Would you buy American if your boss gave you $1,000?

[RSS Robot]

Filed under: Car Buying, Chrysler, LLC., Ford, GM
Chet Czaplicka doesn't own one of the Big 3's suppliers or run a car dealership. Instead, he is the chief executive of a blood-processing firm in the Detroit suburb of Livonia, Michigan. But like most people in that part of the country, he has several autoworkers in his family. And, perhaps more importantly, he understands how extensively the overall US. economy is enmeshed with the production of automobiles.

"I live here. My business is here. My Ma draws a pension from Ford," Czaplicka says in a recent Detroit News article. "If these companies go down, I'm screwed."

But instead of just bitching about it, Czaplicka is doing something. He's offering each of his employees $1,000 if they'll buy a Ford, GM or Chrysler vehicle. He's looking at a $92,000 payout if every one of his workers take him up on the deal before it expires Jan. 5.

At least one of Czaplicka's company's employees has been inspired to go shopping for a Ford. The story says Sean Murtha is considering a new Ford Edge for his wife. "A thousand bucks, that's like three months of payments," says Murtha, who is with the company's Fort Lauderdale office. "We're a bit removed from the Detroit scene but it's nice we can contribute."

[Source: The Detroit News]Would you buy American if your boss gave you $1,000? originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 13 Dec 2008 18:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.


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[KULTULZ]

There is no AMERICAN. Everything is now GLOBAL. I would only buy new from the BIG 3 (I will never buy another new FORD product) if the quality warranted it.

If the BIG 3 fail, the resultant vacuum will be filled by other companies that have much better business acumen.

And don't misunderstand my position as I am a past union member (Teamsters).

[SandyBoy]

I have not & never will

purchase ANY foreign car!
In my 62 years I have owned

2 Pontiacs
2 Corvettes
2 Buicks
2 Cadillacs
5 Imperials
3 Dodges
2 Fords
1 Mercury
3 Lincolns
All bought brand new, and I had two (2) lemons, 2 outta
22 cars or 1 percent. (Both were the two Pontiacs.)

I support American Corporations. Sorry
That was one thing that I and Alexander
agreed 100% on !

[Dan Leavens]

To Chime In on this interesting topic. I would tend to agree with both of you guys but on a different slant. The BIG 3 as they are known have cornered the market for years but have NOT kept up with the business models of the global industry as a whole. The bailout must be passed ( in one form or another ) as the domino affect would be drastic. We need to support our own to keep the economy,jobs and aftermarket running smoothly. We in Canada, produce 1 in 5 cars in N. America under the auto pact US / Canada agreement signed back in the 60's. Can you imagine how many people / families would be affected when someone working for the company 30 years, has to go home and tell the wife/ husband they are out of work?? Having said that ALL companies have the directive in their business model to ensure that ALL employees have a job to come to moving forward in good and bad times. We ( in Canada ) are not imune to the downturn in the economy but are waiting patiently to see how your " bail out " will affect us. Now enough of the politics, let's get the economy rolling again.

Dano Calgary,Alberta Canada

[KULTULZ]

Can you imagine how many people / families would be affected when someone working for the company 30 years, has to go home and tell the wife/ husband they are out of work?? Having said that ALL companies have the directive in their business model to ensure that ALL employees have a job to come to moving forward in good and bad times.

We ( in Canada ) are not imune to the downturn in the economy but are waiting patiently to see how your " bail out " will affect us. Now enough of the politics, let's get the economy rolling again.

Dano Calgary,Alberta Canada

Losing one's livelihood is not a pleasant thing for anyone, but the fact of the matter is, the Federal government has no authotity under the Constitution to do what they have been doing, even though poor government policies for the most part has lead to most of this.

I drove tractor-trailers for twenty-years and I lost two good jobs due to deregulation. No one came to hold my hand.

The companies are going to have to go into Chapter Elevin and let the cards fall where they may. It is the capitalist way, not the socialist way. If market demand/credit returns, the companies will be back (FORD does not need or seek the help).

Of all of those so-called American cars you have bought, how much off-shore technology was in them?

AMERICAN is no more. It has been sold and given away by crooked/inept politicians. I would rather take the hit now than have my grand daughter take it years down the road.

_____________________________________________


Lee White, senior vice president and general manager of Toyota Racing and Development, said it's ''unnerving'' that Toyota has been cast as a foreign invader, even though it’s Camry is the only NASCAR Cup car built in the United States. The Ford Fusion is built in Mexico, and the Dodge Charger and Chevrolet Monte Carlo are built in Canada.

[KULTULZ]

purchase ANY foreign car!

I support American Corporations. Sorry

That was one thing that I and Alexander agreed 100% on !

Sandy,

I support American Corporations also, but the fact of the matter is they are no more, or the ones left are using illegal labor and off-shore materials.

What you are defending left these shores back in the eighties.

A present day FORD is not American sourced. It is either FORD of EUROPE or MAZDA.

[Anders]

Itīs a bit depressing to read this. As a Volvo employee I donīt want to go public with whatīs actually happends within Volvo at least, but thing are not at all as easy as some try to describe it. Cudos to KULTULZ to being a bit balanced.
In the end, if the Big 3 collapses, it will effect ALL others quicker than you can say run, as the whole industry is connected by the same sub-suppliers and system suppliers. If they loose the Big 3, they will not survive meaning the rest will loose there suppliers, meaning thay will also go under. Perhaps the Chineese will survive due to the fact they produce everything themself. Including the BMWīs, Fordīs, Volvos or whatever that is sold in China.
This is a catch 22 and I find it quite disturbing to see some is taking political points on this, as the effect will be purely more than massive. No matter if you are a republican, democrat, socialist, gay, strait, muslim, christian, car freak or playing Bingo on Tuesdays.
Apart from that, donīt any brand that have a factory withing USA counts as American?

[SandyBoy]

But....regardless where the ash tray was produced, or any other part, the corporation that the car belongs to, is an American corporation, and for the most part, employes Americans and the profits thereof, stay in America.

A Toyopet or a Honda or a Nissan or any others, quite probably employ Americans too, and maybe a few parts might be USA sourced, however, the majority of the profits go to a Japanese Corporation, or to the company that makes the car. The profits go to wherever T, H or N deed does the most good for their corporation and/or their homeland.

I turn sour on them years ago. T,H & N told dealers in America that IF IF IF they ordered more parts, than they were ordering, it would not take so long to get them. So, dealers began building or enlarging their serivce departments to hold more parts, which makes it faster for customers to get what they need, it also costs the dealer a whopping amount of more $$$$$. But, something like 75% did it! So Toyota did it, they bought property, and built a huge mega building to hold hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of new parts and hired ALOT of workers to staff it.
This is all good.....But......After alluding to building this structure, for its North American Dealer Body.....where did they build it ???

V
V
V
V
THEY BUILT IT IN CANADA AND HIRED CANADIANS !!

You mean to tell me in all 48 Continential states, they could not finda one place to build ?

No, we still DO have an American Car Industry and don't let anyone double talk you.
There profit stays in America by going to an American Based Corporation, and their names are
Cadillac, Buick, Pontiac, Chevrolet, Saturn, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Lincoln, Mercury and Ford.

Japanese Corporations build cars here, using some American Labor,
but that does not MAKE them American Corporations, nor in my belief does it make their products AMERICAN.

[Anders]

You missed Hummer. Another American car nobody wants...
Apart from that, I thought Canada was, or is, a part of North America...

[SandyBoy]

Yes, I missed Hummer and I am here in the State of New Jersey and we see loads of Hummers here, daily and even more in New York. They are extremely popular.

Volvo. The S40 & S60 do nothing for me...HOWEVER
for 4 years I have been in love with the S80 Premier Elite.
What a car !!! IF I could afford to buy one, it would be in my garage now
and the Town Car in there would be gone !

Even my non-car-loving wife loves the
S-80

[KULTULZ]

Itīs a bit depressing to read this. As a Volvo employee I donīt want to go public with whatīs actually happends within Volvo at least, but thing are not at all as easy as some try to describe it.

AH! Another sore point with me, FORD's buying of certain brands and then dropping them like hot rocks even though they are desirable/profitable. The VOLVO was a world class automobile, but dull (IMO). I think FORD engineering brought the car to the forefront. I would certainly buy one if I was upper crust.

JAGUAR!

Beautiful automobile. Many tech troubles, but FORD bought and made one beautiful automobile(s). Now FORD drops it and where are all of those JAG customers supposed to have them repaired? TATA Motors? Laughable.

FORD has a penchant for making very specialized desirable automobiles but drop parts replacement in just a few years. FORD is dead. Let them die a respectable death instead of dragging the man's name further through the mud.

I also cannot understand how GM has gotten into the shape it has.

The whole **** world is turning upside down. I am now looking for a used 4DR YUGO, more commingly known as a WEGO.

[Anders]

Next generation Volvos will be anything but dull. Thatīs a promice! If we still are there that is...

Hereīs a sneak preview of the next S 60.... ( Yes, itīs an official pic...)
A concept car that will be shown in Detroit in January.
We finalized it today as a matter of fact.

[SandyBoy]

Need One !

What's the S80 look like???

[Anders]

Mine looks like this, except I donīt have the V8 engine, but a D5 Diesel. Quite rapid actually. Good torque.

[KULTULZ]

I donīt have the V8 engine, but a D5 Diesel. Quite rapid actually. Good torque.

Beautiful automobile.

This reminds me of the American government mindset. Turbo-Diesel is a much better system over gasoline. We tax road diesel at least one dollar a gallon above gasoline. This is done for our road tax use on heavy truck.

To promote diesel for consumer fuel/emission reasons, you would think they would allow marketing of Auto Diesel where the average consumer would not have to pay that heavy tax wouldn't you?

European tech is much better than Asian (IMO).