06-20-2016, 11:13 AM | #133 | |
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I guess everything you own is built in developed countries? In the end, prejudice is your right. If you end up driving what in your imagination is a better car (because of country of assembly) but in reality is by all objective measures an inferior one, more power to you.
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06-20-2016, 11:40 AM | #134 | |
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Being an educated buyer does not make me prejudice. I know you may have a personal agenda with that remark, but im not waiving one flag from one country over another. In some cases the best country for production is Sweden, Canada, Japan or the USA. I have personal experience working close with a product manager that was responsible for moving the manufacturing of high end product originally made and designed in the USA to China. As previously mentioned it wasn't un heard of that 30% of the product that arrived did not meet spec after that move. A team of people needed to check every product that came through to catch the errors. I asked what happens when stuff slips through and he said "it woudn't matter if it all slipped through. We'd will still make more money even if we had to replace all 30% of the defective product" I'm a big skier/snowboarder and used to only buy Hestra gloves that were originally design and made in Sweden. As soon as they made their stuff in China I noticed immediately QC issues such as stitching coming apart, bigger variances in colours that should be the same etc. Remember Webber BBQs once a proud american made product? Now all made in china you can tell its simply a cheaper product. Classe Audio used to be hand made in Canada, before being sent ver to china. I have stuff thats 15 years old that has never had a single issue vs the stuff 4 years old after being made in china that has needed to be replaced twice. This is stuff that costs 5-10k per piece! As I said I put my money where my mouth is and pay the premium when ever I can. Dishwashers, vacuums, furniture, lighting, electronics this list goes on and on. I never get the made in china (or overseas equivalent) when purchasing. Ill never support the outsourced option, and this comes from experience. I tend to research and lean towards buying best in class, so I do research before making a purchase. On the issue of "prejudice" i will come clean that there is an element in my buying decisions where I don't want to send my money to countries where I disagree with their human/animal rights standards, or general respect for our planet. If that makes me prejudice then so be it. |
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06-20-2016, 12:01 PM | #135 | ||
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06-20-2016, 02:18 PM | #136 | |
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06-20-2016, 02:26 PM | #137 | ||
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06-20-2016, 03:32 PM | #138 | |
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The premise is IF quality is proven the same (done by many other manufacturers who build in Mexico), AND the car is superior to it's alternatives (done by BMW), you'd still not buy it only because your "knowledge" about how entire countries vary in quality of manufacturing. Yeah, that's prejudice. And bigotry. No one is asking you to buy an inferior product. If the Mexican plant does indeed turn out an inferior product, by all means buy something else. I'd do the same. Wouldn't you be an "educated buyer" if you objectively chose the best product, regardless of country of origin? Your personal anecdotes have absolutely no bearing on how the automotive industry works.
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06-20-2016, 03:37 PM | #139 | |
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Ok. Maybe skiers get hit a lot in the head?
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06-20-2016, 04:56 PM | #140 |
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I don't recall getting a discount for a South Africa build on my 3 series. Nor has this effected the resale value or quality in the least. Can anyone tell by looking at a car where it was built? Or driving it for that matter?
Fact is if the people of Mexico are setup to succeed with the right equipment, training, and materials they will produce a car that is equal to that of anywhere else. The onus is on BMW to make this happen and there is no reason to believe they won't. They already done it other nations. Not to belabor the point, but this is mass manufacturing, not an art form. |
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06-20-2016, 05:19 PM | #141 | |
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The product quality variance can be most obvious in hand-made products because the quality for those products do vary depending on the experience and skill of the workforce. In BMW's case though, based on my tour of the Munich plant, I can say over 80% of the 3 series is built by robots, from windshield installment to color painting with no human intervention. It's such an eye opener for me coming from a manufacturing plant that uses 100% human to make products. From what I saw I think majority of the BMW employees at that plant are robotic engineers who can program and fix the robots but would be at lost if they have to manually put a BMW car together. In today's automobile manufacturing plants that can pretty much be a showcase for robotic ingenuity, does the country of origin really matters? Do the same robots that perform same tasks function differently just because now the robots are in Mexico instead of Germany? I am sure in the beginning there will be unforeseen issues that need to be addressed. I am a true believer of a robust quality control process being the utmost significant factor in success. BMW needs to drive the quality control standard to the same level as their other plants in Germany and in South-Africa. I hope BMW is more than 100% invested to make the new Mexico plant successful, especially with all the negative press and bias that are associated with Mexico-made cars so far.
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06-20-2016, 05:59 PM | #142 |
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06-20-2016, 06:20 PM | #143 | |
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06-20-2016, 06:27 PM | #144 | |
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Check out their Veilance line. Still hand made in canada. Pricey, but awesome. |
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06-20-2016, 06:28 PM | #145 | ||
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06-20-2016, 06:31 PM | #146 | |
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Is it possible a BMW car comes off the assembly line in mexico as germany? Sure, but im not will to take that chance. I wouldnt do it with a $1,000 BBQ, or $250 pair of ski gloves, so I sure as hell wouldnt do it with a $100,000 car. Im prejudice against outsourcing production at the expense of quality control for the sake of bigger margins with zero benefit passed down to the consumer. Ill vote with my wallet every time. |
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06-20-2016, 06:44 PM | #147 | |
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If you are presented with a product identical in all aspects except for the place it was built and that drives your decision then it's prejudice, not education. But man - whatever, like you said, it's your money. Enjoy whatever you get. It may drive less well and/or have objectively less quality but you'll be happy that you bought "german made".
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06-20-2016, 06:51 PM | #148 | |
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To each his own. I'll buy the car that gives me the best driving experience for my personal taste and needs. I couldn't care less where it was made. The manufacturer answers to me as their customer, not the place of assembly. For example, I don't care if Volvo is now Chinese owned (love the XC90) or that Jaguar is Indian. I am just amazed that given a hypothetical "identical product, different place of assembly" a lot here will "never buy from X country."
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06-20-2016, 06:59 PM | #149 |
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hmmm... sounds like I can still pick up an M3 in Germany so I'm all good.
And by the way my German produced M3 squeaks and rattles and creaks and groans and makes all sorts of funky noises that my Mexican produced VW Jetta never did back in like 2001. That Jetta was literally rock solid, I think everybody needs to relax. |
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06-20-2016, 07:08 PM | #150 | |
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I can't and won't "just accept it" if I can have a say. I am part of that tech scene as a matter of fact. Like I said on my first post on this thread: I am very proud of this country and working here to make it better within my abilities. And it saddens me / angers me to find tons of mostly uninformed opinions about Mexico dismissing an entire country (and neighbour!) here.
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06-20-2016, 09:22 PM | #151 | |
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I love everything about my F31 other than the reliability issues I've had with it so far. Horns failed, rear gate and center console have squeaks that can not be fixed and the main nav screen & control modules failed. In 9 mos I have the option to return the lease or buy it out. Despite loving what the car delivers, I fear the long term running costs. Up until ~5 years ago I've generally had Japanese daily drivers and literally loaded 100s of thousands of miles on them with no issues. (TL, FX, 4Runner) The IS-F is looking really good right now.
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06-21-2016, 12:41 AM | #152 | |
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06-21-2016, 02:31 AM | #153 |
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06-21-2016, 05:07 AM | #154 | |||
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