by B. L. Babb

Created on: November 09, 2008

The demise of American cars happened when they ceased being made solely in America.

A Chevrolet has Japanese parts and many of the models of their cars have identical Japanese equivalents. For example, the Suzuki
Vitara is the same car as the Chevrolet Tracker. The Vitara was lower priced, consumers paid more solely because of the Chevrolet tag.

Owning two vehicles, one a 22 year old Nissan pickup, the other a 9 year old Chevrolet, it has been possible to compare the differences in the quality of the cars. The Nissan, has been hit several times, each resulting in minimal damage from a U-haul truck loaded with construction debris, a car, and a pickup. The Tracker, suffered body damage when an empty plastic toolbox fell off a shelf about 6 feet from the ground.

While neither has been particularly troublesome, the 22-year-old Asian vehicle has had minimal mechanical problems, the clutch replaced after only 130,000 miles, and even then it had not failed, just precautionary.

American car manufacturers have not kept up with the quality side of building cars.

Asian manufacturers trained their workers about quality, introduced quality control to the industry, and demanded perfection from their products. Failure to deliver a quality product was dishonorable (it is a shame that practice does not carry on today in other aspects like milk, and making products for export from China) and was dealt with harshly.

Asian cars last longer, perform better, get better mileage, and cost less. Honda has been rated the number one stolen car (what higher honor can a car have?) for at least a decade.

American car makers, through their own shortsightedness, have led their industry down the path of self-destruction, as evidenced today with their constant visits to Congress begging for $75 billion.

Where the Japanese makers opted for efficiency, American makers opted for size. It worked well for them until the gas industry sent everyone running to find alternate modes of transportation when gas prices ticked up just a bit higher than Americans wished to pay.

As a result, even with a barrel of oil at half was it was mere months ago; the automotive industry still sits close to ruin. Why?

Some will say it is the economy, banks not lending and borrowers concerned about job security unwilling to take a loan for a new car.

That may be true; however, what cars are they buying when they buy?

Open the hood of your "American Made" car. Note the language on many of the parts under the hood.

Sadly, there was a

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