According to the "Raw Data" column in Playboy's September '06 issue (yeah, I DO read the articles), 65% of a Mustang's components come from the U.S. or Canada; 90% of a Toyota Sienna's components come from the same region.

Steve

 

Yeah but the Mustang is 100% American while the Sienna is not.

 

Playboy has articles?

 

as i said before and will say again, it doesn't matter who or what makes it, the lead company involved is what matters.

and i will give you this always good example of my wife's country of kyrgyzstan, %100 of the gold is taken out of it by a canandian company, but what do the locals get for it? nothing, zilch, just barley livable wages and thats that.

so in effect, yes, all the gold is local made, but the company behind it isn't.

 

Aaron -

Yeah, it took me years to realize that!

Steve

 

BAHAHAHA..............not too good with the math are we?

 

bf250, it's not really fair to try to compare two very different industries like mining and auto manufacturing. I agree that mining operations and companies do very little to reinvest any of the profits back into the mine or the country that they are operating in.The auto industry does invest alot of money back in. The "foriegn" companies for the past few years have been reinvesting alot of money back into the USA. This does more than just add factory jobs. This also adds jobs in construction, manufacturing, and many more to build the new factories. They are also using more and more American made parts which in addition to adding even more jobs at the companies they are buying these parts from it also adds more jobs in trucking to move thes parts back and forth. Most people don't think about the big picture they don't see past the jobs at the assembly plant once it's built. The companies like Toyota are creating alot of jobs here in the USA while many of our domestics are eliminating them. Others would argue that all the profits go back to some guy named Mr. Toyota in Japan. Well there is no Mr. Toyota and the profits whats not reinvested here is distributed to investors and corporate CEOs. Some of these CEO's are Americans working at the Toyota Motor Corp. of America in America and one small investor that I know is my uncle who is retired US Army living in Georgia. Face it people the old stereotypes are gone.

 

90% of the "American" workers building the TaYaDa's parts are illegal aliens.

 

okst1 -

You have data to back up that statement?

Steve

 

Sure I do. Let me pull them from the INS website.

I do have a brain and can see that the majority of people working in low tech industries such as non drivetrain auto parts plants are illegals. Also goes for the construction industry. 90% of the people building the TaYaDa plant in San Antonio are illegals. Great source of cheap labor so that they can proudly say "made in America".

Check out the construction projects in your state of Arizona-mostly illegals.

 

Here we go again...........don't buy furrin' ...the Japanese and Germans kilt old grandad.

But now we have a new twist; Illegal immigrants!!!

Me gets popcorn and waits for all the intelligent replies!!!

 

Number of part does not mean anything today. What if Sienna just gets an engine, trany, suspension and few other parts that make more than 95% of parts cost from Japan. And yes they get 3, 000 different screws from US...

 

okst1 -

The article I quoted talks about "components" for the Mustang and Sienna and doesn't mention whether they're non drivetrain auto parts; not sure how you made the jump to Toyota's Tundra plant in San Antone. The article also doesn't give a breakdown of the 65%/90% between the U.S. and Canada; can you also "see" the illegals in Canada?

Unlike you, I haven't checked the construction projects in AZ so can't confirm the workers are mostly illegals. Besides, according to what I've read (and the news is NEVER wrong), most of the illegal construction workers are in New Orleans.

Steve

 

If you have proof they are using illegal aliens you should call you local office of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. You won't find many illegals on commercial or industrial (factories) construction sites as ICE agents have been known to show up on these often especially in the border States and Florida. If you want to find illegals working construction check out the residential construction (homes) sites. As for working at auto parts plants here in the US this is the first I've heard of it. You can get into alot of trouble for knowingly employing illegal aliens. If Toyota were smart they would move their factories to Mexico like Ford, Dodge, and Chevy so they can take advantage of the cheap labor, weak environmental laws, maximize their profits, and not have to worry about the legal problems with hiring illegal aliens. That's Toyota for you always a few years behind our domestic automakers.

 

DOHC, you can KMA.

Steina, my only point is that just because Toyota is building a car made in the US, it doesn't mean that it is being made from parts made by Americans. If you think they are and it makes you feel better. Fine.