybody know if the foreign-owned domestic auto workers are unionized and if not, if the pay compares to the unionized domestic-brand workers?

I do not think they generally are and that is one of the reasons they are in the SE US. 

[Stockton]

Are you suggesting that reason being that the Southeast is heavily Republican influenced?

[shinatoo]

i will never forgive them for axing the regular cherokee, cherokee country, etc. in favor of the patriot, liberty, et al.  what a joke!  those aren't jeeps!  bring back the cherokee, which is an american classic.  offer it with luxe finishes like the grand, as well as more hardcore, wrangler (or range rover) esque accessories.  the success of the Xterra, FJ cruiser, etc. shows that americans still want a basic, boxy 4x4.  hell they could even produce a diesel or hybrid cherokee.  their recent ad campaign for the grand cherokee invokes the recent push for design-minded folks towards "handmade," heritage, americana type goods.  bring it back!

Dito, my Cherokee was my favorite car ever, I had a 96 and it was really the last car I felt like I could work on in my yard. Sad day when they killed it.

[LenexatoKCMO]

I do not think they generally are and that is one of the reasons they are in the SE US. 

Pretty sure that those SE plants are all UAW.  Its just that labour wages are so depressed to begin with in the shit holes they build them in that even with collective bargaining they wind up paying half as much per hour as the B3 pay in the rust belt.  When the only economy a town has ever known is cotton picking or some other agricultural pursuit, even half an auto worker's pay looks like a princely sum. 

I don't feel too much sympathy for the B3 on that issue though, they tried to do the same thing by chasing cheep wages over the borders; kudos to the japanese and germans for realizing they could find parts of the US that are just as economically backwards as northern mexico. 

[mean]

Pretty sure that those SE plants are all UAW. 

I don't know of any that are (though I suspect there are probably at least couple), despite the UAW trying really hard to get workers interested. Last I read, the non-union import factories were paying as much or more on average, and with better bonuses and benefits, than the union shops. The workers just have no interest in being unionized.

[chingon]

The foreign-owned domestic auto industry of the Southeast is what I find interesting. I've heard it is flourishing and has really helped the economy in that part of the country. I wonder what type of policies and incentives are responsible for that.

Anybody know if the foreign-owned domestic auto workers are unionized and if not, if the pay compares to the unionized domestic-brand workers?

Generally they are not unionized, there are a few exceptions. They earn significantly less (about half when one includes benefits) than their union counter parts (even though the cars cost more), and have obviously have less union protections (arbitration, the grievance process, arbitrary firing, less say over working conditions, etc.).

The policies and incentives responsible are fairly straight forward, textbook union busting.

It has not helped the economy in the SE, which remains the poorest part of the country and has seen the steepest rise in poverty rates in recent times. Large swaths of the agrarian rural south were decimated by the past half century of government-backed wealth consolidation strategy, creating what amounts to our own domestic 3rd world, which the manufacturing industry exploits for tax breaks and corporate welfare for a little while, before inevitably moving those jobs to somewhere where the people are even more deperate and disposable.

[aknowledgeableperson]

Pretty sure that those SE plants are all UAW. 

NOPE, unless they are operated by one of the Big 3.

[FangKC]

Here is an interactive map showing what vehicles are built in the USA, the location, and whether they are union or not.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009 ... nts-4.html

[aknowledgeableperson]

Interesting map.  Even some of the plants in the old rust belt are non-union.

[rxlexi]

re: old-school badass american trucks discussion -

http://blog.caranddriver.com/a-new-ford ... ssibility/

do it Ford, with a turbo diesel or Eco-Boost 4/6 cylinder turbos!

[warwickland]

Here is an interactive map showing what vehicles are built in the USA, the location, and whether they are union or not.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009 ... nts-4.html

That really shows how much St. Louis auto manufacturing has collapsed...frankly I wish they'd all leave, there isn't any auto manufacturing left in St. Louis County or City, all that is left is the GM plant on the far outskirts of the westplex, fuckem' all.



not sure what that image implies, BTW.

[Highlander]

That really shows how much St. Louis auto manufacturing has collapsed...frankly I wish they'd all leave, there isn't any auto manufacturing left in St. Louis County or City, all that is left is the GM plant on the far outskirts of the westplex, fuckem' all.

Aren't most auto plants in the US suburban nowdays?  I know Claycomo is.  Fairfax is only quasi urban. 

[chrizow]

this.

[FangKC]

Kansas City-made vehicles are among the most "American" of all.

http://autos.aol.com/article/buy-american-car/

According to Beckham, the most American product currently on the market is the Ford Escape, which has a 90-pecent domestic parts content and is assembled in Kansas City, Mo.

According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data from 2009, the domestic-parts-content for the Ford Taurus is also 90 percent, the Lincoln MKS comes in at 85 percent, the Buick Lucerne touts 81 percent, and the Chevrolet Malibu gets 80 percent of its parts from domestic sources.

[pstokely]

Kansas City-made vehicles are among the most "American" of all.

http://autos.aol.com/article/buy-american-car/

Many Honda's and Toyota's have more Domestic parts than many Ford, Chrysler, or GM products

[FangKC]

He points out that GM and Ford source nearly 70 percent of their parts from domestic sources while Toyota and Nissan only get 35 percent and 30 percent of their parts from America, respectively. He also notes that foreign-owned companies like Kia and VW also have received large tax incentives from the U.S. government for building plants in the United States.

[FangKC]

GM sales up 22 percent in January; Chrysler up 23 percent

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/ ... XT20110201