Buying American

[cougar21300]

Thank you for the link.



When are you going to sell your Japanese made Kubota's and buy an American brand of tractor?

Much of the Kubota line is already USA made in the current Jefferson Georgia facility, and an even larger portion will be manufactured here by January 2013. They are currently in the process of adding another 400,000+ square feet to the existing plant. Here is a quote about the current facility taken from their website;

Kubota Manufacturing of America
Headquarters: Gainesville, Georgia, U.S.A.

Kubota Manufacturing of America (KMA) was formed in 1988 as Kubotaç—´ North American manufacturing base. KMA manufactures and assembles Kubota lawn tractors, zero-turn mowers, sub-compact tractors, utility vehicles, loaders, backhoes and other implements. The company employs 1200 workers. Two master buildings offer 616,000 square feet of manufacturing space. Today, over one-third of all Kubota branded equipment sold in the United States is manufactured or assembled at its 151-acre Gainesville, Georgia facility.
And just to save some space, here is a link to the announcement about the upcoming plant; Kubota Tractor Corporation - News Release | Kubota Announces Plans for New Plant in Georgia

 

[mjncad]

I live about 20 minutes from the Honda plant in Marysville. I know plenty of people who work there. They claim their cars are American made. I say they are foreign cars made by Americans. I would never, never, never not even consider buying one. For the folling reasons.
1) I'm a PROUD American.
2) They don't even look good to me.
3) they couldn't even come close to the reliability of my American vehicles.

How would you know since you haven't owned a Honda Accord. The best and most reliable car I've ever owned was a 1995 Honda Accord coupe I sold to a friend last year. The worst vehicle I've ever owned was a 1983 Chevy S-10 pickup that I bought because it was American. I should have bought a Toyota back then.

I've had several Chrysler Town & Country's with 350,000 miles and only minimal replacement parts. I have had several Chevy and GMC trucks with 200,000-400,000 miles.
4) see # 1

I'm also not saying foreign made is always junk. Most goods made in Germany is well engineered and so is Japan. It's mostly made in china that's a pile of crap. I do like chinese take-out though! If I were Japanese I would be proud to drive a Toyota, I guess.

Honda's are Japanese and American engineered by the way.

I own a 1999 F-250 Super Duty, and I like it very much; but if Toyota or Nissan made a F-250/F-350 equivalent truck, I would give it serious consideration. The biggest thing I dislike about the F-250 are the HVAC controls. The best HVAC controls were in the 1995 Accord.

Food is about the only thing that China hasn't managed to screw up. As for anything else made in China, I avoid it at all costs, with varying degrees of success.

Are you sure about the food? I hear dog and melamine are popular ingredients. :laughing:

Much of the Kubota line is already USA made in the current Jefferson Georgia facility, and an even larger portion will be manufactured here by January 2013.

My comment on Kubota's was in response to 5030's similar illogic like SD59's when he (5030) was bashing me for owning Japanese brand vehicles; while he was a PROUD American who owned nothing but American branded vehicles.

I own a Deere with a Japanese Yanmar engine because there are plenty of Deere dealers here; the Kubota dealers are either inconvenient or are owned by dicks. Plus I can't stand the Kubota heel/toe treadle.

 

[MasseyWV]

Are you sure about the food? I hear dog and melamine are popular ingredients.

It was meant to be a joke, though I do occasionally like Chinese food. However, I don't really trust anything that comes from China for the very reasons you mentioned. But we all know that everyone just loves the smell of fresh melamine in the morning.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I agree. I have had one Dodge and 4 GM's. The Dodge and 2 of the GM's were pure junk. When I say junk I am talking junk. Failing paint, blown motors, tranny failures, transfer case failures, major component failures, ect.

I have had good service out of the 3 Ford Diesels I have owned and 6 F-150's along with stuff from Honda, BMW, Toyota, Nissan, ect.

Chris

 

[scoutcub]

Just saw the article about CAT building a new plant in the US.

What is it about Georgia? Great business incentives? Cheap land? Tax breaks?

CAT is building their new plant there, and Kubota is expanding there.....several other equipment related business reside there as well.

 

[superduty59]

I've had very good luck with American made stuff. I have not had good luck with anything China made. I'm not really trying to down grade goods of other countries.

One thing I will point out as an American, nothing negative will come from buying American made. But keep buying non-American made and see who we owe a huge debt to!

Welcome to America!! Love and support it or leave it!!

 

[JimRB]

Just saw the article about CAT building a new plant in the US.

What is it about Georgia? Great business incentives? Cheap land? Tax breaks?

CAT is building their new plant there, and Kubota is expanding there.....several other equipment related business reside there as well.

I would have to guess land is affordable, the state is trying to lure new business, not a union state, ok highways, ports to the east coast to export across the ocean, rail service to the ports, generally not miseable weather in the winter, summers plenty hot though.

You also have BMW in SC. JD in Augusta, Kia in West Point on the west side of Georgia, General Mills in Covington. Lithonia Lighting aka Aquity Brands took their manufacturing off to Mexico years ago probably in search of even cheaper labor than Georgians. Probably other big international names in the south. Affordable labor is a good thing for a business. Lots of folks happy to be earning better than Walmart wages working in high tech manufacturing and sometime clean jobs. I am sure not all jobs are clean manufacturing cars or heavy equipment but robots make those jobs less hazardous than they were 50 years ago.

There is an airport that services international flights that some industries think is important. Not sure why as you can puddle jump from any big airport. I guess maybe you skip some adventure not having to puddle jump.

 

[JimRB]

I've had very good luck with American made stuff. I have not had good luck with anything China made. I'm not really trying to down grade goods of other countries.

One thing I will point out as an American, nothing negative will come from buying American made. But keep buying non-American made and see who we owe a huge debt to!

Welcome to America!! Love and support it or leave it!!

Where was that reliable computer you are using made? What about the TV you are watching? Personally I would like to get computers at least mostly made from US parts but that is not going to happen.

That said if I have a choice I will try to buy US made hand tools, forgoing the cheap Chineses tools. So when folks get all excited about Harbor Freight and TSC, I say they are getting happy about more Chinese stuff. Yes those stores sometimes have products made in the US, like feed, fence wire and gates, but lots of things are made in plants in communist Red China. I am not that old that I recall communism as a not so popular philosophy. Then again the Puritans tried socialism with not so great results. I am sure you have heard about that project. Mayflower Compact, The Puritans Experiment with Socialism Good News Tucson Magazine's Blog

 

[wrooster]

I live about 20 minutes from the Honda plant in Marysville. I know plenty of people who work there. They claim their cars are American made. I say they are foreign cars made by Americans. I would never, never, never not even consider buying one.

versus

This is just my opinions!! Everybody has their reasons for buying what they buy. I perfer American and to support my fellow American workers!!!

^^^ You should work on getting your story straight.

3) they couldn't even come close to the reliability of my American vehicles.

Actual verifiable fleet reliability statistics show otherwise.

I've had several Chrysler Town & Country's with 350,000 miles and only minimal replacement parts.

The Chrysler T&C has been manufactured in Canada and in the USA. Are you sure your "several" were all "American made"?

I have had several Chevy and GMC trucks with 200,000-400,000 miles.

Chevy and GMC trucks have been manufactured in Canada, Mexico, and in the USA. Are you sure your "several" were all "American made"?

Wrooster

 

[Redneck in training]

Quote:
Originally Posted by superduty59
3) they couldn't even come close to the reliability of my American vehicles.

Actual verifiable fleet reliability statistics show otherwise.

I also think that perceived reliability of foreign made cars is better than the actual reliability. Conversely perceived reliability of American cars is worse than the actual reliability.

We between me, my wife and children owned mixed spectrum of cars. Some US and some Japanese made.
We had GM conversion van that served us pretty well with only routine maintenance until about 250 k miles when accessories stared to fail.
We had three Buick Regals. Those were most reliable cars we ever owned. One died due to bad lifter at 247k. The second was given away to a brother of our daughter in law with way over 200k. Mice chewed some wires in the dash and peed in the radio, drivers window was flaky but otherwise there was nothing wrong with the car.
We had Subaru Outback that also made it to over 200K but by spending in average 100/month for some stuff during the last year or so of its ownership.
We had Honda Accord. It was cheap inside, rusted and had intermittent engine dying problem. The harness to the pizza box headlamps failed. I don't think it had 180K before we were happy to give it away.
We had Nissan Sentra. It had noisy transmission for about 80K before it self destructed. AC never worked. It died at about 160K.
Currently we have one newer Buick Regal, Kia Spectra and Ford Expedition.