Buick Envision to be brought here

Digger-Dave

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Wow!

I can't believe I just read about this on Yahoo.

Buick has this crossover car called the Envision they build in China and now plan to send to over to us here.

Holy smokes!!

One day as a teenager back in the 1970's, I was sitting at the barber shop with my dad. One of the waiting customers with us was really pissed off. Turns out that he had just bought a new Regal for his wife and undenounced to him, it had a Chevy V8 in it. Ed had always bought Buicks. Over the years, I can remember seeing his ongoing affection with the LeSabres. I guess poor Ed never read the fine print saying, "ENGINES BUILT BY VARIOUS DIVISIONS". This was a real slap in the face!

IMHO, this was the beginning of the end for GM. Later on, I hated to see Pontiacs and Oldsmobile cars go away. I always embellished fond memories of the GTO's, Firebird 400's, earlier Grand Prix cars, Trans-Am's and the Olds 442.

Buick should call this new car the Invasion!

I hope this is the biggest mistake besides the Chevy Vega!

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money...blasts-gm-possible-china--us-export/31906129/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buick_Envision
 
This makes me sick, the sad point is people will be buying them saying, "well, if I can get it cheaper I'm going to do it". Then 1 year later, they will be complaining that "those big bad American companies are laying people off"

We do this to our selves, this is how the American tv companies started to decline. If Americans had the forsight over the last 40 years, I think our buying habits would have been different. The last three vehicles I bought new I made sure they were both American company and American made car. I got stung once with a Canadian made Impala(no offense to our Canadian brethren) but want to keep American citizens employed. And for my company I once had to buy an dodge truck that was built in Mexico(the last time).

Sorry for my opinion (actually not), but sorry for the rant.
 
It's only going to get worse, before too long everything will be outsourced. I just watched a news program the other day about chicken companies here in the U.S planning to outsource their processing to china, ship birds to china, they pluck them and cut them into parts and ship them back to us. It's pretty bad when that becomes cheaper than employing americans. If the people here assembling these cars cant make $50 hr they go on strike, even our fast food workers are looking for a prevailing wage, it's no wonder we are loosing our jobs overseas.
 
I drove chevys all of my adult life but since 2008 I would not urinate on a GM product if I saw one on fire.

They ran their company into the dirt, put their most loyal customers in the unemployment line, robbed their delphi retiree's and stockholders and then got in bed with the communists.

Too big to fail huh? Go straight to hell GM. :mad:
 
My grandfather was hardcore, Made in USA man. He really did his research (pre-internet days). His American made TV was getting a lot of static, really noticeable when changing channels (rotary tuner, pre-remote). I knew enough electronics, that I just need to blow the dust out, so told him I'd take a look. So, we loaded it up in the back of the truck, I took it home. After I opened it up, started cleaning out, noticed a couple of Made in Chine stickers, on two of the circuit boards... Never shared that with him, he got worked up on much smaller things, figured it would greatly shorten his life.

I've noticed it more often, that Made in USA, pretty much only applies to that sticker, components inside the box can come from anywhere. The Chinese can make some quality parts and equipment, if the people that hire them want quality over price. They simply make things to the specifications they are given. They don't care if it's a poor design, poor choice of materials, patent infringements, pretty much anything our laws protect us from. Our companies don't just out source for cheap labor.

We've got Japanese cars, assembled in America, mostly to avoid import tax.

The raising of the minimum wage, to a living-wage, is just plain wrong, going to really mess up the economy, likely eliminate a lot of jobs, increase the cost of living for everyone. Guessing Social Security, Food Stamps, Welfare, will also get a healthy raise as well, just to keep up with those burger-flipping high school kids. Kids running around with a pocket full of excessive income, is just begging for trouble, all fun money, since mom and dad take care of all their living expenses...
 
I remember the big "buy american' hype on tv in the late 80's, president of ford leaning on the hood of a ford taurus SHO while he was talking, problem is if you opened the hood the motor was YAMAHA...
 
For the record, the envision was originally for Chinese markets, but gm has decided to use it in the us market as well. So its basically what the Japanese automakers do. Also, if you tell, pay enough the chinese can build quality things.
 
It has been true in the automotive world for many years that vehicles sold as a domestic make were actually imports. The chevy luv pickup trucks were among the first, having been built by Isuzu. Ford paired with mazda in around 1990 and many ford cars were and still are actually mazda. There is so much cross breeding in cars that someday there will just be 1 global motor company. There are bmw cars with GM transmission, Saturn vue's with Honda powertrain and so on.

I have seen all sorts of things that have a sticker with an American flag on it but when you look closely it says "assembled in America of us and imported components". It is almost impossible to buy all American in todays world.
 
#1 American (at least 75% domestic content) made car in the US - Toyota.

https://www.cars.com/articles/the-2015-american-made-index-1420680649381/

People get so worked up about "Buy American". I understand the passion for American goods, and the concern about outsourced labor, but I think people can be pretty short sighted about it. I have a Mazda that I bought when Mazda was owned by Ford. The car was made in Japan, yes, but it was unloaded in the U.S. by U.S. workers, it was transported by U.S. workers, it was sold by U.S. workers, and it has been serviced since by U.S. workers. This is how economies of scale and international trade work. And as your comment illustrates, opening our market to foreign firms also brings jobs and income to the U.S.

And no one is even clear where the U.S.-sold Envisions will be manufactured. GM has facilities in the U.S., so it's possibly they'd be built here. From an article on the vehicle;

The UAW response follows an Automotive News story Monday that indicated GM is expected to bring the Envision SUV to the U.S. next year, citing industry forecasters. The story also said that if the Envision is added it “would almost certainly be imported here from China.”

A Buick spokesman said stories regarding the Envision are speculative.

“We have not announced the Envision for any markets other than China, where it has been extremely successful to date,” Buick spokesman Nick Richards said in an email.
 
018337_2009_Toyota_Matrix.jpg


09 Pontiac Vibe and Toyota Matrix.......

Same fricken car.... Nothing new here.

Most people who say that they will only buy one certain brand are the same people who pay $150 for an oil change and dont even know how to open the hood. :laughing:


Honestly the problem for auto manufacturers today is going to be a rise in interest rates. Cars have gotten so outrageously expensive that most people can only afford them if they take out a 7 year or greater loan, at a low interest rate.
http://www.autotrader.com/car-shopping/what-rising-interest-rates-mean-for-car-buyers-212331

Recently people have found ways to justify a $40,000 car and.... consequently the prices of cars has risen right up to the line of what people can pay. Truth is.... most people should not spend $40,000 or even $30,000 on a car. In fact most financial people call it the worst financial discussion a person can make.
http://www.interest.com/auto/news/how-much-should-you-spend-on-car/

Most people dont factor in the extra costs of a car when buying. High insurance..... and around here..... property taxs. You have a car worth over 30k around here and your going to get a tax bill over $1000.... every year. Pay Up Sucker.

The rise in interest rates is going to make cars that are already overpriced unaffordable.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/11/16/autos/car-loans-trillion-dollars/

For myself.... I will honestly say, foreign or domestic...... HELL will freeze over before I pay 30K plus for a 1/2 ton pickup.


and for Digger Dave...

I hope this is the biggest mistake besides the Chevy Vega!

I think this car is the biggest mistake ever: :lol:

pontiac-aztek-8.jpg


I mean.... what where they thinking.
 
If you want a good car cheap you almost HAVE to go with a Japanese or European brand. In general cheap american cars are made up of thousands of parts that were built by the lowest bidder for the parts contracts, and that doesn't lead to a quality product. I'm not saying all American cars are !!!!, but you have to really pay up if you want quality...
 
I don't see myself buying a new car, any brand. Most seem to have recall quality issues these days. Mostly we only read about the ones that cause death or serious injuries (3-4 years later...), but there are quite a few recalls for relatively minor issues, which could lead to more costly warranty repairs. I prefer to change my own oil, do most all of the service and repairs myself. A new car entails qualified service centers and mechanics, to appease the terms of the loan and warranty. You don't really own that new car, until the loan is paid, the warranty expired, then it's not really a new car anymore... I'll drive pretty much anything, but tend to try and avoid Ford vehicles. The are more of a pain to work on, usually wind up buying some sort of special tool, I'll only need to use once or twice, and nobody seems to have one to loan out.
 
I think this car is the biggest mistake ever: :lol:

pontiac-aztek-8.jpg


I mean.... what where they thinking.
The Aztek? To me, it's not that bad looking, compared to most of the SUV's today, and I'm not into SUV'S. My wife had a newer Honda CRV and I thought it was one of the ugliest looking vechicles I'd ever seen. I didn't care for the drive either. She then bought a Chev Equinox, It's also not my cup 'o tea, bleeah!
 
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