Skip to main content

Imported From Detroit



A little over six months ago, I bought my first car. Well, "I bought" is a bit of a misnomer. The UofI Credit Union loaned me some money, and that in-turn was provided to a car dealership. At any rate, it's the first car I've ever owned, which was an important personal milestone. So far, the 2012 Hyundai Elantra (nicknamed 'Lamont,' after The Shadow's alter-ego) has run like a dream.

The search for a car was very eye-opening. I tried to do enough research and test drives to feel as though I was making the right choice. Under consideration were factors such as: reliability, styling, interior space (roominess) and, of course, price. One more aspect to the buying process was that some of my friends were suggesting that I 'buy American.' Not only that, but that I also buy union. Being Democrats, it is important to them to support unions and, apparently, to support the industrial corporations of the U.S.

I was reminded of this situation today on Twitter, when some local Tweeps and I were discussing Chrysler's famous Super Bowl commercial from this year that featured Clint Eastwood growling that "It's halftime in America." It was about as pro-American as a car commercial is likely to get. And it finished with Chryler's latest slogan: Imported From Detroit. A jab at some of the foreign automakers who have dented Detroit's auto reputation that last couple of decades?

The thing is, Chrysler's parent company is Fiat. And Fiat's corporate headquarters is in Italy. Chrysler's CEO is Sergio Marchionne, an Italian gentleman who was recently featured on 60 Minutes, about how he's improved things at both Chrysler and Fiat. Now, I don't care that Marchionne is Italian. Nor do I care that Chrysler is foreign-owned. But what I do care about is the perception that Chrysler is somehow an 'American' company, simply because it's automotive vehicles are manufactured in Detroit.

Hyundai (a South Korean company) has a manufacturing plant in Alabama that my car was built in. Toyota is going to build a plant in Indiana. Volkswagen recently put up a plant in Tennessee so that it could build a more Americanised version of its popular Passat sedan. These are foreign companies, yes, but they are employing thousands upon thousands of Americans. Are they American companies employing Americans? No. But they're still good jobs (if that is important to you).

I dunno. On the one hand, I think that unions are important. I think that the success of American companies is important. But it's also important for folks to have the freedom of choice when it comes to their major purchases -- and a car is a major purchase. In the end, nationalism and unionism should perhaps be factors in the decision-making process, but they shouldn't be the only factors. I'm happy with my little Hyundai.

And it was imported from Alabama, thank you very much.




Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Orby-D

Twenty-four-years ago today, we lost one of the greatest singers of the rock & roll era. While Roy Orbison will be forever known in the pantheon of rock/pop legends, for me he will always be the voice that I melded with during turbulent high school years, and that I love to this day. Roy Orbison wrote and (more importantly) sang about love. Mostly, it was tragic love, not the happy-go-lucky love that so many of his contemporaries sang about. No one could do depressive songs better than Mr. Orbison. This is probably why I identified with his music so much. I mean, we all have had our down times but, during high school, I'd cornered the market.
Post a Comment
Read more

Watching The Hours

A Twitter friend named Paula has asked for folks to submit ideas for a blog-a-thon about what we think will be the classic films of the future. In other words, what relatively recent movies (namely, from the 21st century), do we think will be considered classics in the decades to come, possibly airing on such venerable stations as Turner Classic Movies ? While a number of films come to mind for such a category, one in particular stood out from the rest, and thus is my entry for Paula's blog-a-thon.
5 comments
Read more

The Year in Music

There are times in your life when you will read or watch something, stop for a moment, and think to yourself: "This is truth. This is gospel, right here." For some, it may have been the first time you read the Bible, the Tanakh, or the Koran. For others, it could have been when you read self-help books such as The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People , or Chicken Soup for the Soul . Still, for others, it's going to be this blog post right here. The truth is, dear reader, that 1993 was the best year for music. Full-stop. Some of you already know this. For others, it will be a revelation. Please, allow me to explain. Following are some of the albums released in 1993, with a bit of commentary from yours truly. During or after reading this, I think you'll agree that there's really no question anymore that 1993 was king. Ok, here we go.
Post a Comment
Read more