(...Cue ignorant rednecks bitching about how this is un-American and they'll never stoop to owning one of them "foreign" trucks.)

Yes the Japanese are investing money in America without any expectation of taking any of the profit back to Japan. They are doing it for the good of everyone else.

@Jason

Yep

But my take is if a Buick is built in China its still a GM car. What do others think?

I think this is great news.
Yeah these probably aren't union shops but jobs are jobs and while the others have cut jobs and started making cars overseas, these Japanese brands are creating jobs here. If they're going to export them now as well... that's excellent.

@ Jason

Alex has a point. Maybe some money goes back to the work force and some building materials, but the majority of the money american customers spend on foreign vehichles goes back to Japan and spent there. So ya i will stick to buying Ford and supporting my own country the best i can. :)

@Mike, @Alex:

As someone who works for an American company which was just combined with another American company after which we were then bundled together under a Swiss company that was just recently purchased from its previous (Australian) owners by a Japanese conglomerate, my opinion is likely biased, but:

The world is flat. Deal with it.

@ Jason

Well that is something you can't control. But If i can control where my money goes. You bet i try the best i can to buy demestic products. So no Walmart for me or Foreign vehicles. I buy Vizio Tv's because they are built right here in SoCal. Key words though BEST I CAN. I know there is some thing we can't help buying thats imported

Well my truck was assembled in America and has 90% domestic parts content. I win.

@ Alex:
More specifically to your point, The profits don't go "back to Japan," they go to SHAREHOLDERS, a very significant percentage of which are NOT in Japan. Two of Toyota's top ten shareholders are American banks.

Either way: wouldn't you rather see some Joe Schmo in the U.S. benefit (by having a job) rather than see some rich bastard (in the U.S. or Japan) add another significant digit to his bank balance?

Although I live and work in the U.S., we manufacture most of our widgets in other countries and sell our systems worldwide. If not for world commerce, I likely wouldn't have a job. This is true in a lot of industries and applies to a lot of other Americans...

Drawing lines may seem like a good thing at the surface, but ultimately, our nation benefits from free trade. My job is evidence of that.

I really believe the lie that is said on here all the time "The profits go back to Japan so I stick to buying whatever brand I own" we all know that when shopping for your vehicle nobody went to their dealership and asked for the American parts content, where it was assembled and where will all the profits be going you just bought what you liked or could afford.
This whole thing is just something big 3 owners say to make themselves feel superior about their truck and Japanes owners inferior about theirs when Japanese owners (really only Toyota) talk about how much they like their truck and its performance and capabilities.

Cue fanboys like Jason who bring up "rednecks" and the oxi's who will say everything is racist.

1, 2, 3....

This same debate always surfaces. Why do people have such a hard time comprehending the actual manufacturing costs, labour costs, R&D costs, debt servicing costs, and lastly profits. Guys talk about profits leaving the country. That is only a portion of the purchace price of a motor vehicle. They make it sound like a foreign head officed company is taking 40,000 dollars home out of a 45,000 dollar truck.
For example : Ford F150 is down to 60% domestic content. The Tundra is still around 80% USA content.
If both conpanies make 20% profit on their 1/2 ton truxks, and as the naysayers point out, the profit leaves the country, simple math dictates that the F150 and Tundra are tied at 60% of the money from a truck which stays in the USA.
Someone will bring up R&D costs; who engineered the new Colorado? Brazilians. Where was it built and tested - Thailand. Where were most of for cars designed and engineered - Europe. The Tundra and Tacoma are for NA products which were engineered, built, and tested in the USA.
The SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) and even the USA government define a product as being domestic based on the soil it is built upon, not the soil the head office is located.
Sure, a GMC built in China is still a GMC, and a Toyota built in the USA is still a Toyota, but if GMC imports their Chinese car to the USA it is by definition and import. If Toyota builds it in the USA, it is a domestic.

"Yes the Japanese are investing money in America..."

@Alex,

That is racist!

I wouldn't buy one for a couple of reasons...first is It could not do the work my SD does.

Secondly I do not like the way the dash and controls are laid out on foreign cars/trucks.

I do not like everything on the tree and headlights should always be on the left side of the dash..stuff like that.

I don't like the way they sit either...they think everyone wants a seat that sits on the floorpan

oops, spell check, I meant Ford "Where were most of "for " Ford cars designed and engineered ?

@Jason-I agree with you if it employs Americans then I don't care if it is Japanese. Some of these Ford and Chevy guys are so biased that they would rather an American worker go without a job than have a Japanese, South Korean, German, or any non USA have a plant here. They assume that if the plant were not here that the consumer would be forced to buy a Chevy or a Ford and that you should only buy full size. The World is flat. I guess if we really wanted to be patriotic we would ban Canadian companies as well since Canada is not part of the US and they were not part of our independence from Great Britian. You are right you cannot draw lines and I doubt that we want to go to war with Canada (didn't they make a movie of that with John Candy "Canadian Bacon"). Let's just be greatful that a foreign corporation still sees opportunity in putting plants in the USA.

The first paragrpah incorrectly states 70% are built in the U.S. It should say 70% built in North America, not the U.S. See the link for more info.

one thing i could never figure out is when guys buy a Toyota, Nissan, or any import for that reason they always seem to have t justify it by saying it was made in America, WHY, buy what you want and that is the end of it, i will buy the truck that fit my needs i don't care where they are made or assembled they all have there good and bad points and not one of the truck companies cares what me or you think if i don't buy there brand someone else will, with whatever brand i buy i am sure i will help out Americans somewhere

@MIKE S,

Unless your a shareholder, what business is it for you to discuss profits?

It's none of your business and who taught you economics?

Look at GE for example, a U.S. based company YET the majority of their profits come from FOREIGN operations and to top that off they do not pay a single dime in federal taxes on those profits made hence FOREIGN operations...

GM has the equivalent of 4 plants outside of the U.S. that makes vehicles solely for the U.S. market yet you ignore that?

The big 3 are the LARGEST importers into the U.S. They have been for 20 years and counting!

It does not matter what the badge says on the vehicle, where the parts come from or where they are built to these executives in the front offices. They have an obligation to increase shareholder value and if that means GM builds in China (like they are doing) and then imports them into the U.S., they will do it without hesitation!

STOP defending these morons in the corporate offices that could care less about the U.S. worker!

I buy final assembly location and that means my last 2 Tacoma's were made in the U.S.A. by union UAW labor. To you rednecks, that is AMERICAN MADE TOYOTA!!!

@Dave:

Just what exactly am I a fanboy of? I drive an old Chevy and an even older Jeep with Chevy engine in it! I also own several thousand dollars in Ford stock! None of these facts have I kept a secret.

If I was to buy a new pickup truck right now it'd almost certainly be an ecoBoost F150 as I personally feel they've got it all over most of the competition these days. BUT, IMHO: buying a new (especially "domestic" brand) truck is never a particularly wise use of money. ...Maybe in a few years after someone else has broken it in for me.

Just because I can see past all the patriotic, chest-thumping, cosumerist jingoism is no reason to brand me a fanboy (...nor even BREATHE my name in the same sentence as Oxi's).

Dude, it's MARKETING...don't fall for it.

@Dave,

This article IS racist!
Italian Fiat just upped their stake in Ram/Chrysler by 5% to 58.5%...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/05/fiat-increases-stake-in-chrysler-merger_n_1185769.html

Do you ever hear anyone call Ram Italian? Nope, and that's racist!

If you're going to call Toyota Japanese, then start calling Ram Italian!!!

I doubt you would get ANY Company operating in the US Japanese/European /Korean etc that is going to operate as a charity.
They are all their to make profits. Profit is only a small part of their overall investment. If it is a "start up" set up by a foreign company then it benefits the country as whole
US companies operating in foreign countries do expect to make a profit and send a proportion back to the US, the rest is invested in the local business. The same thing happens with the Japanese in North America.
Most of this new investment is for Japanese cars to be EXPORTED from NA.

@Dave:

...BTW, as someone who lives out in the woods (nearest town of any size is more than 30 miles away), drives a rusted-out pickup/old Jeep, owns a skidsteer, heats his house with firewood he harvests every fall from his own property, owns several guns, hunts deer and grouse every year, worked his way through college as a diesel tech, built his own tandem-axle Jeep trailer, and grew up on a farm fixing machinery, my neck is probably redder than most...

I'm just trying to get the REST of you rednecks to examine your irrational prejudices.

I'm the Thinking Man's Redneck!

:)

It says Japanese because that is where these companies are headquartered, Japan. It has nothing to do with race. Stop playing the race card.

Since the bailout many of us have been saying that Ram is Italian owned and Mexican made. Nice of you to join us.

"Secondly I do not like the way the dash and controls are laid out on foreign cars/trucks.

I do not like everything on the tree and headlights should always be on the left side of the dash..stuff like that.

I don't like the way they sit either...they think everyone wants a seat that sits on the floorpan"

Posted by: Scott | Jan 5, 2012 1:32:51 PM

+1000000000000000000000000000000000000

A perfect example of someone who is able to quantify their choice without bashing or being "racist". I just happen to agree with him :-D

@Mike S.:
"... no Walmart for me ..."

I'm with you there. To say nothing of the origin of its merchandise (China), Walmart has ostensibly made it its mission to sell nothing but UTTER GARBAGE...

You gets what you pays for.

@Dan the Man - why do owners of Toyota's, Honda's etc. feel such a strong need to point out the fact that their vehicles are American made? Sheesh. look at the posts. Every story about a foreign badged vehicle is the same. they get bashed, and they get defensive.
@ Dave- why do people need to put the "Japanese" or "Chinese" label in the sentance in the first place.
I'm Canadian.
I don't refer to my truck as my "American truck", or "Yankee truck" just like I don't refer to my wife's Sienna as the"japanese" van or "jap" van.
We had a Grand Caravan that was a POS. I didn't spend all my time cursing Americans for building it, or the Germans or Italians for owning the company who made it.

@oxi-I am glad that the Japanese are putting more plants in the USA. The day that no one wants to invest in the USA is a bad day for our country. GE makes most of their consumer goods in China. GM (called Government Motors by the Ford guys) will not go out of business but will become China Motors since they are making money in China and will eventually produce vehicles for export to North America from there. Most CEOS will send jobs overseas if it saves them a dime and puts a bigger bonus in their pockets. Toyota though does not have UAW workers as do none of the foreign manufacturers, but I have never heard of any complaints about pay or benefits from Toyota workers. Even Chevy is going to assemble their new Colorado in the US, which granted is a truck from Thailand. Ford does not think that much of the midsize truck buyer. Don't you know Oxi you are suppose to be a loyal American and buy a F-150 whether you need it or want it? Any additional competition to the midsize truck market not only helps the consumer but it even helps Toyota because it forces them to stay innovative and competitive. I guess to Dave and the other Ford guys I am a "fanboy" just like Jason regardless of the fact that I own a Ford, Chevy, and Isuzu all made by UAW workers in the USA. I guess my citizenship will be revoked. Who knows I might eventually buy a Tacoma. I as a consumer will buy what I like regardless of brand but I guess that would make me a "fanboy" by the opinion of some of the not so objective Ford bloggers. Here's to creating more jobs for American workers regardless of corporate origin. That will upset Dave.

I say we all work together to bring the number down.

holy crap this is been an almost troll free comment section on a completely baited topic. I r proud (that is my "redneck" speak for good job guys)

PS Since Dave said in another blog that Ford does not need cheap customers like me and since GM is going to be a Chinese company I guess I will buy a Toyota next time. All this time I didn't realize Ford was such a exclusive brand. Just call me a common man not exclusive.

@Jeff:
Redneck Fanboyz UNITE!

Lou
that is true, it does not matter what thread they write about here it will always get bashed

@Jason, you have just shown you don't really have anything of substance to say. I will entertain what you said earlier though because it sounded like it had a little more intelligence than your last post. If the profits are kept in America, that money is more likely to circulate in America. Yes it's great that Joe Blow has a job in the factory, and his salary will likely circulate in America, it's better when all the money does. It's not like there is a choice between Japanese owned/US made and US owned/foreign made. You can still buy US owned and US produced! But just admit, you Toyota fanboys missed the part where the Japanese will be opening up factories in Mexico and Canada. You are all quick to criticize the domestic companies for doing it.

@Alex It is a "Japanese " Company. Like similar US and European companies in another country. they send part of their profits back to their parent companies.
I cannot see why a Japanese company opening up factories in Mexico has much to do with it. The Japanese '"fan boys" as you put it, would not be claiming their vehicles are 'purely japanese " ???

@Alex-I don't recall Jason saying he was going to buy a Japanese vehicles. I do recall Jason saying he owned a Chevy and a Jeep and that he worked on diesels. Correct me if I am wrong but did I miss a news update stating that GM and Jeep are now owned by the Japanese? What Jason is saying is that he would rather have a foreign corporation put a plant in the US (that is not in China unless China calls in some of our debt and owns us) than to not have a plant here. Simple Economics 101 says that if the foreign company puts plants in the US and employs US workers then they spend their money for discretionary items like cars, boats, etc after they spend money on necessities like food, clothing, and shelter. I agree that where I can I would rather buy something made in this country by a local company but a multinational corporation is not really a local company. They can pull up stakes and move at any time. That means that Ford if they wanted could move their operations to China or any where. The bottom line is profits not patriotism. Maybe Economics have changed since I went to college but since Jason is younger than me and went to college why don't we ask him.

Hey Scott

you may want to look twice at the Tundra, get a measuring tape out and measure the height of the seat on a Tundra, its HIGHER than your SD which BTW will do just about all the work one would want. Odds are you really dont need a SD that often, you just like it and thats fine.

If i put 10k of weight behind my Tundra and you put 10k behind your SD and drove them the only difference (im assuming yours isnt a dually and not a 2011 6.7 powerstroke) The Tundra will just ride better, accelerate faster, stop faster and use less gas while doing it. But my headlight switch (which is set to auto and i never touch it unless i turn my brights on and thats the same as your truck.) I think i'll take mine thanks, your opinion is noted and fine but you really need to take another look if you think a tundra seat is on the floor.

Tundras Suck Enough Said.

@hemi lol you must be in your own world it don't sit higher than a super duty, and tundras have smaller leaf springs, and the power band is weak. nice tundra did it come with a purse? you don't haul nothing. 10,000 pounds is nothing id rather stop it safer, and actually manage a trailer on the daily., and the tail gates are weak.

Toyota is a publicly traded company, the money would go to the investors where ever they are located. Just like Ford is publicly traded, some Chinese guy could be reaping profits from Ford.

@ Team oxi Congrats on having the dumbest post on this thread.

racism or racialism (ˈreɪsɪzəm, ˈreɪʃəˌlɪzəm)
n
1.

the belief that races have distinctive cultural characteristics determined by hereditary factors and that this endows some races with an intrinsic superiority over others
2.
abusive or aggressive behaviour towards members of another race on the basis of such a belief

Are you really so politicaly correct that even mentioning country of origin is racist?

@Tom with a Ranger: maybe you haven't looked at a current 2011 Ranger window sticker. Talk about a global Ranger, engines and trannies from Germany, France, China....I'd rather support NORTH AMERICA. Heck I have a 96 Camry coupe, yup, made in the states.

Oxi, Oxi, Oxi, Dodge doesn't import anymore then Toyota. Sure they get stuff from Mexico and Canada. As well as Toyota building some in Mexico - it's a wonder you found an Access cab made in the states, but hey, North American is still better then China. And that's the ones the build on this side of the pond. I think GM leads in China imports, but I am not sure.

The people griping about Wal Mart must not open their eyes at any other place they go. The "made in China" is about everywhere. Hey I know, why don't you go buy some tools at Sears? Nope, they are made in China. Wasn't too long ago I think AJ Foyt was doing commercials telling us they were made in the US.

you tube haul king, talking about the powerband of a Tundra, hope he doesn't drive a 6.2 F-250. Yeah, you can get a bigger Ford engine that needs another what 800 or so rpm to hit max torque? LOL. Ram's new 6 speed Hemi will be a better selling 2500/250 gasser class.

I am hoping Honda keeps the Ridgeline, despite its limitations. I would like to see a redesign, as there have been many good suggestions for improvements mixed in with all of the hate. I recently purchased a 2012 Ridgeline and it seems like it may be the final year for it. Honda commercials don't even feature it when they are displaying all of their models and it did well in intial quality tests. Oh well, if it is the last running year, then I am glad I was able to get one before it goes away. If it stays and gets redesigned, as was originally intended for the 2013 model year, then hopefully they address some of the issues that have plagued it so it can be a more compelling choice for mid-size truck shoppers. Yes, I know it isn't a conventional truck and is more of an SUT, like the Chevy Avalanche, but it serves its purpose for me.

@Alex:

You clearly missed my post where I stated that I own a Chevy and a Jeep, own lots of Ford stock, and would probably buy a Ford if I was in the market right now...You should've read all of my comments above before you called me a Japanese fanboy.

But it's okay...I understand. You've been brainwashed by marketing. I'm just trying to shed a light on what's really going on so that people can make better-informed decisions. If that means you would still buy Ford, Chevy, Dodge, whatever...well that's cool with me.

@ Jeff:
No, the rules of economics haven't changed. But, for some reason this country seems to place less value on knowledge than it used to...

@TRX4 Tom:
Yeah, but at least they're ever-so-slightly higher-quality Chinese tools than the ones available at Walmart. :)

Does it seriously matter where the profits go?

As long as some of the "99%" get some stable jobs isn't that the important issue?

Some people seem to the think that if the profits stay in the US that they will get a piece of that. I don't think so. If the company is profitable and generates more jobs for the middle class that is what will drive the economy.

To digress, this reminds me of Joe the Plumber who was so worried about the possible tax implications to the top earners in the US with the last election. Like he is ever in his life going to have to worry about that.

Jobs are what are important, who ever can provide them good on them. If you don't like Japanese don't buy it, if you don't like Canadian-made American vehicles, don't buy them either.