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Border Tax?

The Fed

The Fed

Old Guys Rule
Location
Florida
Will GTI's become 15%-20% more expensive? How about R's, since they were always built in Germany? That price difference between a loaded Autobahn and an R could close.
 
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TheWombat

Go Kart Champion
Location
Vermont
The thing that makes this whole "border tax" idea a bit worrisome is that it probably has more chance of becoming law than a lot of these wacky ideas, simply because most of the mainstream imports are now being made in US factories, and this sort of law would only hurt enthusiasts or people buying low-volume cars--or those with enough money not to care about a surcharge on their $80k car. Thus, it's conceivable that it could pass because the blowback would be minimal.
 
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Wild Hare

.: MR. BIG STUFF :.
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Nortvest
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The Fed

The Fed

Old Guys Rule
Location
Florida
TheWombat said:
The thing that makes this whole "border tax" idea a bit worrisome is that it probably has more chance of becoming law than a lot of these wacky ideas, simply because most of the mainstream imports are now being made in US factories, and this sort of law would only hurt enthusiasts or people buying low-volume cars--or those with enough money not to care about a surcharge on their $80k car. Thus, it's conceivable that it could pass because the blowback would be minimal.
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There's still the issue that their profits go overseas. And from what I've read about their production facilities, they're robotic to the point where they only need a minimal amount workers.

I used to think all foreign cars should have a surcharge on them but then U.S. car makers would just raise their prices and still not make what we want. There's still nothing else like a GTI or R, with their blends of performance, utility and comfort.
 
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TheWombat

Go Kart Champion
Location
Vermont
The Fed said:
There's still the issue that their profits go overseas. And from what I've read about their production facilities, they're robotic to the point where they only need a minimal amount workers.

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Yeah, the irony of all of this is that it's all smoke and mirrors, really. A "factory" is no longer the "factory" of your grandpappy. It's not a place where thousands of union workers work the line; it's more like a clean room where robots which were science fiction a few years ago assemble cars at speeds and with precision impossible to duplicate with traditional human labor. So when politicians talk about keeping factories here, it isn't about bringing back the early 20th century manufacturing base, and it sure isn't about bringing back the numbers of blue collar jobs that people wish for.

For car buyers, this is good stuff--the robots make damn fine cars. And no, it makes zero difference where the robots are really.

It does seem extremely short-sighted to try to solve a 2ist century structural employment issue by promising a return to 19th century manufacturing norms. Seems also...unlikely...to work.
 
The Fed

The Fed

Old Guys Rule
Location
Florida
TheWombat said:
Yeah, the irony of all of this is that it's all smoke and mirrors, really. A "factory" is no longer the "factory" of your grandpappy. It's not a place where thousands of union workers work the line; it's more like a clean room where robots which were science fiction a few years ago assemble cars at speeds and with precision impossible to duplicate with traditional human labor. So when politicians talk about keeping factories here, it isn't about bringing back the early 20th century manufacturing base, and it sure isn't about bringing back the numbers of blue collar jobs that people wish for.

For car buyers, this is good stuff--the robots make damn fine cars. And no, it makes zero difference where the robots are really.

It does seem extremely short-sighted to try to solve a 2ist century structural employment issue by promising a return to 19th century manufacturing norms. Seems also...unlikely...to work.
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I agree with everything you said. You have what I consider rare insight, especially if you're relatively young. I worked in a factory when I was young. Robots were science fiction. The computer mouse was just invented. We were transitioning from tubes to transistors. Dirt was invented :)
 
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TheWombat

Go Kart Champion
Location
Vermont
The Fed said:
I agree with everything you said. You have what I consider rare insight, especially if you're relatively young. I worked in a factory when I was young. Robots were science fiction. The computer mouse was just invented. We were transitioning from tubes to transistors. Dirt was invented :)
Click to expand...

I wish I was young. I'm 55, though some days I feel older...
 
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Krampus

New member
Location
Clemmons,NC
Well they did it with jap bikes and trucks in the late 70s and early 80's. I'm torn because of it. I just mainly think that the american market has a lot bargaining power.
Well I'm just glad that I have my R
 
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TheWombat

Go Kart Champion
Location
Vermont
During the eighties they had quotas that the Japanese more or less voluntarily bought into, where they agreed to ship only a limited amount of cars to the US market. As you might expect, it didn't create better cars from Detroit, which simply tried to use the limited supply of imports to screw customers into buying mostly the same crap they had already been peddling. Detroit only started making really competitive cars when they got off their asses and leveraged their very considerable engineering and design talent instead of bitching and moaning.

You cannot legislate quality. It has to come from within.
 
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