"Well, you may be interested to know that the full size Toyota is built in the USA by proud Texans. The parts content of my Ford is largely from Mexico. And my neighbors Dodge was built in Mexico."

Are you sure that the San Antonio plant is up and operating already?

Just because the plant is in Texas doesn't mean that Texans are operating it although it is a prime location to import contractors.

 

Mike, my 06 Silverado was built in Indiana, and the engine and transmission are also made in the USA. I am not sure where my 06 F350 is made. I will only buy American Vehicles regardless where they are made. Ford and Chevy are still American companies. Way to many people support the Japanese companies. I have many trucks over the years, and they all have been either Ford or Chevy. I never had any major problems with either brand.
Ed G

 

How do you know "most" of your parts are from Mexico? I thought (and I may be wrong) that the sticker that shows the percentage of domestic content showed just that, the domestic content. I work at Dearborn truck and the only things I've seen from Mexico are wire harness and hoses( there may be more after my line but I don't know). I know the drive shaft and engine is from Canada as well as a few other things. I do know the average truck rolls off our line with a domestic content of 70% or higher. Just because that toyota is built in the USA by proud Texans, does not mean it will have a high domestic content.

On Jan.23rd Mark Fields said during the way forward speach that a new plant will be built in North America. Rumor has it (it's just a rumor, it will not be confirmed or denied) That it will be a new truck plant in Texas. So I would say (if the rumor is true) that Ford is taking toyota VERY seriously.
Here is a couple interesting links on the future of the F-150
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7002397595
http://www.newtechspy.com/articles06...lichybrid.html

 

I still have no friggen clue what you're talking about here. EVERY single SD that I've seen, has had perfect line matching, and the panels were set perfectly straight. Fit and finish: immaculate. even the work/bush trucks up here seem to hold better than anything Toy has to offer....you're just another bias, opinionated person with an agenda.

All Terry was saying, was that overspray MAY happen. It's not IMPOSSIBLE to have overspray...every other manufacturer has/is experienced it at some point in time no doubt.

The domestic conent on Ford vehicles is very high...I don't know how you figured it's mostly Mexican...
Engines, frames, other drivetrain components, etc etc, were made, and assembled in Canada. The majority of SD's come from the Kentucky plant in Louisiana. Most everything is made, and assembled in America, or Canada....you seem confused over this.

 

EVERY single SD that I've seen, has had perfect line matching, and the panels were set perfectly straight. Fit and finish: immaculate.

You've obviously never seen one of our SD's made in Brazil!!!

 

Defining an American company is simple. When you buy the truck, where do the profits go? Exactly.

I don't care how many "parts" are made in the U.S., or how many Americans work on the assembly line...a Toyota is still a foreign truck and buying one still ultimately hurts our economy. Period. It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out.

Now, having said that...this thread cracks me up. The 2007 Tundra is NOT EVEN OUT YET. No one has even seen a production model yet! And yet you guys are wondering if the Americans will have to step up quality to match it?! What are you guys smoking?

I'll tell you what...if the new Tundra is built with the same quality as the new Tacoma..it'll be a disaster. That new Tacoma has been garbage since it came out. The plastic composite material the bed is made of even cracks under load. How about that for a work truck?? The new Tundra can tow over 10,000 lbs?? With how many gerbils pushing? That truck has 5-lug axles, crappy brakes, and a weak 6-speed auto. that will grenade after very many miles behind 5 tons of weight.

Give me a break... I've never had a Toyota in my driveway, and that new Tundra won't change that. You guys who still think Toyota = quality are all victims of the wonderful PR department they have had over the years.

 

The build quality on my 04 f150 varies. The panels line up pretty well, but the gaps are wide. The paint on the hood and doors is good, but the orange peel on the bed and roof makes it look like it has a textured finish. The rear Scab door has a small dent under the window that is Very noticable when you look down the side of the truck. And the clear coat has runs and drips near the sunroof. I have a trusted contact at the dealership and that person tells me that there was no shipping or storage damage done to my truck. How I see it is how it came off the line. It is bad enough that I almost had the dealership body department work on it, but thought better of it. If those monkeys get to it I'm sure it will look a 100 times worse. Instead I just show it off as one of those Perfectly Produced, no errors whatsoever, Ford Quality Products.

 

I don’t know anything about how the ’07 Tundra going to be like, but we do have two Tundra at work an ’04 and an ’05. The ’05 is supposed to be my new company truck, but I’ve refused to move into it. I have driven it a few times when my current company vehicle a ’99 F150 has been in the shop. It’s a good truck well built and seems pretty solid. The door seals are so tight that it’s hard to shut the doors. You’ve really got pull hard on them. I’ve noticed this about a lot of Toyotas for some reason I guess they think you need an air tight cab. Except for that it feels smaller there really isn’t anything else bad I can say about it. The Ford was never that tight even brand new but having tight seams and body panels does not prove a truck great. How it performs over the long run is what proves it to be a good truck. I'm sure that after the first year cruising construction sights and getting bumped around the Toyota won't be as tight anymore or pretty my Ford sure isn't. I love my (their) F150 though and don’t really won’t to switch out of it. I just guess I’m annoyed that this is the first time they did not give me my choice of vehicles they bought one and said here. Oh well, the fuel pump is going out on the Ford so as soon as it does I’m moving into the Toyota.

 

WX Boy- I couldn't agree more. All this talk about where Japanese cars/trucks are assembled is a smoke screen. Where are they designed? Guess what, the Japanese engineers are in JAPAN, the Ford, GM, and yes, even DCX engineers are in AMERICA. Yes, the Japanese have moved the lower paying, blue collar, workforce to America in some cases. But, the high paying, white collar, jobs are still where??? IN JAPAN. The Japanese manufacturers are not assembling their cars here because they are so altruistic, but because it's CHEAPER then shipping them in from overseas. End of story, they are in it to maximize profits, not employee Americans. That's just a byproduct of lowering the cost of goods sold. I have not, nor will I ever purchase an imported automobile.

 

Why does always turn every thread in this forum into a buy American rant. What do you mean by buy American? American owned our American made? What so many people can’t seem to wrap their mind around is the fact the just because a company was started in merica. The same is true for the foreign companies. Ford is a global company now they have no loyalty to <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com[img] /><st1:country-region w:st=[/img]America</st1:country-region> doesn’t mean they stayed in A<st1:country-region w:st=" /><st1:country-region w:st="on">America</st1:country-region> or any country just their share holders. The rest of the automakers are exactly the same. I would rather by an American made product be it Ford or <st1:City w:st="on">Toyota</st1:City> than buy a product made in another country by an American owned company. Yes I understand that a very small percentage of the income from the sale of that product will find its way back to some foreign soil, but a large chunk stays here in <st1:country-region w:st="on">America</st1:country-region>. As for <st1:City w:st="on">Toyota</st1:City> and their new US truck division guess where the design and engineering studio is at? If you said <st1:country-region w:st="on">Japan</st1:country-region> you would be wrong it’s in <st1:City w:st="on">Ann Arbor</st1:City> <st1:State w:st="on">Michigan</st1:State>. The project manager is an American who had been working for Chrysler the director also you guessed it American. <st1:City w:st="on">Toyota</st1:City> also has other research centers in <st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State>, <st1:State w:st="on">Arizona</st1:State>, and <st1:State w:st="on">Massachusetts</st1:State>. The other “foreign” automakers are doing the same thing. They do have high paying white collar jobs here in the <st1:country-region w:st="on">USA.</st1:country-region> Look at it this way you buy a Ford car made in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Mexico</st1:country-region> you’re supporting 200,000 Mexicans and a handful of American suits. You buy a <st1:City w:st="on">Toyota</st1:City> car made in the <st1:country-region w:st="on">USA</st1:country-region> and you’re supporting 200,000 Americans and a handful of Japanese suits. According to most people babbling the buy American line we should be supporting Mexican economy and the handful of American suits.

 

"Look at it this way you buy a Ford car made in Mexico you’re supporting 200,000 Mexicans and a handful of American suits. You buy a Toyota car made in the USA and you’re supporting 200,000 Americans and a handful of Japanese suits. According to most people babbling the buy American line we should be supporting Mexican economy and the handful of American suits."

Batgeek, this is the only part of your comment I disagree with. The people who really benefit from a company are its owners.

 

I agree owners and shareholders benifit from the profits, but you have to ask how where those profits earned. Where they earned at the expense of the American worker or off the sweat of the American worker. If your and American worker working for a foriegn company your benifit is having a job and a steady pay check. For a lot of people many people thats a lot. I don't know how many people are aware of this but after Ford announced they would be laying people off in much less public announcement said they would be increasing the number of employees at one of their Mexican factories by 2000. Thats nearly doubling the man power at that one assembly plant. That is a prime example a company increasing it's profits at the expense of the American worker. Also in my last post I did exagerate the number of Toyota employees in the US. As of the last shareholders report Toyota employes only 260,000 world wide and 37,000 of those are in the US.

 

Batgeek- General Motors estimates that for every 100 cars sold, 23 Americans have jobs. The Japanese support less than half that number per 100 cars sold. Factor that in the next time you buy a Toyota. And, it's not a buy American rant, I am an American, why should I have to justify buying American. If I was Japanese, I'd buy a Japanese car. Fiddle with the figures all you want, talk about globalism, or anything else you want, but the fact is that this country, your country, is better off when you buy American whenever you can.

 

I'm all for buying American that is American made. I don't care where the company's headquarters is at. Just like if I was one of the workers who just got laid off by Ford and GM and Toyota came up and said they would hire me on right away I would not turn it down. I've got a family to feed and if the American company I was working for was to concerned with profit to employ me so be it I'd work for Toyota. What people fail to see is that Ford and GM are closing down factories in America and opening factories elsewhere because it's cheaper for them not because sells are down. If sells were down they would not be adding jobs in Mexico in cutting jobs here. If you want to continue to support the owners, shareholders, and CEOs of heartless American owned companies keep basing your buying on who owns the company and not where the product is made. I have always bought Fords and one Chevy "everybody messes up", but if I was out shopping for a new truck and saw a Ford with a assembled in Mexico or Canada on the sticker it would be staying on the lot. Bill Ford needs a new suit, but I'm not going to pay for it if he's laying off Americans so his bottom line looks good at the next shareholders meeting. Who here believes that to be competive in America against Toyota and the rest American automakers need to move their factories to Mexico and Canada? What I'm saying is these guys do not care about American workers none of them domestic or foriegn car makers. I do and will buy any product that is MADE in America regardless of who owns the company. When I see the made in America on that sticker I know that Americans are be employed because of my purchase. If it says made in Mexico by an American company I fail to see how I'm helping Americans to stay employed by purchasing that. BUY AMERICAN MADE!

 

Batgeek...you're WAY off. I bet you work for a union don't you? "The executives are out to get everybody!" Seems to be your mind set. The lay offs are due to the unions, healthcare, unfair trade practicing, etc etc...it's not to pad the wallet of the higher ups. Get a hold of yourself.