Happy 4th of July – Buy an American Made Used Car
Some might read the headline above as being either patriotic or protectionist. It seems as if I’m telling you to buy a used car made by an American company. I’m not. I’m advocating you buy a used car made in America.
It’s not the contradiction you think it is. Cars.Com has just published its 2009 American-Made Index and the top model is (imagine a collective gasp) the Toyota Camry, followed by the F-150, the Chevy Malibu, Honda Odyssey and Chevrolet Silverado 1500. You can also look at the 2008 American-Made Index and the 2007 American-Made Index.
By the way, the Cars.Com article has an excellent point about buying a car built by a domestic company vs. an foreign manufacturer:
“What about profit flow? For a given car you might purchase, hundreds or thousands of dollars in profit could potentially go to Detroit — or Japan, or Germany. This isn't to be discounted. But any American consumer can also invest in those profits: Toyota and Honda, for example, are both on the New York Stock Exchange. And import automakers contend that their manufacturing efforts produce plenty of cars — and with them, jobs — stateside, to the tune of billions of dollars of investment.”
Happy 4th of July to everybody. I’ve always loved this holiday and everything it stands for.
Images © Toyota and Getty Images
Illustration © Keith Griffin/About.Com
I think you make a good point, but I’ve read elsewhere that it matters where the profit accrues (ie. the parent company). Not sure which is propaganda, if either.