In a Harley Davidson forum that I frequent, I had mentioned how I took advantage of the C4C program to get my Fit and how I loved the car. Well, a member of the forum replied with this:

I didn't give it much thought. Well, that was until a thread was started recently about your favorite car and the money we sink into them; when the same guy wrote:

So being the dummy that I am and how I don't know much about cars, I had to ask him if it was GM or Ford that made Toyota.

 

figures... lol

 

Haha...what'd he say? That's classic...I have to hear that crap often too.

 

Tell Colon-Anus he is a douche. Way to call him out.

 

He hasn't said anything yet! But I will let you know.....

 

Thanks...yea, for sure...that's bull.

I used to work at a Harley dealer and had to hear that about my car and my bike on a daily basis (roll eyes)

 

Considering that the majority of Hondas are made in the US I don't see how his point is valid. Ask him where he thinks an Aveo is made.

 

well, it's not valid at all even though the fit's are made in japan. you got americans selling it in the US, and that means american jobs.

from wat i hear, harley uses japanese parts, dont they? it's like rednecks bashing made in china things when their frikken clothes and 99% of wat they own are made in china.

 

Yea..and waving their American Flag that was also...guess what...made in China!

 

What an ass hat.

 

LOL!! so true.

 

I'm not sure...from what I saw while at the dealer, there were TONS of Chinese parts. But I don't think I ever saw a Japanese part. Could be wrong tho (as I often am).

 

Our govt is about to ditch the constitution and create the American Union, a mix of usa canada and mexico. so it will be made in the NAU, North American Union

 

Well, I heard rumors that the majority of Americans think that Toyota is an American company...

 

is that the Honda Fit has only a few, if any American competitors in the small, efficient, hatchback market segment (maybe the Aveo or Focus?), while every one of the Big 3 have pickup trucks that can easily rival Toyota. Ford, GMC, Chevy, & Dodge all make highly rated trucks, so if he wanted to buy American, it makes no sense to buy a Toyota 4x4, while it would make sense to buy a Fit.

 

Exactly! If I were in the market for a pickup truck or 4X4, I'd have bought domestic, probably Dodge, given my long history with Dodge and Chrysler, but I wasn't. I wanted a small, efficient hatchback with great fuel economy that was fun to drive. Dodge isn't interested in making that kind of car anymore, so I had to look elsewhere.

I'd still like a pickup, I just don't have enough use for one to justify owning another vehicle.

 

The day before I read that Hummer was sold to a Chinese firm I saw an H2 on the road with overly-patriotic attire and written in HUGE letters on the side of the thing was AMERICAN MADE, AMERICAN OWNED. I read the story about hummer being sold the next day, and I haven't lol'ed that hard in a while.

 

this reminds me of my college teaching assistant from the days when he said to the class 'SONY is american made.' and i thought he was just joking.

 

The latest figures I have seen suggest that approximately 38% of a Harley consists of parts that are manufactured off-shore (compared with less than 15% for the Honda Gold Wing). HD just killed their Buell line, of which only the engine was American made. Jingoists seem to be generally unaware that there is no such thing as a completely American made automobile or motorcycle. Companies source the best/cheapest parts they can find, regardless of origin.

Foreign sourcing of components such as brakes, forks, shocks, carburetors, electrics and wheels has probably done quite a bit to improve the quality of HD in recent years. When HD first introduced the twin cam engine in 1999, they had an unbelievably high catastrophic failure rate in the first three years/20,000 miles. Motorcycle Consumer News (a publication that accepts no advertising) published survey reports from 750-plus HD owners in March 2004:

Cam bearing failures by model year:

1999 58.3%
2000 27.8%
2001 8.3%
2002 2.8%
2003 1.4%

These figures don't necessarily show an improvement in reliability; newer models simply hadn't been ridden enough (average ~4000 miles/year) for the camshaft bearings to have failed at the time of the survey. And these are not minor problems; if a cam bearing fails, a major engine rebuild is usually required. "Of those who have already had the repairs done, 27% say they are not satisfied with the level of repair, and over 31% note that the factory did not pay for all the expenses involved when their cam bearings failed."

Can you imagine the headlines if any other manufacturer -- automobile or motorcycle -- had a major engine failure rate approaching 60%?

Source: Rau, Fred. "Twin-Cam Survey Report." Motorcycle Consumer News, 35:3, pp. 21-25 (March 2004.)

 

The Aveo is built in Korea; the Focus and Chevy HHC in Mexico. There are NO American-built cars in this market segment.