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elcopone's  Instablog

Auto industry professional by day, equity trader well, by day too. Extensive education and experience in economics, finance and marketing. And no, I have no blog or company that exposes my bias. Just good old fashioned opinions and insights.
  • Toyota Camry: The Most American Car in America 1 comment
    Jun 30, 2009 02:19 PM | about stocks: TM, GMGMQ.PK

    It's pretty amazing that on a day when GM is in bankruptcy court and opting out of a shared factory with Toyota, the Toyota Camry topped Cars.com American Made Index.  You hear a lot of “buy American” talk coming from the Detroit 3 in recent years.  Ford has pitched ad campaigns with lines like “American Innovation” and is the title sponsor on the TV hit American Idol. GM has pitched “An American Revolution” and the “This is Our Country” song relentlessly in their bid to win back market share. These advertising strategies have obviously not worked for some time now. In general, it’s pretty sad when the best selling point on your $30,000 product is where it’s built.

    So now that (gasp) an Asian vehicle is the most “American” car in America, will the two largest shareholders of GM (UAW and the White House), be willing to abandon that old “buy American” branding strategy? My guess is no. The reality is the UAW is a monopoly and they don’t want anyone breaking that up. They have to keep selling the “American” story to stay in business.
     
    Sure, you can argue the usual UAW talking points… “But, the profits go overseas” Actually, last time I checked you can buy shares of Toyota on the NYSE. Or “They don’t design the vehicles here.” Well, they actually do design, test, market and sell the Camry here. But those arguments are deemed false by any rational person. The lines of what is and isn’t an American company have been blurred for some time now.  Is an American company that outsources tech jobs to India or moves its headquarters to the Caribbean to avoid paying taxes less American? 
     
    If you believe in Capitalism, then the best products get bought and the inferior products don’t. It’s that simple. I’m all for buying American, when it makes sense. To me, the sense in a Camry seems like an American win-win all around.
     
    Disclosure: Long TM
    Themes: Transportation, Auto Stocks: TM, GMGMQ.PK
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This post has 1 comment:

  •  
    Thats all well and good. What cars.com, motor trend, FOX, NBC, CBS, ABC or any other media source that Toyota advertises with won't tell you is that very plant where the Camry was made was built by a contractor from Japan, using steel from Japan, while the people (the state) of KY paid for it, by the way the money that this "American Company" gets from the state of KY for each job they provide in that state is nice too. FYI: I drive a Ford F-150 that was built in Norfolk, VA. The cost of living is higher, Ford pays VA taxes, and the plant was built by Americans using American materials.
    Jul 03 01:21 AM | Link | Reply
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