Depends upon which Ford product you're buying. If you're buying a Ford vehicle made in the USA then yes you are helping Americans stay employed by Ford. If you're purchasing a Ford vehicle made in Canada or Mexico you are not. Then again it may not even matter if you buy a Ford made in the USA. Ford still may decide that it cost to much to build them here and close down the plant and move elsewhere despite how well sales may be. For them it is simply a business decision it's all about money. The best thing we can do for all Americans is only buy products made here in the USA. Be it made by Ford, GM, or even Toyota and let the auto manufactures know that this plays a major part in which car we will buy. That way not only will Ford continue to produce vehicles here it will encourage the other companies to invest money here and stay here. I really don't care where they come from if they are investing money here and helping out our economy it's fine with me. That's how you create a strong economy give them a reason to be here. What would happen if Ford, GM, and DC decided that since we don't seem to care where their cars are made we would still considering them American and buy them moved all there manufacturing out of the country to save money, opps I'm sorry they're already doing that.

 

The new automakers in the US are responsible for about a half of a million jobs when you include suppliers. GM and Ford cutting 50-60K in workers is only about 12% of what others have created. Overall our US job force is still quite a bit stronger. One could feel bad for Ford and GM to have to restructure but overall we should be happy for positive growth.

 

Its not so black and white though. Just because the vehicle is built in US, Canada, or Mexico, doesn't mean the parts are not manufactured at any of these places.

Buy a Canadian built windstar, there are a heap of parts that were shipped form the US that were put into the van. Even though the van was assembled in Canada.

Buy a US built Crown Victoria, doesn't mean that half the engine wasn't casted and milled in Canada.. Canada's biggest export is automotive parts. The biggest customer of Canada's automotive parts is the US.


Some people call Canadian built vehicles not-domestic.. I really wouldn't go that far. The Canada-US automotive industry is pretty much married for life. Mexico on the other hand, I think there are just mainly more assembly plants down there while pretty much most of the parts are shipped in from US/Can.

I wonder how many vehicles assembled in Mexico are sent here for sale? from all the Carfax threads I have read on other msg boards I really cant say I have seen a domestic vehicle that had Mexico as its birth country. I wonder if most vehicles assembled in Mexico either stay there or get exported to other countries like Africa or South america etc...

From working in Detroit/Windsor Auto industry for many years, its neat to see where all the parts come from and are being sent to.

Some people argue that Import contain a higher amount of domestic made parts and Domestic cars contain a lower amount. IMO thats BS because a car is built from about 50% important parts and 50% unimportant parts. Half the car is engine, axles, transmission, steering column, front and rear differntials etc etc.. while the other half are things like plastic panels, seats, interior cloth and carpet, rubber mouldings etc.

I find the % of domestic parts very misleading because from my experience, Import vehicles built in the US have alot of US made unimportant parts like all the BS cloth and rubber mouldings etc while most of there drivetrain and important parts are STILL imported via boat over here and put in the vehicles. In Domestic cars all the important stuff is 99% casted and crafted in the US but nearly every other cheap part is made in china and korea etc like he cloth headliners, interior switches, mouldings etc.

 

Yes it does get confusing. If you go to the link I posted before it lists out all of the Ford factories and also list a Vin code by the one that export to the US or UK. That gives you pretty good idea where your vehicle is being assembled as for where all the parts are coming from that where it starts getting confusing. Several weeks ago there was a story in the google news on how Chine was hurting the Mexican auto parts industry. The story was mainly about wiring harnesses that were being made in Mexico until tha automakers found they could get them even cheaper from China, Ford was one of those automakers. So there you have parts from China being assembled together in Mexico with other parts from Canada, Mexico, USA, and who knows where into cars that will be shipped to the USA or the UK in the case of the LaVille plant. A truely international automobile. Thats why I hold my head whenever somebody goes off about buying American and says that only Ford and GM are American cars regardless of where they are assembled and Toyotas and the rest are Japanese no matter if they are designed, engineered, and built here. Do they really have any idea how the world works in this century? But hey, this is a Ford site and I'm going to say buy Ford if you can buy an American made or at least assembled Ford and if you really feel you need to buy some other brand buy something assembled in the USA. Help out your fellow American working man or woman.

 

LMAO, That's because it is. There is no difference supporting Canada over any other country. They're all foreign countries and they employ foreign people instead of US workers. The fact still remains that some cars are built here in the US that support US workers and some aren't. We can't just make up a new rule saying Canadian workers earning money is the same as US workers. Married or not it's still work that we aren't doing.

 

Calling Canadian vehicles "domestic" and Mexican "import" may be a bit of a stretch. I mean, just because we out-sourced to Canada a couple of decades before Mexico does not move the boarder. And while I like steel parts, I still consider those plastic bits like steering wheels, seats, wireing harnesses (I know, some alu. and co., but work with me) to be essential.

We don't seem to care about Canadian outsourcing nearly as much as Mexican outsourcing. Slippery slope.

-m

ps. Just ran into a GM dealer for parts. Looked at a new Tahoe on the floor. Door had a sticker which read "Made in Texas By Texans" - It might even have said "proud Texans" - I don't remember. But either way, I thought it was interesting. And while I have said plenty of harsh things about GM and I am not from Texas... I must admit, the new Tahoe has a really really nice interior and it is very clean under the hood- neat, well plumbed. Some paint / finish flaws on the inside top of 3 door frames, but otherwise pretty goood finish. And unlike the sloppy Duramax, here everything electrical is wrapped, protected, and held fast. GM appears to be working hard on makeing a better product. And there was enough room to actually work on that small block- Amazing for a modern vehicle...

And no, before the hate mail begins, I am not saying that it is better or worse than any Ford product. I am simply saying that it is much improved from any other GM vehicle I have looked at closely in the past.



-Mike

 

Nothing last forever. That's a sad thing to say, and a good thing to say.