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One Third of Fed's Motown Mega-Buy Assembled Outside the USA
by
Edward Niedermeyer
(IC: employee)
After the GSA and Nancy Pelosi’s office turned down TTAC’s request for a breakdown of the vehicles purchased under the Recovery Act’s Energy-Efficient Federal Motor Vehicle Fleet Procurement program, we went all FOIA. The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has now released the info to us (as it should, transparency for the program is promised here). We’ve published the list after the jump, formatting the data by model, number purchased, country of assembly and fuel economy. Exactly 11,319 of the 17,205 vehicles purchased were assembled in the USA. [NB: I’ve provided fuel economy numbers for base versions with automatic transmissions, as per typical fleet practice.]
Edward Niedermeyer
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Published June 22nd, 2009 8:45 AM
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GS650G- I remember when there was a time that if you bought a Toyota, or Datsun, or Honda, that you were viewed as Un-American. We are so impatient as consumers that we cannot deal with any inconvenience from a good made in our OWN country, whether it cost a buck or two more or has more quality issues, that we are willing to send profits from our purchases to Asia, Europe, or anywhere so that we can "get our own best deal". Our best Deal is being in the good ole US of A. And until we realize that we benefit ourselves from demanding that our products are built here, whether automotive or otherwise, we are selling our souls to foreign governments. We listen to the bull that we, as Americans, are incapable of producing as efficiently as the Japanese, or Koreans, and that is why we buy from them. Well, the old saying stands, "If you think you're beaten, then you're beaten". That saying is NOT the premise upon which our industrial revolution was built on, nor our country. Enough soap-boxin.....
kermitstang86, So, what you're saying is that the US can't do any better, so we should just buy what the US offers, rather than only buying the best and expecting the US to compete? That seems defeatist to me.
Isn't that what got Detroit in trouble in the first place? "Good-enough" manufacturing and business practices... NO THANKS. I strive to do better than the "usual" and I expect the companies that I do business with to do the same - ESPECIALLY when they may get tens of thousands of dollars of my hard earned money. What I buy from them better be good, clever, durable and pleasing to the eye. PLENTY of products domestic and import meet my expectations. Only time will tell if Detroit's offerings will meet my expectations. Certainly not listening to anything they SAY - am watching what they are DOING. And before anyone gets their knickers in a twist - I don't generally buy new cars whether I can afford to or not so my choices only affect resale values of what's on the market in a tiny, tiny way...