How Germany Builds Twice as Many Cars as the U.S. While Paying Its Workers Twice as Much

[웃 910]

Nobody drives pick up trucks except Americans - I find that really odd.

So you won't find this type of a scene anywhere in Europe?

[Captain Oates 911]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBosdwFJzd4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7-JQu81Rcw&feature=related

Once read a review on Land Rover which condescendingly said the gear change was 'Somewhat agricultural"

To the Europeans that is something to sneer at, but to the Americans it would suggest raw toughness and macho man with gravelly voice - and it would therefore be desirable

I have sadly concluded that the chances of me acquiring the American way of thinking, is more likely than an Eskimo starting to find raw seal blubber disgusting, simply because he has moved to San Diego

[Captain Oates 911]

So you won't find this type of a scene anywhere in Europe?

I was a member of the rifle club in Ilkley, Yorkshire for 14 years and never saw anyone with a pick up truck.

I go to my rifle club here in Central Washington, and I am the only one without a pick up truck

When I park, all I can see is tires out of both windows

I feel sorry for them in their big numb tonka toys, wearing their cowboy boots and big hats and assuming a persona gifted to them by Hollywood, and they feel sorry for me in my little 3.5 liter V6 268 horse power car and with my lack of faith in jesus - so I guess that's fair

It's a cultural thing. There are tribes who think that NOT digging your dead relatives up and eating their brains is stupid.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

But who wants a chevy when they can have a beemer ?

I saw a sweet looking BMW convertible for $5000 from a private party, while a beat-up Toyota Corolla was fetching $2995 from a dealer. I kept wondering what was wrong with the beemer. Only reason I didn't pounce on it was because it was a convertible, and I don't have anyplace to keep it out of the weather.

[Captain Oates 911]

I saw a sweet looking BMW convertible for $5000 from a private party, while a beat-up Toyota Corolla was fetching $2995 from a dealer. I kept wondering what was wrong with the beemer. Only reason I didn't pounce on it was because it was a convertible, and I don't have anyplace to keep it out of the weather.

Don't like soft tops. No security, and with the top down and parked, people vomit in them.

Tried a BMW 3 series once and glad to give it back - power delivery was too harsh and it was small and bumpy

Now the 5 series x-drive would be my top pick if I wasn't a cheap scrooge. Parts and servicing are insanely expensive and so complicated there is always something wrong. My pal has a Lexus and keeps a list of things to repair - mostly electronic

A capacitor is a capacitor - even if its in a Lexus

We bought 2 new Camry's in November 2007 - last year, mine had a duff cell in the battery (made in Wisconsin) but otherwise neither car has had ANY faults

Mine has 268 HP but its unusable as it handles like drunk hippo during an earthquake

Given that the roads don't have bends, and there are 10 cops on my tail if I do 26 mph, it doesn't really matter

My previous car was a 1.8 Vauxhall Astra (GM), only 125 HP but on a wet twisty road covered in cow muck, it would beat anything on the road. The road holding was joyous and made me giggle at the impossible things it could do with zero drama

A Camry SE 3.5 would be ok as it has stiffened up suspension, but they have 17 inch wheels and I just spent $770 on 16 inch snow tires and wheels. If we end up back in Wisconsin, I could let my trouble and strife have the wheels for her car....she holds new cars 15 years

Back to the subject - the only German cars I like is Audi not the huge ones, and BMW 5 series and I think

VW is too bare and stark.

The German workers care about their professions whereas the American workers know they are cannon fodder to the 1%. Its mostly subconscious, but they know

Even the Walmart happy team know the deal deep down inside their souls - even while they are singing the company song in their own time before clocking on

Edited December 23, 2011 by Ashud Cocoa

[Neonred 3,564]

The German workers care about their professions whereas the American workers know they are cannon fodder to the 1%. Its mostly subconscious, but they know

Even the Walmart happy team know the deal deep down inside their souls - even while they are singing the company song in their own time before clocking on

Based on several recent news programs it looks like many of the American auto workers are brothers that are getting drunk and stoned during their lunch break. And we wonder why our cars are #######.

[Captain Oates 911]

Based on several recent news programs it looks like many of the American auto workers are brothers that are getting drunk and stoned during their lunch break. And we wonder why our cars are #######.

Don't say that - my Toyota was made in Kentucky !

Anyway, getting stoned and drunk isn't a bad thing - there are lots of people in Africa who would like to be stoned and drunk

If they were stoned and drunk then they couldn't run around cutting little kids arms off and eating their dead relatives brains

Think positive

[Kathryn41 3,205]

You can find ways to report news stories without making racist comments in the process. Please do so.

[Neonred 3,564]

Don't say that - my Toyota was made in Kentucky !

Mine also. Camry hybrid.

Then again most of the news reports of work time partying were at GM and Chrysler plants as I recall. Of course they have union protection.

Edited December 24, 2011 by Neonred

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

I was a member of the rifle club in Ilkley, Yorkshire for 14 years and never saw anyone with a pick up truck.

I go to my rifle club here in Central Washington, and I am the only one without a pick up truck

When I park, all I can see is tires out of both windows

I feel sorry for them in their big numb tonka toys, wearing their cowboy boots and big hats and assuming a persona gifted to them by Hollywood, and they feel sorry for me in my little 3.5 liter V6 268 horse power car and with my lack of faith in jesus - so I guess that's fair

It's a cultural thing. There are tribes who think that NOT digging your dead relatives up and eating their brains is stupid.

Eastern Washington (no such thing as Central Washington...that's a made up myth) is farm country hence the reason you see so many pickups and cowboy hats there. That area used to be big into ranching and raising American Quarter Horses (google Stuart Andersen) It's part of the culture and heritage passed on down. From Curlew, to Walla Walla, to Tonasket, to Ellensburg...farms and ranches. It wasn't until a few decades ago that a lot of yuppies moved from the west side of the mountains over to Eastern Washington.

btw Fords have an excellent record here and in Europe.

Edited December 24, 2011 by Why_Me

[Captain Oates 911]

Eastern Washington (no such thing as Central Washington...that's a made up myth) is farm country hence the reason you see so many pickups and cowboy hats there. That area used to be big into ranching and raising American Quarter Horses (google Stuart Andersen) It's part of the culture and heritage passed on down. From Curlew, to Walla Walla, to Tonasket, to Ellensburg...farms and ranches. It wasn't until a few decades ago that a lot of yuppies moved from the west side of the mountains over to Eastern Washington.

btw Fords have an excellent record here and in Europe.

They say that if it wasn't for Seattle, Eastern Washington would be Idaho

I reckon I have done my time here now and its time to move on

I am with Aneurin Bevan in that I regard conservatives as "lower than vermin", so I need to get back to civilization - somewhere more cosmopolitan and modern.

Mississippi ? Arizona ? South Carolina ? Alabama ?

Madison Wisconsin looks good right now

The Ford Focus has a great reputation in Europe but I have spoken to a lot of people in the US who have had big trouble with Ford cars

I bought 3 brand new GM cars in a row in the UK but European cars handle and American cars are like sick whales on a corner

Nobody tries to 4 wheel slide a Camry automatic through a wet adverse camber bend

To gear was right

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Buy American.

[Captain Oates 911]

You can find ways to report news stories without making racist comments in the process. Please do so.

Sorry about that Kathryn, I was not thinking of any race when I made that comment - just certain bands of horrible people who rape and mutilate children in Africa. I see that on the telly and it is at the forefront of my mind sometimes.

The fact that they all do belong to one race, could make people think that it was a race motivated comment so I can understand you objecting to it.

I am struggling to come to terms with PC - where I can't say anything about the Germans eating boiled pigs knuckles without that being seen as racist, even though I am a fan of the Germans.

So the lesson is, that what I mean doesn't matter, it 's what other people think I might mean that is important nowadays - so I will have to practice more with that concept and succeed

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Buy American.

Well, the issue here isn't whether German cars are better, just that the workers are better compensated while still being profitable. American cars have gotten much better in the last decade or so, but for awhile there, American automakers were putting most of their effort into larger, gas guzzling SUV's and trucks, leaving few options for consumers who wanted fuel economy. On the good side, they have since responded to the consumer demand and even these new crossover SUV's like the Equinox and Traverse get terrific gas mileage.

If I was in the market to purchase a new car, the one on the top of my list would the Chevy Volt, followed by the hybrid Ford Fusion which gets 40mpg. The newer designs are dramatic improvements over the ugly small cars they were making just a decade ago.

[Captain Oates 911]

Well, the issue here isn't whether German cars are better, just that the workers are better compensated while still being profitable. American cars have gotten much better in the last decade or so, but for awhile there, American automakers were putting most of their effort into larger, gas guzzling SUV's and trucks, leaving few options for consumers who wanted fuel economy. On the good side, they have since responded to the consumer demand and even these new crossover SUV's like the Equinox and Traverse get terrific gas mileage.

If I was in the market to purchase a new car, the one on the top of my list would the Chevy Volt, followed by the hybrid Ford Fusion which gets 40mpg. The newer designs are dramatic improvements over the ugly small cars they were making just a decade ago.

Why do Americans want more economical cars when gasoline is dirt cheap and they don't believe in global warming anyway ?

Doesn't make sense

Edited December 24, 2011 by Ashud Cocoa