Poll For Increased North American Content

[airforceguy6]

Middle sized trucks are making a comeback, and years down the road I hope to replace my Silverado with a diesel Colorado or Canyon. The Ranger is still in production out here in Europe and looks pretty damn good too. Even VW has a truck out here named the Amarok, that looks like it would do well back in the states.

 

[Coss]

That VW PU looks just like the New Chevy/GMC little truck, the Colorado and I not know what they call the GMC
Who builds it for them?

 

[Coss]

I just want the da#n car, bike, auto cycle! You guys have been great to keep this going, but I am now going with whomever comes out first (not the Solo). I don't really care for an electric but 200 miles from the Sondors will be good enough for mileage at my age. Plus I like the look. If Sondors can't deliver then I will pray for the miracle that it will take to get Elios built.

Yup, you and me and all the other people that put in the full down payment; but bitching about it isn't going to get it built.
To be honest, I have no idea what it will take at this time; so I have to do just like everyone else and patiently wait.

 

[airforceguy6]

That VW PU looks just like the New Chevy/GMC little truck, the Colorado and I not know what they call the GMC
Who builds it for them?

The GMC's version is the Canyon. I like the Chevy/GMC options, but I wish they would refine the interior a bit.

The VW is built by the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles division, and built in German/Argentina/Algeria. And they offer a 3.0 V6 Diesel option

 

[Ty]

Cinco de Mayo! They were having a special on Patron margarita's at the local pub!

Cinco de Mayo... Mexican celebration commiserating the loss of an entire shipment of mayonnaise that was coming over on the Titanic...

 

[NSTG8R]

Cinco de Mayo... Mexican celebration commiserating the loss of an entire shipment of mayonnaise that was coming over on the Titanic...

Good one!

 

[Lil4X]

Some weird stories are coming out of US manufacturers working out of Mexico that may shed a little light on their situation:

A meeting with a local high-volume Chrysler dealer in 2004 revealed that while the Dodge Neon was manufactured in the US, the virtually identical PT Cruiser was manufactured in Mexico. Guess which one had a whole flock of ongoing service problems. Wrong, it was the Neon! Mexico's PT Cruiser, built on an identical platform, was hardly ever seen in US Chrysler shops. Once sold, they never came back for service, evidently being about as reliable as a hammer. The Neon however, was another matter. They flooded the MoPar shops and while they should have made money, practically all of it was warranty work. The dealers claimed that the US-manufactured vehicles were poorly made. Well, that's a switch.

A few years later Chrysler moved the Neon product down to Mexico for assembly - primarily because US highway safety regs had tightened up and they could no longer manufacture the Neon at a saleable price for their growing world market. So that resulted in TWO parallel assembly lines in the Mexican plant; one for US spec cars, with airbags, anti-locks, stability control, engine management, and a few dozen small features required in the US that figured into both environmental regulations and CAFE standards. The result was a US-spec car that was wholesale priced at nearly $4K over the market for Latin America - while an otherwise identical south-of-the-border car was a lot cheaper thanks to de-contenting, it couldn't be imported to the US.

 

[Coss]

Some weird stories are coming out of US manufacturers working out of Mexico that may shed a little light on their situation:

A meeting with a local high-volume Chrysler dealer in 2004 revealed that while the Dodge Neon was manufactured in the US, the virtually identical PT Cruiser was manufactured in Mexico. Guess which one had a whole flock of ongoing service problems. Wrong, it was the Neon! Mexico's PT Cruiser, built on an identical platform, was hardly ever seen in US Chrysler shops. Once sold, they never came back for service, evidently being about as reliable as a hammer. The Neon however, was another matter. They flooded the MoPar shops and while they should have made money, practically all of it was warranty work. The dealers claimed that the US-manufactured vehicles were poorly made. Well, that's a switch.

A few years later Chrysler moved the Neon product down to Mexico for assembly - primarily because US highway safety regs had tightened up and they could no longer manufacture the Neon at a saleable price for their growing world market. So that resulted in TWO parallel assembly lines in the Mexican plant; one for US spec cars, with airbags, anti-locks, stability control, engine management, and a few dozen small features required in the US that figured into both environmental regulations and CAFE standards. The result was a US-spec car that was wholesale priced at nearly $4K over the market for Latin America - while an otherwise identical south-of-the-border car was a lot cheaper thanks to de-contenting, it couldn't be imported to the US.

How old is that story?

 

[Lil4X]

^^ That's a two-parter. The first part about the problems Chrysler was having with the domestic Neon's warranty work began in about 2004 and continued almost to the end of the US model run in Belvidere, Illinois. Thereafter when production was moved to Saltillo, Mexico for the final years of production, to be replaced by the PT Cruiser (that finally ceased production in mid-2010). For a time, the Neon was supposedly assembled on two separate lines - one for the US-spec car, the other for Mexico and Latin America that eliminated most of the US-required safety and environmental equipment so it could be sold at a competitive price.