Toyota and The American Auto Worker
Jason Lancaster | Dec 22, 2008 | Comments 6
If you’re a patriotic American and you drive a Toyota, you know first-hand the number of people that attempt to draw a distinction between “being a true patriot” and “driving a foreign car.” With the Tundra, the loyalties of Ford, Dodge, and GM owners are especially pronounced. It’s quite common to speak with someone who owns or drives a domestic brand and here a comment – whether a simple tease or an out-right insult – about the lineage of the Tundra.
To anyone who doubts the “American” credentials of the Tundra, or Toyota in general, we point to the following:
- We live in a global economy – deal with it. The shirt you’re wearing, the computer you’re using, and the bananas you had on your corn flakes likely came from somewhere outside the U.S., so what’s the big deal? The opportunity to buy goods solely produced in America passed a long time ago.
- Domestic branded trucks come with a substantial portion of foreign-made parts. See the 2007 and 2008 results of the “most American truck” studies done by Cars.com. The Tundra was more American than the Ram both years and the GM trucks this year.
- Toyota employs about 36,000 American auto workers, and indirectly supports hundreds of thousands of related American jobs. Supplier employees, service workers helping Toyota employees, etc. Some studies say there are 150k related jobs from US Toyota plants alone.
- The American value of “getting the best product for the best dollar” shouldn’t be set aside to support inefficient and unprofitable domestic automakers.
If you still doubt us, read this story about 8 US states that depend on foreign automakers for jobs.
Any questions?
Filed Under: Auto News
AMEN! Couldn’t have said it any better, especially point #4.
Great view Jason. You can add electronics to that list. It’s a last ditch effort to try an push us away from our Tundras. Everytime I hear it just adds to to my thinking they’re afraid of Toyota.
I pretty much made the same comments on a few youtube videos, where people say “buy American”, and the only replies that i got was that I was an “idiot” and that buying other things such as electronics, atv’s, motorcycle’s and anything else under the sun doesnt count, just Toyota. These kinds of people are the “idiots” if you ask me and hypocritical too.
Mike – Good point – thanks for commenting. Mickey, TXTee, thank you. I’m going to submit this story to a few social news sites after the holidays and see if I can get a fire started!
I can’t wait for the follow up. I’m ready to respond now that I found out one of the local Chevy conglomerates in the Houston area had to shut down after filing bankruptcy the other day. Where did their thousands of employees relocate? Hmmm well one of their 15 year veterans is now working in Toyota’s service department. How American is that when you have to run to the bank to cash your check before it bounces and end up being taken under the wing of this sooooo un-American brand? The nerve!
TXTee we had a pontiac/gmc dealer close up here…. Funny so funny. How Un-American….