PEARL HARBOR DAY SPECIAL: FIVE REASONS NEVER TO BUY JAPANESE AUTOS

[Get the latest "Truth From Speedzzter" here]

Bangshift.com posted a fine tribute to the 2,388 (or more) Americans who lost their lives sixty-eight years ago in the savage, unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Although Franklin Delano Roosevelt claimed that the Japanese attack would "live in infamy," you could hardly tell it by looking in the average American parking lot today. We might not have had more Japanese cars in America now if the Japanese had won World War II! (Japan may have lost the shooting war, but they've arguably won the "economic war" that followed)

Here's Truth With Speedzzter's comment from Bangshift.com:

I'll bet all the kids and "appliance motorists" driving the Toyotas and Hondas are really moved by all of this. . . .

Awhile back I posted in a discussion at Seeking Alpha (http://seekingalpha.com/article/128958-five-reasons-not-to-buy-american-cars) "Five reasons NEVER TO BUY A SINGLE THING FROM A JAPANESE AUTO COMPANY":

1. Protectionism -- Japan's car makers incubated in protectionist climate which prevented the Detroit 3 from making more than token investments in Japanese OEMs or selling cars in their market.

2. Predatory Business Model -- Japan's car makers were only profitable because of exports, which created huge trade deficits.

3. Lack of Domestic Content -- Just because a Japanese invader car is assembled by non-union labor in the U.S. doesn't mean the parts come from here. American cars support hundreds of thousands more OEM parts supplier jobs than do the invading Japanese transplants.

4. Lack of soul -- excluding a handful of limited-production sports models, Japanese vehicles have all of the driving panache and "soul" of a refrigerator. Buying a Japanese sedan is like wearing a $20-80,000 badge proclaiming that "I'm a self-centered weasel who wouldn't know an exciting car if it ran over me."

5. Government Subsidies -- According to Toyota-ex Jim Press, the Japanese government virtually paid for all of the electric hybrid technology that the tree huggers are ramming down our throats. And its well documented that the Japanese government has provided scads of subsidies and incentives for Japan's invasion of the U.S. auto market.

6. (Just like Joe Isuzu, I lied -- there are more reasons not to send any more American money to Tokyo)

Buying Japanese deprives the Detroit 3 and their suppliers of necessary investment capital.

7. Bataan Death March.

8. Battle of Midway.

9. Iwo Jima.

10. Guadalcanal

11. Battle of Leyte Gulf

12. Saipan

13. Battle of the Java Sea

14. Kamikazes (not the drink)

15. Nanking Massacre (300,000 Chinese People Killed, 20,000 Women Raped)

16. Causes thousands of quality U.S. jobs to be outsourced to Asia.

17. Destroys many American communities who depend on manufacturing.

18. Subsidizes the . . . sexist, and zenophobic Japanese culture.

19. Increases the trade deficit.

20. Hurts the value of the U.S. Dollar

21. Multiplier effect (dollars staying in the U.S. will keep circulating in the U.S. economy, creating more jobs and improving the standards of living)

22. National pride -- Let's act like AMERICANS!

23. There are plenty of excellent vehicles sold by Detroit (don't buy into the sycophantic pro-Japan bias of the elite media and the self-selected, methodologically-invalid "Consumer Distorts" surveys.)

24. Your grandchildren -- you won't have to look them in the eye and explain why you selfishly helped bankrupt the U.S. auto industry.

25. The Japanese are apparently incapable of making a Mustang or a Shelby GT500, or a Corvette, or a "real" Challenger, or any legitimate performance car that isn't festooned with a hideous "body kit" and/or a stupid "boy racer" wing.

26. When left to their own devices, Japanese styling is "Tokyo-at-night" terrible. The bland exceptions to this rule are from Western collaborators. Thus, if we give the auto business over to the Japanese, we'll get more bland and hideous vehicles.

27. Safety. For example, Toyota trucks have been recalled for fatal steering, brake and airbag defects. Thousands have been killed in undersized, understructured Japanese cars over the years (just look at how some of them fold up like a cheap suit when crashed). Toyota has been sued over the defective seat belts and deadly door latches of its Corolla models. And this is just the tip of the safety iceberg.

[UPDATE: Here's some more "love" courtesy of Caddy-V -- a reader over at Autoblog:

Quote
"They're only looking at the Toyota's because there's a sign on one end that says
'Please be very quiet and listen carefully and you can hear our frames rust.' [ http://www.toyotaframerust.com/;http://www.tundraheadquarters.com/blog/2009/04/27/toyota-tundra-frame-rust/]
on the other end a sign reads 'Toyota will not be held responsible for any injurys from any display cars that accelerate unexpectedly.' [http://www.safetyresearch.net/2009/09/18/fatal-california-crash-highlights-toyota%E2%80%99s-sudden-unintended-acceleration-problem/]
And then the sign on the Tundra. 'Please do not sit on Tailgate. 25# weight limit strictly enforced. Our rugged Truck that is changing it all is designed for all show and no go.' [http://www.tundrasolutions.com/forums/tundra/115222-toyota-tailgate-facts-2/]
And last but not least is the sign on the Camry. Guaranteed not to sludge for at least two oil changes.'" [ http://www.autosafety.org/toyota-oil-sludge; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs7WI2s-CVw]


28. Repair costs. When they do break down (and they're machines, they all do -- have you ever seen a Japanese traitor/invader dealership without a service department?), Japanese cars are horrendously expensive to repair. One study found that building a typical $20,000 Japanese car out of replacement parts would cost $60,000 (excluding labor, of course). And when was the last time you saw a 20+ year old Japanese car still on the road?

There's probably about 500 more reasons NEVER TO BUY FROM A JAPANESE CAR MAKER!