QOTD: Which POTUS Candidate Would Be Best for Autos?
Buckle up kids — it’s Election Day in America, and we’re about to get political.
Before we do, some rules. Don’t follow them, and the merciless banhammer will find you.
The rules, in no particular order: Stay on topic. No flaming or personal attacks. No hatred or bigotry. Keep it civil. Don’t whine if you get caught breaking these rules.
Basically, play nice or be gone. Just like the sandbox back in elementary school.
OK, that taken care of, let’s get into this. Whether you’ve voted yet or not, I am curious — which candidate do you think will be best for the automotive industry?
Joe Biden? Donald Trump? Jo Jorgensen or Kanye West or a write-in vote for “yo mama?”
Again, this is SPECIFICALLY about the automotive industry. Keep your comments on topic, and do not bring in immigration, taxes, foreign policy, or whatever other topic unless it’s relevant. If you can’t abide by this simple rule, don’t comment.
Will a Biden presidency usher in a rush towards more green vehicles, including EVs? Will a second Trump term loosen regulations involving the industry, including fuel economy, in a way that’s good for business? Will either man’s ability to manage the pandemic and/or overall economy be good/bad/indifferent for the automotive industry?
Discuss among yourselves. Presumably, you’re all adults. So act like it.
Once again: Keep it civil. And go vote if you’re an American and haven’t already. Whether you’re ridin’ with Biden, you want to Keep America Great, or you vote outside the two parties, just do it.
And no matter what happens, don’t blame me, I voted for Kodos.
[Image: No-Mad/Shutterstock.com]
Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
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I doubt either candidate is anti-car especially with the cars they have owned. People are going to buy the vehicles they want and need.
"Employees, meh, they come and they go and can always be replaced. (Though it is true that hiring, particularly professionals, can be a costly business.)" This is why, in any "trade agreement" NAFTA, TPP, etc, that people that do manufacturing jobs are "thrown under the bus", while Doctors, lawyers, architects, and upper level managers are not. Also Nate, Remember why the Brits never got much into making toasters, refrigerators, computers, and so on; They could not figure out how to get them to leak oil.
To me that's part and parcel of the almost total lack of initial quality control . I'm old to I remember the "British Invasion" very well, innumerable Ford Anglias, Hillmans, Austins, more sedans or shooting brakes (wagons to Yanks) than the seemingly endless Sports Cars . It seemed as though fully half of them had serious manufacturing defects and the other big failure was they couldn't handle American road speeds for very long, engines failed of droves . If you like LBC's then they're great, otherwise they're a bleeding hemorrhoid when your sitting in a wooden chair . ? Knowhutimean ? . There was a time when Japanese cars (and those tiny little pickups Datsun imported in 1958 >) were just as bad . Sadly the Brits never seemed to grasp that you need to BUILD IT CORRECTLY or the sales will dry up quickly . -Nate
I think the Brits had some good engineering; Supermarine Spitfire and it's Merlin engine, comes to mind. It seems as though they stopped developing things after the 1940s. I recall working on British cars in the '70s and constantly shaking my head at the archaic stuff on them, yes you Lucas Electrics. This went along with the post WWII decline and loss of empire. Things started to improve about the same time that oil was discovered in the North Sea. Who knows where things would have been otherwise. As far as improvements go, I think of the Rolls RB 211 as one example.