Another reason to avoid the Honda Fit

[Captainmorbid]

No doubt the Japanese are waaay ahead of the Chinese, but I don't think it will take quite as long to catch up. And Honda moving factories to China will help.

As far as labour standards go, China is terrible relative to the western (smirk) civilized nations. But, that's the funny thing about the developing world, as China becomes a consumer culture(like us) it will look to a cheap location to supply itself with crap Walmart type cheap goods, and then they will complain about quality and the import imbalance...

Yaaay consumerism!!!!

I'm not saying China is the best and we need to model ourselves on them(good god no!). I'm just saying that they are providing crack to crackheads. They didn't hook us, but damn that bait looks sweet!

As for the stang, Ford occasionally does dumb things to keep the profit livable for them... See rear independent suspension removal to save 100$ per car...

[f91]

So when is Steeda going to outsource to China so I can stop buying from them?

Originally Posted by appleinfl

Everything from china is poorly made low quality junk. Riiiiight

[Captainmorbid]

Ha ha ha!! Dude that's funny...

The Japan vs China debate isn't quite fair anyway. It's comparing oranges to mecha. Japan also had a bit of help with their complete rebuild after they kind of got bombed to the stone age... So did Germany...

[Captainmorbid]

And if you want to compare labour conditions, check out Japan prior to WW2.

[f91]

You have to go back 70 years to get comparable labor conditions. How sad is that?

Originally Posted by Captainmorbid

And if you want to compare labour conditions, check out Japan prior to WW2.

[Captainmorbid]

Originally Posted by f91

You have to go back 70 years to get comparable labor conditions. How sad is that?

I don't think China is currently quite as bad as pre-modern Japan. But they do have a ways to go to catch up to "our" standards. There are quite a few countries out there that are waaay worse, but we don't import from them... Yet.

I just don't see China as the bogey man, they are feeding us cheap products so we can feel better off than we actually are. Supply and Demand...

[Norm201]

Originally Posted by Captainmorbid

I don't think China is currently quite as bad as pre-modern Japan. But they do have a ways to go to catch up to "our" standards. There are quite a few countries out there that are waaay worse, but we don't import from them... Yet.

I just don't see China as the bogey man, they are feeding us cheap products so we can feel better off than we actually are. Supply and Demand...

In a very simplistic manner you described our situation very well.

[Captainmorbid]

I am nothing if not simple...

[3Mach1]

Originally Posted by f91

I'll stand by my statement.
The Japanese continually improved their products, improved their quality. The Chinese cut corners. The transmission in my Mustang is Chinese. It is, without a doubt, the one thing in the car that will keep you up at night.
Do a google search on Chinese labor conditions and compare that to the Japanese in the 60's.

Its the one thing that keeps me from wanting a new Mustang. Sure, the Tremecs are not perfect but I have never in my life seen such a cluster you know what with a manual transmission. I had an open mind about them until I started seeing the random issues all over the board. I believe in Ford and Getrag but I dont believe in China's quality control. It reared its ugly head in this case. At least for the 11 and 12 model years. What was Ford thinking???? I keep cars forever and I dont feel like they can be trusted long term.

I hope they get better but its hit and miss just like the Scooters, small engines, generators, and on and on..... China will never become a Japan imo. They sell price and in many cases like the Mustang I dont for a second believe that savings is passed along to the consumer.

[wmussatto]

I remember when made in Japan was synonymous with cheap, poorly made goods. I've read where China wants to move up the quality scale just as Japan did. Cheap is moving to Vietnam or elsewhere. <rant>As far as labor conditions and environment, when we went into the last round of trade talks, a certain party forbid the US negotiators from raising either labor or environmental concerns. Now we are told that US environmental laws are making us uncompetitive. </rant>