The things that make us Americans are the things we make...

Did I miss the discussion on this commercial?

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/06/10/video-first-2011-jeep-grand-cherokee-commercial-released/#continued

I REALLY like it.

Needs moar Hemi!

Seriously though, I'm not sure about the front end yet but I did like the commercial.

agreed on the commercial being awesome, disagree on the jeep being cool. it looks fugly. it may be built like a brick E36 M3 house, but it looks like what youd find in side of said house

I like the commercial, certainly better than that Dodge Challenger commercial showing a George Washington "lookalike" charging the "redcoats" in a hulking, black Challenger.

The Jeep itself? Well, they can't get too far from the "basic" theme of the old Grand Cherokee, so I like the looks, but I think I would want a lower or mid-line model as the one in the commercial has an interior that strays a bit too much into "luxo-Range Rover wannabe" territory.

Yeah, I could take or leave the vehicle. It doesn't really serve a purpose for me. But I LOVE the commercial. It makes me want to go blacksmith something.

DILYSI Dave wrote: Yeah, I could take or leave the vehicle. It doesn't really serve a purpose for me. But I LOVE the commercial. It makes me want to go blacksmith something.

hahaha! it makes me want to stand on an i-beam while a crane is swinging it across the construction site

I dig the commercial. I wish Ford had done it instead.

Better than the Dodge Challenger UFO commercial.....I think the point of that one is to tell me it is ok to drive my car into a field if I see a UFO...I'm not sure what else I am supposed to get out of it

link

hadn't seen George Washington's version - that is even dumber.

I like the ad. I just get cold chills when I think about the warranty costs the earlier models incurred. Window regulators, anyone?

Still we don't really MAKE most of the cars, we assemble them from parts made elsewhere. Outside of sheetrock we don't really MAKE much over here anymore and that's one of the big problems.

grimmelshanks wrote:

DILYSI Dave wrote: Yeah, I could take or leave the vehicle. It doesn't really serve a purpose for me. But I LOVE the commercial. It makes me want to go blacksmith something.

hahaha! it makes me want to stand on an i-beam while a crane is swinging it across the construction site

It makes me want to Crazy Glue my head to the bottom of said I-beam.

carguy123 wrote: Still we don't really MAKE most of the cars, we assemble them from parts made elsewhere. Outside of sheetrock we don't really MAKE much over here anymore and that's one of the big problems.

umm you can get chinese sheetrock now.

I think that ad was stupid coming from chrysler, the company that drives so much cost reduction into its value streams, it won't consider buying american parts for anything. To meet their cost standards you HAVE to purchase your sub components from the cheapest suppliers period. Yeah they can suck it with their stupid jingoistic crap ad.

Love the commercial on first glance but......

Like 90 percent of advertising, there's no tech at all. The thing could be made of tofu and arsenic for all we know.

Just pretty pictures and words........

carguy123 wrote: Still we don't really MAKE most of the cars, we assemble them from parts made elsewhere. Outside of sheetrock we don't really MAKE much over here anymore and that's one of the big problems.

Oh, OK, I guess that my sheet metal shop, and the people that we employ are just figments of our collective imaginations.

Post WWII we made more stuff than the rest of the world put together. Bombing your competitors into submission will do that. After that, we slowly lost market share till the late 60s, where our proportion of the world's production stabilized at about 20 percent, and has stayed remarkably consistent since. What's changed is that we're so damn good at it now, it takes far fewer actual people to make stuff.

But we do, and we will, damnit!

The commercial is flat-out brilliant. I work in an ad agency and I'm envious as hell of the copy. Fiat deserves huge respect for being smart enough to emphasize the brand's American roots.

Were that the vehicle as good as the commercial.

F'ing cynics be damned. The spot is great, the vehicle itself has already been receiving positive reviews and I wish Chrysler well. Love the clowns that somehow imagine because American companies do exactly what their competitors do(global outsourcing) that they are the lessor for it. The Honda plant in China is striking as we type, yet no love lost for the big "H". Nissan was bailed out by the French for chrissake.

We "make plenty over here" open your eyes.

Will wrote: Were that the vehicle as good as the commercial.

Then they wouldn't need to advertise nearly as much.

I love the message of the commercial. Too bad it doesn't speak for their entire car lineup. THAT would make for a great sales theme.

forzav12 wrote: Love the clowns that somehow imagine because American companies do exactly what their competitors do(global outsourcing) that they are the lessor for it.

1. The competitors aren't advertising how american their vehicles are... Even though they most of the "foreign" makes have as much or more american parts content than "american" cars..
2. Ever worked with chrysler as a supplier? Nope? Too bad.. Didn't think so anyways. I speak from experience..

believe what you want.....

Oh, OK, I guess that my sheet metal shop, and the people that we employ are just figments of our collective imaginations.

So how much of the car is 'Merican? Is it even 50%?

Read; it's a list of what cars have the most American parts content

Link to Toyota, a non-American company, advertising its "Americanness"

Cliff notes: Toyota says:

What makes us an engine for the economy?

We see beyond cars.

I usually don't step in on these arguments, but if you're going to call out a company for doing something, you should call out all of them, not pick and choose those you have a personal vendetta against. I hear non-stop about how American non-American owned companies' cars are. That's one example, linked straight from Toyota's site itself. Here's another:

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) established operations in North America in 1957 and currently operates 14 manufacturing plants. There are more than 1,800 Toyota, Lexus and Scion dealerships in North America which sold more than 2.5 million vehicles in 2008. Toyota directly employs more than 42,000 in North America and its investment here is currently valued at more than $21 billion, including sales and manufacturing operations, research and development, financial services and design. Toyota's annual purchasing of parts, materials, goods and services from North American suppliers totals more than $30 billion.

Another release on Toyota's site

There's 418 results for "American" on Toyota's site and I don't want to search and link them all. But they certainly let the public know about it. It didn't take very long at all to put that together; < 5 minutes on Toyota's own site. To a lesser extent, you could probably find other makers that do the same. I know Subaru plays up their joint plant in Indiana quite a bit.

They certainly play the "we're American-built card" as well as any other. Be fair.

JeepinMatt wrote: I usually don't step in on these arguments, but if you're going to call out a company for doing something, you should call out all of them, not pick and choose those you have a personal vendetta against.

I don't have experience with the other companies. I have experience with Ford, GM, Chrysler, and just about every class 8 manufacturer out there. Out of all of those companies. Chrysler was the worst, hands down. They went through the effort of deconstructing our product and going piece by piece through it, telling us how horibbly the design was overbuilt and giving us a list of cost improvements. They detailed not only new places to purchase these parts( CHINA W00000) but also how to make them out of cheaper materials. They then projected out how much each of those cost "savings" would impact the product price and then demanded that cost reduction. Of course we had already tried 99.2% of what they suggested and it resulted in an inferior product. So instead of resourcing we just took the cost reduction on the nose, which ultimately, required us to resource non performance critical parts( like castings).. I can give you a detailed list of suppliers in the US who were subsequently desourced and closed their doors. Thousands of american jobs were lost due to their shortsightedness. This is one example, I have others.

As for Toyota advetising their americanness that must be new, as I don't recall it, but good job. I don't think the two spots are comparable, but who cares.

I also don't believe american content % numbers from anyone. I've been part of Nafta part % reviews. It's pretty easy to have a part that is 99.9% subassembled in a foreign place and then have it fully assembled in US.. OMG you've added content and changed the part number.. Now it's an american part..

As for we don't make anything anymore... We made China.. Now we're making India. Next will be finishing out the Middle east and northern africa. Thats what we do.

carguy123 wrote: Still we don't really MAKE most of the cars, we assemble them from parts made elsewhere. Outside of sheetrock we don't really MAKE much over here anymore and that's one of the big problems.

when buying a new car it says on the slip what countries the parts came from in percentages

pedretti wrote:

carguy123 wrote: Still we don't really MAKE most of the cars, we assemble them from parts made elsewhere. Outside of sheetrock we don't really MAKE much over here anymore and that's one of the big problems.

when buying a new car it says on the slip what countries the parts came from in percentages

see post above on how easy that is to fake.

So if the thread title is correct then we are just about nothing.