It looks like many European car manufacturers are assembling/manufacturing cars in China. Is it possible to see Volvos, BMWs, and Mercedes made in China coming over here in the future? With the labor cost so much lower than the US, and outsourcing that our President encourages, what can prevent these cars, made to US crash and emission standards, from coming here?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4824088.stm

Don't but them. How easy the big corporations are so willing to sell out their home countries to make an extra couple of bucks.

So you're saying we should boycott Mercedes ML's or BMW X5's or Z4's because those greedy German managers are screwing German workers by building those in Alabama and South Carolina?

__________________
81 300SD
08 MDX Tech
93 525i

05 F650GS

In some way's Yes, but that's not what I'm saying. The reason they build over here is because there sold over here to the American market, in high enough quantities to justify a factory. The people who build them here make a decent wage and it works out well for both Mercedes and America (or it should).

Now if the Chinese have a domestic market or regional Asian market that would justify building a factory in China, good for them.

Personally, I resent sending jobs to China because their people will work for slave labor wages. Do you think Mercedes will pass on any of the cost savings to the retail buyer? The Chinese Communist Goverment has little respect for human rights, the enviroment, and safety standards. That would be reason enough for me to boycott a Chinese made Benz. BMW, Ford, or whatever. But hey, most people don't have any moral's these day's when it comes to buck.

I believe that any production by MB or BMW in China would be for the domestic market - it's growing a lot faster than ours.

To take the point further, though, most Golfs, Jettas and Beetles imported to the US are made in Volkswagen's unionized plant in Puebla, Mexico, which paid it's workers around $3.00 an hour as of a couple of years ago. Most of the Ford Focuses and Fusions sold in the US are also made in a unionized Ford plant in Mexico - I don't have their wage levels, but I'm sure it's a lot less than in Detroit. Would you boycott those cars because the workers make a fraction of UAW wages? Would it matter to you that those are some of the highest industrial wages in Mexico, and that those workers' quality of life would be seriously diminished if they lost their jobs? They probably wish you'd buy more of their cars so production would increase and more workers would be hired - but hey, most people don't have any morals these days when it comes to a buck.

__________________
81 300SD
08 MDX Tech
93 525i

05 F650GS

Those factories will be building cars for the Chinese market...China charges a large import tax on foreign made cars...car makers can greatly reduce their car prices by building locally in China and get a head-start into the very hot Chinese luxury car segment...but I believe the factories will focus mostly on the bottom-end models...i.e. C-Class, A-Class, etc. These models that are being sold in Asia are mostly being produced in South Africa anyways...

It is not a new phenomenon...Ford, Toyota, Honda, Mazda, etc. have factories in Taiwan that build cars only for the local market because Taiwan charges a high import tax on foreign cars...car makers have factories located locally in many Asian countries to build cars for the local market if it is viable...

__________________
1995 black pearl/black Mercedes-Benz E420 :

Yes, I would boycott a Ford made in Mexico, plain and simple. What's the matter with you, Don't you care about America and our future? I don't give a damn about the Mexican or Chinese labor markets when it comes to exporting American Jobs. And if this trend continues of exporting jobs and manufacturing to cheaper markets, America will become a 3rd world country. Is that what you want or do you think that could never happen? I don't have a problem buying a Toyota assembled in the US, I do have a problem with cars built in Mexico bound for the US market so they can bypass our work force and environmental laws. Like I said, what's the advantage for this country, Lower prices for the consumer or much larger profits for the company because of exploiting cheap labor?

..."slave labour wages" by developed Western country standards, but a very good wage by Chinese standards...many of these factory jobs in China and Asia created by foreign companies are considered very good by locals...they have subsidized meals, transportation to and from the factories, subsidized living quarters, medical/dental benefits, counselling, etc...they are far from the "slave labour" that seems to be the impression of the American general public...

__________________
1995 black pearl/black Mercedes-Benz E420 :

Hell, are they hiring, I'd like to get those benefits too, us poor Americans, can't compete with that anymore, we have to sacifice our benefits to support their way of life now, just great.

Lets see. I want to buy a new Mercedes. It is currently built in Germany and costs $65K. Mercedes opens a plant in China and offers the same model for $50K. The plant is run by Germans designed by Germans and builds things to German QA/DC standards. I'd buy the one that costs me $15K less. Since Chinese labor costs are 5% of German labor costs the profit margin is huge. Stockholders of DaimlerChrysler get a larger dividend. Folks who own broad-based mutual funds in a 401K see their fund value grow. I get a great car at significant savings. What will I do with the $15K I saved?

Maybe I'll go to the nearest Indian-owned casino and place a $15K bet on 22 red, thus donating a proportion of my $15K to the poor Indians of Penobscott. Maybe I'll expand my liquor closet with 20 year-old scotch, sending a bit of money to some distiller in Scotland and distributor in the USA. Or maybe I'll stick it into passbook saving account for rainy day. The bank would then have another $15K to loan to somebody wishing to buy a house or new car. Etc.

The point being that saving money on a retail item gives me an opportunity to spend that money elsewhere or save it.

My money, my choice.

Bot

Don't think so, that 65k Benz built in China is gonna cost you 65k built in China, keep dreaming. Why not source the components also to China, much cheaper than the Euro. manufacturers. Good quality too.

Difference is alot of people in Germany will loose their jobs while a few execs. and the large stockholders get huge bonuses/dividends for ridding the factory of the "skilled and experienced German auto worker". Would you really prefer to have your Benz built in China? Probably would if your one of "them".

What make's you think the engineering wouldn't be next to get outsourced, or the QC, you can get 10+ Chinese engineers vs. 1 German one. One thing thats for certain, the top management will stay in Germany. That's what's happening in this country USA, wouldn't be any different in Germany.

Firstly, I don't give a damn about how it is built in China, Japan, etc, etc. I could care less if they whipped the laborers there to get them to move faster. It is an internal affair and I will not interfere.

So you wanna boycott those products, do you? In the early 80s I bought a TI-54 calculator that was proudly stamped "Made in the USA". One day I took it apart and found Chinese, Taiwanese, Philippinese, etc, etc components. So, where do you draw the line? When you run out of clothes to wear and have to hunt animals for their pelts? You watch. Vietnam is going to surpass the Chinese in textiles. What will you wear then?

__________________
01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

Certainly nothing made in this country, we won't have any industries left. But who cares, you'll be driving your Benz made in China, wearing your suit made in Vietnam, and cruising down a road paved by illegal immigrant labor using machinery made in India. Ah, the American dream....

You think your boycott will do anything besides give you a warm feeling in your tummy? I have said this before and I'll say it again. We cannot compete when it comes to cheap labor. So, time to let the comatose patient on life support go. Find something else you can do that they cannot. In business, you you flog a dead horse?

__________________
01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

The reason that companies move to 3rd world countries is to lower cost of manufacturing fo r a host of reasons. In the dream-world I described I allowed DC to lower the sales price, to which you took exception. That's fine, maybe they would keep the price the same. If both price and quality remain the same I wouldn't care whether the E320 was built in Siberia, Guongzhou or Detroit. I get the same car either way. What does DC get? A larger profit margin. And what do DC shareholders get? Larger dividends. What do folks in Guongzhou or Siberia get? A paycheck.

But German workers may lose. What can they do about that? They can increase productivity, they can find another job, they can take a pay cut, lobby his government to lower the tax burden on the company, remove regulations that make the company less competitive with other countries or they can whine about it. Whatever the worker decides is his decision to make. A worker, whether CEO or sweeper is just a cog in the corporate machine. If a better cog comes along, well that's life.

What some people want is for gov and industry to get in bed together in an unnatural, incestuous relationship on the misguided assumption that the workers will benefit from gov and corporation working together. Most corporations that tie themselves closely to government decay from the inside and become a dumping ground for retired bureaucrats who become lobbyists, entangling the obscene coupling in whole new avenues of bribery and corruption.

B