A Sad Day For the Jeep Brand

BONDSY

Member
I'm not to sure if you can call it a rumor, or if the political silly season has brought these details to light. But here is the news story, judge for yourself.
It would be a sad day though, if the ICONIC and LEGENDARY Jeep brand were to ship production overseas. I had read prior, Jeep maybe building some models in Italy, but China??????

http://washingtonexaminer.com/jeep-...duction-to-china/article/2511703#.UIndJsXA_8m

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-...ild-all-jeep-models-as-suv-demand-climbs.html


obama jeep.jpg
 
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Skirmish

New member
Really? Here too? I had hopes this forum was above this political crap. They are reopening a plant in China to keep up with increasing demand in China, the worlds largest auto market. The are considering expanding to all of their models not to take away from US production but to be able to offer more product overseas.

It is a story of the success of the Jeep brand internationally twisted by the Washington Examiner, a free newspaper owned by a far right wing billionaire to try to smear the President in Ohio.
 

Sharkey

Word Ninja
That sucks for sure. :Sad:

Maybe there is a bright side though. Maybe the Chinese Jeeps will come stock with Tom Woods drive shafts and those super duty gold chinese u-joints.
 

piginajeep

The Original Smartass
its kinda False,,, Read this article...



http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/no-jeep-isn-t-moving-factories-production-china-205828426.html

There's no bigger challenge to writing about complex topics than making sure words mean what one wants them to. Today's exhibit comes from a story quoting a Jeep executive on the company's plans for getting back into China which, through the power of a clumsly misreading, has morphed into a charge that Jeep "is considering giving up on the United States and shifting production to China." It's not -- but many people suffering from election fever will want to believe it anyway.



The story began with this Bloomberg piece, where Jeep chief Mike Manley talks about the prospects for the Jeep Wranger and Grand Cherokee in China. Chrysler had built the older-generation Jeep Cherokee in China decades ago, but lost the plant en route to bankruptcy, and has been seeking ways back into the world's largest market for new cars since. "We're reviewing the opportunities within existing capacity" Manley told Bloomberg, as well as "should we be localizing the entire Jeep portfolio or some of the Jeep portfolio."



That quote led Paul Bedard of the Washington Examiner to assume Jeep was ready to pack up its Toledo plant and sail west. "It appears that the taxpayer bailed-out Chrysler is looking back and now considering cutting costs by shifting production of all Jeeps to China, which has a strong desire for Jeeps," Bedard wrote today. That story quickly gained traction in political circles, fueled by the continuing political sparring over the bailouts of Chrysler and General Motors that's become a staple of the presidential election.



The problem: Bedard's flat wrong. "Localizing" as Manley said means building versions of Jeep models in China, just as all major automakers tweak their products for Chinese production, safety rules and local tastes. China has yet to become an exporter of vehicles to the United States, and only one automaker imports vehicles from China to the United States today -- the start-up electric car builder Coda, which finishes its cars in California and has sold only a handful to date.



In fact, Chrysler has sunk its roots deeper in Toledo, committing last year to spend $500 million on the factory complex and add 1,100 workers, based on plans to eventually build a variety of models at one of the two plants there. The Toledo Jeep Wrangler plant has been running at full-tilt this year, as has the Detroit plant that builds the Grand Cherokee. Moving either anywhere would cost Chrysler billions of dollars in costs and lost sales -- and both make huge profits for the automaker.



To be fair, this misreading was fueled by President Barack Obama's comment in the last debate that absent his administration's rescue of GM and Chrysler, "we'd be buying cars from China instead of selling cars to China." In truth, Chinese automakers had a chance to buy Jeep and any other part of Chrysler from its private equity owners in February 2008 before its bankruptcy, but passed. Even if a Chinese buyer had carved out Jeep, the finances of shifting output over the Pacific would have been even worse.



People inside the auto industry knew what Manley meant, but stripped of all context, and with no background the phrase could be used to create a political ghost story. Election day can't get here soon enough.
 

BONDSY

Member
It is a story of the success of the Jeep brand internationally twisted by the Washington Examiner, a free newspaper owned by a far right wing billionaire to try to smear the President in Ohio.

Well thank-you for helping me "JUDGE FOR YOURSELF" as I stated in my initial post. And I included two stories so people could make that determination, for themselves. Thanks for the BIO on the washington examiner though, I did not know that.:crazyeyes:
 

BONDSY

Member
That sucks for sure. :Sad:

Maybe there is a bright side though. Maybe the Chinese Jeeps will come stock with Tom Woods drive shafts and those super duty gold chinese u-joints.

:cheesy::cheesy::cheesy: Can you say Gold Seal.......:thumb:
 

Skirmish

New member
BONDSY said:
Well thank-you for helping me "JUDGE FOR YOURSELF" as I stated in my initial post. And I included two stories so people could make that determination, for themselves. Thanks for the BIO on the washington examiner though, I did not know that.:crazyeyes:

You are welcome.
 

BONDSY

Member
No, not one, more like 8. Must have been front page on the Drudge Report today. ;)

The story may be half truth, I don't see them pulling up roots and relocating to china. The sad story though would be the outsourcing of jobs,
investment capitol, and resources. If china/asia wants the Jeep Brand vehicles, just import them from us.
 

JKAnimal

Caught the Bug
That's what happens when the USA has the highest Corporate tax rates in the entire WORLD! :icon_crazy:
 

Skirmish

New member
The effective tax rate in the US is much lower than most industrialized nations.



image-1332677362.jpg

When you say import them from us I'm assuming you mean Chrysler and Fiat? An international company not controlled by the US Government? It costs them $10,000 less to produce a Rubicon in China, where would you build? If they did export to China and adding on to the ten grand is the 8.8% tariff China levied making the Jeep product noncompetitive in that market Chrysler looses money and no one wins. It would be great if we could wave a magic wand and make them buy from us but I think Chrysler has their reasons for producing Chinese Jeeps in China, like the fact that they already have the factories there perhaps?
 
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BONDSY

Member
The effective tax rate in the US is much lower than most industrialized nations.





When you say import them from us I'm assuming you mean Chrysler and Fiat? An international company not controlled by the US Government? It costs them $10,000 less to produce a Rubicon in China, where would you build? If they did export to China and adding on to the ten grand is the 8.8% tariff China levied making the Jeep product noncompetitive in that market Chrysler looses money and no one wins. It would be great if we could wave a magic wand and make them buy from us but I think Chrysler has their reasons for producing Chinese Jeeps in China, like the fact that they already have the factories there perhaps?

Your putting word's in my mouth, and besides that, for dissing this forum for allowing political threads you sure are arguing alot. What I simply was stating, Jeeps are built in the USA, if our fellow beloved human beings want to buy a Jeep, they should be buying one produced in America. Of course I understand Chryslers objective in building a product for less to increase profit, I'm all for capitalism, But the fact is, the US/Canada government did have ownership, US tax payers did bail them out, the auto workers still do have partial ownership and the the argument of "outsourcing" a product that by all means could be produced here and exported.......well it just bugs me a bit.
 

Sharkey

Word Ninja
I think you are missing the point Skirmish. There are certain products, unfortunately not so many these days, that are so iconic in American culture that the very thought of them being produced overseas (for any reason) is tough to swallow. Statistics and charts don't change that, nor do discussions of the finer points of global economies or international markets. I get it, I have degrees in finance and accounting as well as a law degree and you know what, I don't care about the numbers...Jeeps should be built in the USA by the men and women of this great country.

Just because something can be made cheaper in China doesn't mean it should be.
 

Skirmish

New member
I understand how it could bug you and sure it would be great if every Jeep was made here and if it were economical for for them to do it I'm sure they would. It was a business decision made in the 80's to build the plant to take advantage of an emerging market, they closed it during the recession and I think it is great for the Jeep brand that they want to reopen the factory.

What bugged me about your original post is that you started with an article from a paper that you probably never heard of before today and finished with a picture of the President. Most people won't bother to read the first article let alone the second. A lot of those will just assume that Obama is shipping jobs overseas when he is fighting the Chinese on their duty charged to prevent American cars from being profitable there. The other forums have been over run lately with anti Obama threads. When I view new posts usually one in ten is political. I didn't see that here and felt it was a very nice change of pace. I find those threads to be toxic to the forums and nothing gets solved.
 

Skirmish

New member
Sharkey said:
I think you are missing the point Skirmish. There are certain products, unfortunately not so many these days, that are so iconic in American culture that the very thought of them being produced overseas (for any reason) is tough to swallow. Statistics and charts don't change that, nor do discussions of the finer points of global economies or international markets. I get it, I have degrees in finance and accounting as well as a law degree and you know what, I don't care about the numbers...Jeeps should be built in the USA by the men and women of this great country.

Just because something can be made cheaper in China doesn't mean it should be.

The point is, US Jeeps will remain in production to be sold in the US as well as other countries. Chinese Jeeps that were in production from 1983 until 2009 will once again be produced in China to be sold in the Asian market, as the have been in the past. They aren't new factories or jobs being shipped out, it is an increase in demand that they are meeting with existing resources.
 

Sharkey

Word Ninja
...and again, I say who cares. I'm sure it would be cheaper to make Chinese Jack Daniels for sale in China than it is to make it here and ship it over. I don't care about the economics; I would be sad to hear it was being made in China.
 
I just read through this whole thread and only figured out two things:

1. You are all smarter than me;

2. Obama does not wheel, so I'm not voting for him! (Romney may not either, but at least he wears cowboy boots once in a while.)

Done. Try to top that!:thumb:
 
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