IMPORT BLUES

seems everyday, here in car jaded detroit michigan, if you read our liberal, left wing ramblings, called daily papers, in the letters to the editors, there are the usual responses, about buying domestic cars and all our woes will be gone. of course, if you read further into each and every letter written, in to the paper, or the columnists as well, the common enemy, for them at least, is the japanese auto industry, ie; Toyota.
now, funny as it may seem, european car companies, are rarely, if ever, included in these rants. what is even funnier, when some of these so called letters of compassion are written, they still, to this day, include references of world war 2, which by far, most of the people who remember that war, are pretty much over it in one way or another. if that theory was to hold any water, if i remember my history faily well, germany of all countries, was pretty much the leader of the whole ball of wax, with japan, coming in at a close second, and italy right there in third. and we won't even mention any french stuff...
i have owned japanese, german, italian and american cars. all have their quirks and pluses, that inherently make them what they are, or what gives them the color or flavor, that makes them what they are. most car buyers, a car is just means of transportation, some may have a preferance to a make or country, but most are based on payments, overall cost and what one expects of the overall ownership experience, not who started or won the war, or whose government supports one over another. why we have such bias that stays with us to this day, is plain ignorance, a type of ignorance like any type of bias towards a race, creed or sex; we buy for what ever reason pleases our own selves, not for the reason some liberal, biased publication deems noteworthy. granted, we are the domestic car capital; in paper form only, more of our "domestic" cars and trucks are made in Canada, or Mexico anyway; are those jobs helping us here in Detroit? no. companies are answerable to their stock holders, those same shareholders want profits, from companies that need to keep their costs in line, and to meet the needs of the marketplace.
what did the japanese do wrong? was it the war? no, it was their business model. they built good, solid cars that supply the wants and needs of the marketplace. they took our production models and built upon them and improved on them to suit their needs as a company. how was that wrong? it was wrong in our business leaders eyes, when what we saw was unfair trade laws and price manipulations; but that was too late, the cow got out the barn yard, and closing the gate now is a waste of time.
the nay-say that our cars are shut out of the european or japanese marketplaces is another attempt at lame excuses; for those of us who have driven overseas, or even seen or read about the roads and driving conditions overseas, understands, most of our cars and trucks, designed for here, are by and far too large and inpractical for roads and tax laws by and far for those countries. most people overseas love our cars, and most things american, just as we enjoy their products, but when even a chevy colbalt or ford fusion are considered large by their standards, in size and our smallest engine in these cars, under-performs most of the marketplace cars they would go up against in the host countries. in most european countries, the diesel, is the motor of choice, and here again, we lag far behind in those technologies. once again, our own companies, here in our own country, are now starting to import those same cars and designs, as "world platforms" and becoming more viable in the whole world marketplace, even if some of the cars, seem a bit small for our tastes, they are starting to grow on us and with fuel prices all over the map, are even more so, making sense.
import? i don't think so; i think what we call imports, is starting to blur, some cars will always be designed for a certain marketplace, but by and large, i feel, the world is our marketplace, and as long as we are free to buy what we please, nothing is sacred cow, no longer