is there still 'import' drama?

I'm so sorry for your loss

 

It indeed sucked. Great food though.

 

I buy whatever I want made where ever unless it is made in China, I will look for an alternative to things made in China whenever possible or practical.

 

Actually, I think "hick influence" has a further reach than a lowly 15 mile radius.

 

When the guy at the stop light starts making my payments he can have an opinion on what I drive. Until then he can

 

My 2017 Sport final assembly was Baja.

My 2021 Sport manual final assembly was

Guanajuato, Mexico at a brand new (2019) plant that cost 700 million to build. Not really concerned.
https://www.automotivelogistics.med...ports-of-tacoma-from-guanajuato/40116.article

I laugh every time someone says buy American vehicles. Most aren’t 100% built in the US. All the of the major foreign car dealers Toyota, Honda, Nissan, etc who sell vehicles has a American truck driver drop at the dealer. The salesman at the dealer are Americans. The service writer, techs, parts room and porters are all Americans working to pay bills. The “The Finance Guy”, he’s the devil!!!! The owner of the dealership who pays a boat load of taxes in their city, county, state, and in federal tax is supporting 50-100 Americans. That’s supporting American families.

 

was the same deal with my mitsubishi eclipse. built in illinois, with UAW workers, on the same line as the dodge stratus...

my 'best' story:
had the top down, was having a good time quietly listening to music while cruising around town after a great day of visiting the factory for a Mitsubishi Owners Day event with a whole ton of giveaways, and a factory tour. stopped at a red light, some old man pulls up next to me in a 10 year old taurus, and shouts "hey! how do you like that shitty import?". i responded with "it drives really nice." he, apparently not liking that, proceeds to try to demean it further with more expletives, and why american jobs are going overseas. so now irritated that he interrupted my music and good time driving, i responded. "you know that this car is built on the same union line as the dodge stratus in illinois, and shares all parts except a few body panels right? i'll also have you know they were so happy i bought the car, they have an owners day event every year, which just so happened to be today. has ford ever cared enough to even send you a card to thank you for buying that base model taurus?"

we both left that stop light annoyed, but i bet he never bothered doing that again.

it's really just irritating to deal with.

just confidently ignorant people looking to start crap.

my cousin's another one of those. he gets really quiet anymore when i start to ask him "what does american-made even mean anymore?"

i'm still looking for someone that can explain how cars can be built with chopsticks...

it doesn't, but it's just really irritating to deal with. i like driving with the windows down, which sometimes seems to invite others to talk to me for unknown reasons.

it really just leaves me in a bad mood for a while..

i remember that article. i believe it was jalopnik, and it talked about how it was specifically an american thing, but likely contributed to a lack of vehicle quality improvement in american vehicles due to something like an 'echo chamber' effect where no one was aware of how any other brands better solved some of the same issues.

my favorite example is window switches. american brands for the longest time ran rocker switches until people started getting their appendages caught in the windows, and in a moment of panic would blindly jamb their fists into the switches, in some cases accidentally attempting to force the window further up instead of releasing it. japanese brands always ran a variation of a 'pull for up, push down for down' button. it wasn't until it became federally mandated around 2004 that american brands changed course and used the same style switches.

i still can't understand that given the global-ness of supply chains. there's no reason that the midwest gets great anything in food, and that same food can't be had anywhere else..

 

Pretty much.

 

Just smile and imagine them divesting of all foreign-made products in their life.

 

Trade between countries fosters common interests and leads to less global conflicts. We’ve been trading between nations since the beginning of time. Even before Marco Polo and the Spice Trade, First Nations in North America had trade routes spanning the continent. It’s how humanity works.

It’s when people start thinking like protectionists, that they start stepping outside what is normal human behaviour that has been going on for 1000’s of years.

Normal human behaviour:

‘Hey you over there! Do you wanna trade me some of that stuff for some of this stuff? OK cool.’

Abnormal human behaviour:

‘You are only allowed to have the stuff we make ourselves. All other stuff is banned.’

 

No shit man! Stop lights are where you size up the other drivers, and possibly give the stink eye.