By Steven D. Gatt, Automotive Editor
The federal government has set guidelines on what a car company can call a domestic. It seems to me the guidelines of what is considered a domestic vehicle need to be reduced. Foreign manufacturers have made a strong commitment to the United States and to continue the current content requirement of 75% is unfair.
Toyota builds the Camry and Avalon here. The Camry is Toyota's number one selling vehicle; a very important car for them. It has a considerable amount of domestic content but not enough (75%) to qualify to be called a domestic. Toyota has made a serious commitment to the production of vehicles in the United States. It hires/employs thousands of United States citizens not only in the assembly plant but at research and development facilities across the nation, as well. Toyota recently announced expansion of their R&D Technology park in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This effort will require hiring local American contractors to enlarge the facilities and yet more Americans to staff those facilities.
Honda has been producing cars in America for more than 10 years now. Both the Accord and the Civic are built in Marysville, Ohio. The Civic has 70% domestic content, yet this still doesn't make it qualify as a domestic. Honda also is expanding research and development facilities and hiring more Americans to work there.
A few years ago Ford was actually 'importing' the Crown Victoria just so they could meet their CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) requirements. The imported fleet is considered separate from the domestic one. Therefore, putting the Crown Vic in the import fleet made it easier to pass. You see, then the Festiva was also considered an import. The new Aspire is still an import from Korea. The Aspire/Festiva with its' high mileage ratings averaged out the low mileage Crown Vic.
All products produced in Canada and Mexico by the big three are considered domestic, as long as they meet the 75% criterion. Chevy builds the Camaro and Firebird in Canada. Chrysler has a plant in Canada to build minivans and another to build LH sedans. Chrysler also has two plants in Mexico: one to produce Ram pickups the other to build Dodge Neons. Ford has a plant in Mexico to produce Escorts, the list goes on and on. The recent CAW labor strike put a lot of American workers out of jobs, temporarily, because they supply parts to the Canadian assembly plants. If those vehicles were assembled in the U.S. where there was no strike, GM wouldn't have lost the millions of dollars it cost to have the plants sitting idle or paying unemployment benefits.
Nissan has a plant in Smyrna, Tennessee. BMW in South Carolina. Mercedes-Benz in Alabama. The domestic manufactures are hawking Canadian and Mexican built products as if they are built in the U.S. because most consumers don't realize that these high paying jobs are going to other countries. Yet, when foreign manufacturers make an effort to build large manufacturing and research and development facilities they are still punished by the government slapping the label of "import" on them. The system isn't fair to the foreign manufacturers, not that American manufactures are getting a fair shake in Japan. But have any of the domestic manufacturers built a single plant in Japan to produce a vehicle specifically for the Japan market? NO!
It is my opinion, that if the vehicle is assembled in the United States it should be considered a domestic product as long as it contains domestic content over 50%. The current guideline of 75% is too high. Forcing the foreign manufactures to build even more parts plants here would cost too many jobs at home, and in today's global economy this is something we have to take into consideration.
Some people still only see a nameplate on a car and not what is behind the nameplate; the work that goes into the car. Their defense of this argument is that the Asian manufactures take all the profits home. That's just not true, they are reinvesting that money into worker retraining and expansion of American facilities. Honda, just like Chrysler, employs hard working Americans.
How is it that you could buy a Neon built in Mexico that is considered a domestic vehicle, yet buying a Honda Civic built in Ohio means your buying an import? It just doesn't wash with me and it shouldn't wash with you!
As always feel free to e-mail me and let me know what you think.