Angry Ford dealer in South Carolina blasts Japanese imports in ads

Both cars built by Americans in America.

Then what's the difference between the Nissan and the Chevy? They are built by different Americans? No. According to different standards, designs, technology in different factories led by different people, perhaps?

He sold some cars, so I doubt he'll be feeling guilty. These guys need to realize the downturn isn't doing good things for Japan either though, and I hope this isn't a signal of the return of the 1980s-style bashing of Japan.

Then why is it that Japanese cars can stay on the road forever >and "American" cars cannot?

Alot of the quality differences that were obvious between imported Japanese cars and US cars in the last couple of decades has actually dissappeared, with Detroit having improved it's quality considerably. However, many, including those in Detroit feel that still isn't enough and there is still the lingering stigma of the past. I recently rented a Chevy Malibu and returned it after a couple days as it was piece of garbage. I rented a Nissan Altima instead and am very happy. Both cars built by Americans in America.

When the Japanese come to Hawaii, they love to rent and shoot big guns >and rent American sports cars. That would be because they are infatuated with everything American.

To further clarify this point, alot of Japanese when in Hawaii have a chance to drive around in a car they usually only see in Hollywood movies. This is the attraction. Few Japanese are going to want to rent a compact Toyota when in Hawaii.

“rice ready ... not road ready”

A severe, and equally pathetic, case of delusion.

When the Japanese come to Hawaii, they love to rent and shoot big guns and rent American sports cars.

That would be because they are infatuated with everything American.

better rice ready than rust ready.

SiouxGirl, my Hummer and Ford pick-up ain't "Japanese" and they works just fine. My Accord has a better turn ratio.

When the Japanese come to Hawaii, they love to rent and shoot big guns and rent American sports cars.

Tell it to the Japanese, SiouxGirl.

Then why is it that Japanese cars can stay on the road forever and "American" cars cannot?

SiouxGirl, I gots same bad news for ya.

Almost all the Japanese cars driven in America are made by "rednecks" in Japanese factories on US soil.

We're glad you like our work.

I drive a GM-made car now and am nervous about it. I've always driven Toyotas and they've lasted and lasted but I bought a GM car because I needed something bigger and it was a steal. Everyone in the U.S. knows Japan makes a better car - everyone except rednecks, that is, which South Carolina is famous for. Everyone knows with american-made cars you'll have a dead car that you're still making car payments on. This is one of the reasons the big 3 need a bailout. Bring on the rice. We'll be leaving everyone else by the side of the road.

I live in NC and have owned 5 Toyotas and will continue to own Toyota's.. and most of the ones we have on our lot are all made in the USA.. how dare him say such things.. its disrespectful to all people !

That's because Ford is cr@p.. They make lousy cars which breaks every month. What's the point in buying American cars? I owned an American car and had to take it to the shop almost every month. How my American cr@p for a Japanese car and never had any problems.

Maybe, if they made more effort into the future (hybrid, etc.) they wouldn't have had this sort of problem.

Now they are asking for a bailout and they arrive to beg the Congress flying on their own private.. Have they ever heard about flying commercially? Bill Gates flies on commercial airlines, are US executives too good to fly on commercial airlines?

Ah_so: German cars are even better.

But I guess it takes 30 years for people to figure out GM and Chrysler. Not that they don't make a few good cars, but their overarching strategy is cut corners and keep the savings.

Uh-Uh Isn't Mazda a Japanese Brand?

Up until just a couple weeks ago Ford was the controlling share holder of Mazda, and had rights to appoint a significant number of executives.

Several Mazda's sold in the US are made by Ford in Detroit. The big three can obviously make a Japanese quality car. But the cars they make under their own brands are quite sub par.

At one time, I owned a number of American made cars. After 60K miles, I just couldn't pass up a repair shop for one thing or another and it wasn't to visit the owner or mechanic.As a previous owner of Mercedes for over 28 years I decided to purchase a car manufactured elsewhere. I won't come crying to anyone! We happen to have a Toyota and Mitsubishi and damn well proud of both vehicles. The two japanese cars mentioned can get you over 200K without even removing the heads, and very seldom do they sprout oil leaks like the ones manufactured in the US. In my town, a Chev Dealership closed doors on Friday but Toyota and other companies are still opened for business. I'm sure most people want the most bang for the buck regardless of where the item is manufactured.

That's stupid I don't see what his damn problem its just a damn car he shouldn't go around blaming other people for his damn problems. He need to suck it up and be a man about it instead of down-talking another country. Instead of being a dick he should know that are country is in trouble and should stop bitching.

I find it hard to fathom why people buy anything other than a Japanese car.

bcbrownboy,

Except even in Europe, there's not this level of babying bailouts.

That's changing.. "The Swedish government has agreed to provide over $3 billion in the form of credit guarantees, loans, and R&D investment to Volvo and Saab.." The Europeans know dang well that China is ready to flood the markets with cheaply made cars. They're smart to protect their economies.

The fat, bloated UAW/USA Big 3 automakers (aptly named), look just like the consumers they are targeting. And while the consumers want to sue MacDonalds, the auto industry want to blame others. As the man said, Physician heal thyself. Now the muscular market economists are becoming simpering Euro-socialists. Except even in Europe, there's not this level of babying bailouts. The whole country has over-indulged for half a century, and now wants daddy to save them. And don't get me started on the evil wall street fat cats.

let's see, this is what $ 9 million ($15 mil. after taxes, give or take...) would buy me -

1) Aston Martin DBS 2) Aston Martin DB9 Volante 3) Porsche 911 cabriolet 4) Bentley Arnage 5) Ferrari California 6) Mercedes-Benz S550 AMG 7) BMW 750Li 8) Audi S8 9) Pagani Zonda 10) Peugeot 307 cabriolet 11) Gulfstream VI corporate jet 12) A blonde in high heels waiting in the Cayman Islands

just to name a few. point is, these big wigs don't even drive 'big3' or j cars either, they all go straight to dupont registry.

all this dealer has to do is start another dealership and walk away from the ford one. duh. he's a chicer (cheese + rice = chice). i'd like to see him on youtube shrieking his balls off at a chinese restaurant cashier or something. it'll go something like this: 'rice! rice!' LOL.

btw, how does the chairman of gm earn 15 million a year while the ship sinks?@#?

American needs more people like this car dealer in order to win the fight against globilizatioon and multiculturalism. Japan willnever be anywhere as great as America.

Bail-out = fail-OUT! Trying to save the U.S. auto industry, is like trying to bring the dead back to life!

Toyota has been building factories in the US, while the Big 3 are outsourcing them abroad. Toyota builds cars Americans want to buy, and hasn't been defrauding Americans for decades like the Big 3. They also treat their American employees a lot better than the Big 3.

My father bought a brand new Ford which inexplicably burned to the frame in the driveway one night through some sort of freakish 'electrical problem'. Cars made my American manufacturers are crap, plain and simple. VW's and Hondas live forever.

I checked Mr.Welch's Hardeeville Ford website and his staff photo. He does look like an idiot. I drive a Ford Ranger and a Honda Accord BTW.

Of course the Citizens League had to start howling, but he, come on, >he's hardly being a racist moron..let's not go over the top here.

If this were 1985 yes I'd buy your comment. But this is 2008 with Americans building Japanese brand cars in multiple factories in the US. Im afraid this guy is very much a racist moron.

I have owned nearly every make and model vehicle from every manufacturer in the past 25 years. The Japanese cars are far superior to the American cars. The German cars are even better. Even Kia is better than most American cars. The big 3 automakers in the US need to make a better car - period - before blaming anyone else for anything. Why is it that of all the car makers in the world, ONLY the US branches LOSE money while everyone else is enjoying a PROFIT even with the economic turndown? Probably because of all those greedy execs who get money for nothing in the US corporations, versus the other car companies where the execs dont make more than the top paid desk worker - quite a big difference is how things are viewed and what it means to "give your all" for the company....

unscrejects,

Man, and people will call this guy a racist for fighting for his rights in his own country?

No. People will call this guy a racist for making racist comments. Had he presented his argument in a logical, factual manner, no reasonable person would call him racist.

But...given the chance, he took the low road with the asinine rice comment. Hence, he deserves the racist title given him in my opinion.

Taka

"American cars and Japanese cars are about perfectly equal in the quality ratings" Been working in the industry many years, American cars dont come close. Even in good times US manufacturers have continually underinvested to cream off cash for execs, staff benefits and investors.

It will be a harsh but sorely needed lesson for the US motor industry if any of the big 3 (read Chrysler) go down.

News Flash to the Big Three in the USA:

MAKE BETTER CARS, STOP PANDERING TO THE UAW, AND PERHAPS -- PERHAPS -- YOUR CARS WILL SELL BETTER, LOOK BETTER, AND DRIVE BETTER!!!!!!

It's time for the Big Three to get off of the 1950s mentality that they've had the last five decades, and live in the now. Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, and every other foreign car maker in the world, are out to do one thing, and one thing only:

To make the best cars available on the market, and to run the competition out of business.

The sooner the Big Three realize that the foreign car companies are out to put them into Chapter 11, and, eventually, out of business altogether, and not to pander to the UAW or any other wage-stealing, capital gains squandering union, the sooner they will start to make the best cars in the world, just like they did up until aobut a decade or so ago.

when you don’t have a job to make your Toyota car payment, don’t come crying to me

no one will. you will be unemployed too.

Whatever, this guy is playing the "Billy Bubba" card. As a salesman if it helps him sell cars then public oppinion or facts be damned. He is of course way off base since most "Japnese" cars are manufactured in the US.

Blast! Always the last line. Should read: If the American car manufacturers were competing against a viable public transport system things would be different.

“*'It’s a blatant, ignorant, racist remark from somebody who should know better,' Mori said."

Well, maybe he doesn't know any better. Maybe this guy is just another ignorant redneck who has been conditioned by his smelly environment to blame his troubles on minority groups. If it isn't the Japanese it's the Blacks or the Jews or the "Lefties."

If you study anti-Asian prejudices in the US they did not begin in the 1930s through WWII. In fact in 1943 Chinese immigrants were allowed to become US citizens for the first time in lieu of the 1793 naturalization law that barred immigrant non-whites from US citizenship (amended several times to allow citizenship to ex-slaves and Native Americans). In fact anti-Asian racism goes back to the 19th century, then aimed against the Chinese. Anti-Japanese sentiment and pro-Japanese sentiment was mixed in the US prior to WWII. To intellectuals the Japanese were the "Yankees of the East" and to others they were part of the "yellow peril." It is a rather complex history and one I don't feel like presenting in detail here unless I'm paid.

But all that aside, the 1980s were an excellent of the admiration and hatred for the Japanese in the US. On one hand there was the Japan as Number One rubbish (which anyone living in Japan with half a brain laughed at) and then there was the paranoia that Japan was going to take over the US. This dumb white Southern redneck's rantings are a throwback to that era.

If the Americans were competing against a viable public transport system things would be different.

nother screed by a guy who doesn't value the well being of his customers as he should. I had a Ford Contour 5-speed that I liked very much but the airbag electronics went bad and the repair costs were more than the car was worth. Do you think Ford offered a similar car for sale? Nope! Think my Toyota is more reliable? You betcha!

Mr Ford Dealer has my total sympathy. The guy driving a Turkish built BMW - the thread is about a Ford dealership complaing about the rampant abuse of commercial regulations by Japanese auto makers through so-called friendship socities in the US. The silent recalls or recalls they never conduct cost the car buyer billions per year - FORD alas is forced by regulators regularly prodded by their Toyota handlers to announce a recall. Ford hears about it in the press. Toyota hears about their product defects in closed door meetings in the Toyota offices. I saw too much of the mis-deeds to make me puke for a life time. And don't try tipping off the Feds... Take the Mazda MX3 that entered the US in 1994 without airbags yet all documentation stated "with airbag". A US army soldier was killed in a Texas crash. The judge ruled that somebody in the dealership had produced the cars papers. What a crock!!! The car had been booted out of the European market for safety problems and re-routed into the US with paperwork for a model that was to be built the following year with airbags - which had become mandatory. Three thousand of these death traps entered the US and the company never paid a dime in restituion nor fines. The US dealer of a US brand must pay for all work done in recalls and the costs being so high force the manufacturers to try to pass on part of the cost. These dealers know about the Toyotas because many of them are or have been duel American/Japanese dealer. They know the product defect history and they're surprised that the Japanese makers are not being ordered to conduct the recalls. Many are paying the repair costs under warranty which they try to pass on to the manufacturer. Guess what? The Nagoya boys say, you carried out the repair at your discretion, you pay. Man and people will call this guy a racist for fighting for his rights in his own country?

All those cars are rice ready. They’re not road ready.

What does that mean? Is it some kind of advertising jingle?

the Mazda 626 model, for example.

Uh-Uh Isn't Mazda a Japanese Brand? I know that Ford owns shares from mazda but that doesn't make mazda american.

Idiotic, this guy is so old fashioned.. and the people that bought the 15 cars are more idiotic too...

“All you people that buy all your Toyotas and send that money to Japan, you know, when you don’t have a job to make your Toyota car payment, don’t come crying to me,”

If they don't have a job to make a Toyota car payment they certainly won't have a job to pay for ANY car payment...

Please!

the irony is that a lot of Ford vehicles made today use Japanese parts.

the Mazda 626 model, for example.

His racist rant is 30 to 20 years too late. Move along people nothing to see here.

unscrejects are the japanese or american people selling japanese cars with a weapon in North America? if you dont know what to do save space in this place, i live in Germany and i drive an BMW i dont care where a car come if the car protect my family for accidents,our wallet from stupid 8 V engine who only drink plenty Gas and make you use your credit card at the end of the day.

Thats why now come the credit card crisis in America with this kind of menthality..telling the people we are the best your car industry is killing our life..make good quality cars and not dinosaurs.

Especially the small ones. The larger ones are larger, though.

I don't like Japanese cars because they're too small.

If you have ever had the unfortunate opportunity to step into an 'American made car', brand irrelevant, it is easy to see why many would choose to buy a foreign brand. The build quality is especially poor, and the handling is like that of a lump of jelly. I would rather ride a horse and cart to work than 'buy American'.

wonder what kind of t.v. he owns. Where was all of his electronic gadgets made in? *

China like everyone elses stuff. Including the Japanese.

The guy is an idiot and thats all. Also American cars and Japanese cars are about perfectly equal in the quality ratings by most polls, so those who still think other wise havent moved on from the late 70-80 era.

Instead of bashing people who choose to buy made-in-America Toyotas, maybe he should be bashing Ford who obviously aren't making the kind of cars Americans want to buy. Or maybe he should be negotiating to expand his franchise to include a Toyota dealership.

What a pathetic whiner! Americans always speak so strongly of free market and free competition but when they start losing marketshares the whining begins! Has this idiot never considered that people buy japanese cars because they simply higher quality? If there was truly a free market in the US the big 3 would crash and burn, why? They cant make cars! Normally if a company isnt good a doing what it does it will shut down. What a disgrace that US taxdollars are being spent on allowing them to contintue producing crappy fuel-inefficient cars.

"People with no understanding of the industry are best advised to sit this one out. "

As such, the Big 3 bailout should have been conditioned upon the resignations of the heads of all 3 companies and the head of UAW.

:)

Interesting how Mr. Welch is so hostile toward not foreign carmakers in general, but only Japanese carmakers. I suppose it is just a coincidence that BMW builds cars in his home state of South Carolina.

For a people who supposedly value their freedom, independence and Christian virtue, Americans sure complain a lot about how there isn't enough external pressure on them to do the right thing. If Americans think it is important to support the Big Three, nothing keeps them from buying domestic cars. But hey, it's always easier to bash other people than take a good hard look in the mirror (made in China).

Don't be too hard on the Ford dealer. He's likely a victim of the Philadelphia Experiment, and has been propelled 70 years into the future. Therefore, he still believes that Fords are made in the United States, and that Toyotas are made in Japan. Eventually he'll achieve temporal accordance and realize the folly of his words.

Isn't freedom of expression a wonderful thing? I'm told it exists in Japan as well, but it seems to me most all Japanese lack the balls to complain about anything!

A Toyota more American than a Ford built in Mexico? Don't me me laugh... Toyota is killing the US auto industry through practices that would send an American exec to prison for a hundred years. People with no understanding of the industry are best advised to sit this one out. And Mr. Mori should should take a good look in the proverbial mirror - nobody bashes Asia, nobody period! It's the other way round.

Unbelievable. Isn't the defining trait of an American "Freedom'? So if someone tells me I can only buy a certain brand of product, how is that freedom? I wish we had more models of vehicles to choose from in N.America. Why can't I buy anything I please, it's my money, if I want to support Japan I will support Japan. Buy what you want and don't believe this 'Buy American' scam. These are the same people that outsourced pretty much everything. Go to a WalMart and try to find 10 items that are not made in China. Yet more people than ever go to WalMart. So if you believe that is America taking care of 'itself' then fine, you are delusional.

The guy got the publicity and he sold his 15 cars. Let others deal with the fallout.

Pre-modern Oriental thinking at its best.

whats next? will this redneck clown make a swipe at the Germans? - dont by a BMW its engineered by former Nazis (rolleyes), though that isn't likely to happen in South Carolina - not too many people there would drive anything but a Ford F150 (which is made in Mexico) to the NASCAR ciruit to watch American dinosaurs roaring around the oval.

ignorant asses like Mr O.C. Welch here deserve to go out of business

Sorry, American's should buy more American cars. Just because about 1/2 of them are produced there, the wages of a few thousand people pail in comparison of what is being shipped back to Japan, otherwise they wouldn't do it. The other factors for building in the US are the huge tax breaks they get.

The Japanese car industry has had a wonderful time in the US. Time for the US to take care of itself. Buy "Made in America by American Companies"

As for filling a void if the 3 big car companies go into bankruptcy, no void will be needed. They will always be around in some form or another. Everyone needs a car.

Uneducated person at its worst.

Here's my 2bits.....

If gas was under $1.00 a gallon in the US, the Big 3 would not be in such a weak position. At $4.00 a gallon, the SUV's were like armored tanks. Many auto analysts know this, if gas was domestically produced at retail under $1.00, the Big Three could still sell cars easily, and Japanese cars would not be sooooooo attractive.

Before the 1973 Oil Crisis, a gallon of gas was around 25 cents (0.25$)and filling up a car was under $5.00US. It now is very complicated.

I say to Ford Make Btter cars! I have a Honda. BUT if any other country had an "Anti American slogan" in an add I DOUBT it would be an issue at all.

rjd_jr -- valid points, but, as much as you could credit the American consumer for being behind Japan's surge in U.S. auto sales, you can also credit OPEC. If you have followed the U.S. car industry over the last 30 years or so, you certainly took note of the fact that the Japanese companies made their greatest inroads when oil/gas prices spiked -- first in the 70's, and again very recently. Sure, the U.S. companies were still relying on selling two many trucks and SUV's, but, don't forget all the Japanese companies aggressively got into those segments as well -- and their sales are hurting just as much. Or did you miss the fact that the Japanese companies all had sales declines of over 30% last month in the U.S.?

“It’s a blatant, ignorant, racist remark from somebody who should know better... that's what we do” Mori said.

Edited for cheap laughs.

I wonder if this moron realizes that some Toyotas are more American than Fords made in Mexico?

Rice-ready? Was that supposed to sound clever?

It's good to see that this sort of fun advertising is still covered by the freedom of speech. A welcome blast of un-PCness for once, even though I do not fully agree with the comments. Of course the Citizens League had to start howling, but he, come on, he's hardly being a racist moron..let's not go over the top here.

herefornow-good points about equal footing. Add to that health care costs, which are said to be about $1500 a car for the big three. Americans can blame whoever they want - the companies for entering into such disadvantageous labor contracts, or the bad, evil people at the UAW (what's with this getting paid to make things nonsense anyways, why weren't they out there doing a real job like flipping real estate or trading credit-default swaps?). And I don't care if they are for universal health care or against "socialized" medicine. The point is the don't have it, and so health care became part of the pay package. The Japanese government never put the Japanese automakers in a position where they could make the same mistake. And how much you want to bet Mr. Welch is against "socialized" medicine?

In Japan cars are made to be more fuel efficent, so you pay less at the pump. in america they make cars with smaller gas tanks, so you spend less at the pump. if this guy wants more business to sell cars that are worthy of driving then sell Honda's or Toyota's. I stopped buying american cars 20 years ago and have never looked back.

Big 3 need to deliver quality products so US consumers can make informed decisions. Let's run a professional marketting campaign. Capitalize on the help to the US economy or other things like: "when you buy Japanese you are supporting a government who kills whales, does allow child porn, does not enforce equal opportunity, and gives a blind eye to anti-discrimination laws. But let's keep the racist remarks out, as our yellow fellows are as equal as our brothers.

And besides, take a look at wikipedia's list of world automakers. Japan isn't going to be the country that steps up and fills the void if the Big Three go down.. it'll be China. O.C. Welch is thinking that Japan is his problem.. and cannot see what is the real threat.

Angry Ford dealer in South Carolina blasts Japanese imports in ads

o.c. welch is, by his own statements, an imbecile. 70-years removed from the present in his racism, and 28-years removed from reality in his logic. The targets of his rage ought to be: the ineffective auto execs who manage to eek out huge bonuses for themselves while forbidding our guys to build decent cars; the banks, which have taken the money from the giant federal bailout and STILL won't loosen the credit markets so people can buy cars; the auto press and nameless talk radio shills who poo-pooed the need for reasonably-sized, fuel efficient vehicles and constantly pushed idiotic house-sized trucks as the ideal for consumers who love to be told what to do. o.c. welch should also be irate at lawmakers who put the American manufacturing base in peril by allowing these top-heavy, corporate bureaucracies to put short-term layoff-generated profits ahead of long-term planning.

He's the kind of neanderthal that is representative of those guys in Detroit that killed that asian guy in the early 80's thinking he was Japanese.

Vincent Chin was the guy's name, btw. And you're right, this is exactly the kind of "shouting fire in a crowded theater" racism that directly led to Chin's murder.

What a moron.

That's true herefornow but more credit must be given to the American consumer. People bought imports from japan because of the quality issue, period. How many stories have we heard of american cars from back then constantly breaking down, etc. etc.? A car is a huge investment, what good was it back then to urge people to buy american when american cars were of inferior quality to japanese ones in general. Yes nowadays american cars are quite good, and quality has gone up, but too little too late. It's hard to erase that stigma, fair or not, and the american auto industry's refusal to properly address this issue was its greatest downfall.

Welch said he’s mostly mad at politicians

What a surprise. Another obsessive anti-government nutter. Wouldn't mind some tax incentives though. Guess he missed a few sermons at the Church of the Holy Free Market. Incentives would distort the market! Blame the Congress, blame Japan, blame car buyers, blame everybody except Ford and the guy stuck with a Ford dealership in 2008 because he didn't see any of this coming.

rjd_jr -- admittedly, this guy's comments are stupid, but, are you going to tell me that the Japanese auto makers have not benefitted greatly from an open market in the U.S. -- something that does not exist here? As well as significant government support? Anyone who can look at this subject obectively will definitely say that much of the Big Three's problems are self-induced. But, that same person will conclude that these companies were not competing on an equal footing when Japan Inc. was absorbing pension costs and manipulating the yen to help their automakers.

What a throw back. Sounds like the anti-Japanese car ads of the mid to late 1980s. Wasn't there one about going down to see the Christmas Tree at the Hirohito (Rockerfeller) Center? I wonder if this "Good Ol' Boy' actually appeared in the advertisement in his whitesheet outfit as well.

Anti-foreign sentiment is just going to get worse as people loose their jobs in the US. Ignorance and asses will fuel it, ignoring the facts.

Doesnt this sound like the stupid garbage that was spewed back in the 1980s? If the big 3 cant make cars that dont suck gasoline like it`s going out of style, then they deserve to go under. And I feel sorry for the workers of these plants. Do like Michael Moore said, tell the big 3 to start making stuff we can actually use. Fuel efficient, or green energy cars.

"Rice ready" huh? What a flippin moron. He's the kind of neanderthal that is representative of those guys in Detroit that killed that asian guy in the early 80's thinking he was Japanese. I wonder what kind of t.v. he owns. Where was all of his electronic gadgets made in?

Idiot, let's see some criticism here.

American cars are under engineered garbage! The world is better off with the bankruptcy of the big 3 which have made nothing but nut shell cars with no quality or sense. Quality and engineering is the foundation to making cars not profit. Unfortunate for the american public and those that continue to buy american cars.