Honda does not offer us the Civic Type R
Nissan does not offer us the Skyline
Nissan does not offer us the Silvia
Mitsubishi does not off us the EVO line
Toyota stopped making the Supra in 96

incorrect.....all these manufacturers DO offer us these magnificent cars. It's the fucken United States government that ***** us up and makes it illegal for these great cars to be in the U.S. Blame the fucken government. They can't even catch Bin Laden.

The Big Three, (Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler), and the U.S. government have been partners since the creation of the automobile. They have both helped to keep each other in power. The United States Government puts restrictions on foreign car manufacturers making it next to impossible for them to import certain cars. It is unfortunate that U.S. car manufacturers are still allowed to produce such poor quality automobiles only with the help of the U.S. government. If U.S. automobile manufacturers were left to compete on their own with the rest of the world the names Ford, GM, and Chrysler would soon sound as unfamiliar to our children as Honda, Toyota, and BMW sounded to our grandfathers.
Long before foreign car manufactures posed a threat to the Big Three, American car manufacturers received the same treatment by the U.S. government. There have been several thousand carmakers in the United States since the beginning of the automobile yet only three remain. A man by the name of Preston Tucker was seen as a problem and threat and this may represent the greatest loss of technology for U.S. automobiles. The 48’ Tucker was cheaper, better quality, and out performed any and every automobile offered at the time. Through unfair opposition from within the automobile industry, constant harassment by government agents, and investigations by congressional committees Preston Tucker was forced out of production and unable to offer a better product for the American public. Preston Tucker died penniless and throughout his life continued to create other works that were not well received, but are now seen as next to brilliant. The 48’ Tucker had options on it in 1948 that have become industry standards today. Tucker was able to put these cars together cheaper and faster with new features such as Safety glass for windshields, retractable seat belts, easily replaced body panels, a headlight that moved with the steering wheel, as well as a horizontally opposed H-6 helicopter motor that produced 166 horsepower and 372 lbs/ft torque, numbers that even today are extremely impressive. This type of innovation is being applied by foreign car manufacturers, but not seen in the models they are allowed to import because of government intervention.
Why is government intervention currently needed now that it is next to impossible for any new U.S. car manufacturer to compete with the Big Three? The United States government does not allow foreign carmakers to import certain cars for several reasons. If foreign cars were allowed to be imported the economy would be affected tremendously. After given the choices in automobiles offered and commonly sold in other countries few people in the U.S. would choose the poor quality automobiles produced by American car companies. If U.S. car manufacturers do not do well then a loan paid to the big three by the government in the early seventies would never be repaid and have been a waist.
The 1973 oil embargo was a targeted act by Arab countries toward countries that showed support for Israel. The United States and the Netherlands supplied Israel with military support and weapons so that Arab countries were not able to gain control of lands that Israel occupied and were believed to be theirs. The Arab members of OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting) were frustrated and decided to gain control of things using their oil supply as leverage. The world’s failed attempts to negotiate a reasonable price increase for crude oil with the countries belonging to OPEC lead to a drastic increase in price. Although the United States produces oil it has no storage facilities. It relies on foreign oil for petroleum products and was unable to produce enough gas to satisfy the U.S. economies consumption.
At this time U.S. car manufacturers prided themselves on how large and luxurious their automobiles were along with their larger more horsepower producing motors. With a shortage of gas these cars very quickly became unpractical and unaffordable. The cheaper and gas conscious vehicles of Japanese car manufactures then became a more reasonable purchase for an America with a low oil supply and extremely high gas prices. American car manufacturers were in big trouble at this point having all their money invested in research and production of these larger automobiles and with a large sales drop due to the increased popularity of Japanese cars. The Big Three out of money and options receive a large loan form the government to research, develop, and produce smaller more efficient cars. This, the American car manufactures have still not been able to do with the quality of the Japanese.
In order to understand why U.S. car manufacturers produce such poor quality automobiles compared to foreign car manufacturers, the common misconceptions of the average American need to be looked at. This will also explain why it so unfortunate that foreign car manufacturers are forbidden to import their cars. Just like in tucker’s time the American people have completely the wrong idea about newly introduced cars and prejudice and ignorance are standing in the way.
There are several ideas that an average American citizen believes about domestically produced automobiles. The first of which involves a U.S. citizen’s sense of patriotism and the felt need to support the United States economy by purchasing an American car. In two years alone (1996-1997) Chrysler produced 277,654 vehicles, Ford produced 339,930 vehicles, and General Motors produced 301567 vehicles all in the country of Mexico. Many are also produced in Canada. American car makers also use motors produced by foreign car manufacturers. Mitsubishi produces many Dodge motors and transmissions and some Ford motors are produced by Mazda. By purchasing an American “produced” vehicle an American isn’t supporting the United States Economy they are really supporting the manufacturer that is making money by producing it’s vehicles cheaper in other countries and using parts produced by other manufacturers.
The quality of U.S. produced vehicle is the next commonly argued point by an average U.S. citizen. With limited funds the Big Three were unable to develop newer technology, produce quality automobiles, and still produce profits. With the need for a cheaper produced vehicle the quality of vehicles was most affected. The part and production quality are sacrificed with assembling cars in Mexico and along with lowered quality the technology in American car motors has not changed since the push rod motor was invented. The archaic motor quality used in the majority of U.S. produced vehicle may work but is shown to be completely worthless and obsolete next to motors produced by Japanese car manufacturers.
There are several more standards to measure how American car quality doesn’t hold up. In crash test standards Lexus (Toyota), Mercedes, and BMW are commonly the top three vehicles, with other foreign produced vehicles frequently doing better than American cars, in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s annual crash test standards for 2002. In Consumer Reports 2002 report, Used Cars Best & Worst (including 2001 models), out of 44 “Good Bets” only 6 were domestically produced vehicles. 32 vehicles are considered by Consumer Reports to be reliability risks and only four were imports.
With big horsepower numbers and a history with some Americans some cars have developed a following with people who believe that their American produced “Muscle Cars” offer more performance than a foreign built automobile. If the over seas versions of the vehicles allowed to be imported to the U.S. were permitted the American “Muscle Car” would be greatly out performed. The government has made it difficult on foreign car manufacturers to import their higher horsepower versions of vehicles by implementing strict emissions laws as well as tough crash test standards. Even with these Honda Motor Company has been able to produce ULEV (Ultra Low Emissions Vehicles) as well as SULEV (Super Ultra Low Emissions Vehicles). This has affected the vehicles imported. With only “Watered Down” versions of these vehicles being permitted for import the average American doesn’t see the far superior vehicles that are common and standard in other countries.
Attempting to receive a return on the loan to these American automakers, the United States government doesn’t allow vehicles into the U.S. that would compete with the poor quality vehicles produced by the Big Three. Unfortunately along with this prejudice and ignorance inhibit American attitudes about foreign carmakers and their vehicles from changing. With vehicles there are too many things to compare, and with so many different cars it’s hard to say which vehicles and which vehicle manufacturers are the best. It is just very unfortunate for the people of the United States that they do not get to decide for themselves because of the government’s interference. It is very unlikely that the government will stop its interference even if American attitudes about foreign carmakers and vehicles changed and the quality of their cars was realized.