GM: Chinese made Buicks coming to the US for sale

GLMS_NC said:
I said the same thing....until I drove one. Quieter than my Acura, great fit and finish, nice materials, and features for the dollar are impressive. Long term is TBD, but so far I am impressed. FWIW I have a corvette, jeep, Acura, and Honda and my Buick holds it own well.
Click to expand...


That's consistent the April issue of Consumer reports. They rated Buick 7th of 28 car brands, surpassing Honda, taking into account both reliability and their own road test.
 
pilot_dude said:
Why does a Yugo have a rear window defroster? To keep your hands warm when pushing

A couple decades ago one of my coworkers had spent time with Yugo. Part of his severance package was two Yugo (Yugi??). He used one for parts to keep the other running.
Click to expand...


How to you double the value of a Yugo.... Put a gallon of gas in it.
 
NoHeat said:
The question for me is not where it is assembled, but where were the parts made.

Given a choice between a Toyota made in Japan and one made in the US, I would take the import because it is more reliable. The problems come not from Toyota's assembly plant in the U.S., but from the parts made by various US suppliers. So I look for a VIN that starts with "J" if I shop for a Toyota.

So, where do the parts come from, in a Chinese-made Buick?
Click to expand...

Really??!! Seriously??! The biggest recall in automotive history is due to a Japanese supplier.

http://blog.caranddriver.com/massiv...now-including-full-list-of-affected-vehicles/
 
Gerhardt said:
I agree with a previous poster about following Apple's lead. Why Apple gets a pass on that I'll never understand.
Click to expand...

Apparently, the "Designed in XXXX" label is good enough for people. They don't scroll down enough on the box to see the "Made in China" label, or if they do, they really don't care. The responses here tell me that most people here don't actually look at the boxes and the labels that tell you where things are made.

They still think Made in China automatically means cheap, crappy junk. They clearly don't look at the package on nearly every single thing they choose to buy no matter what the brand name is.They clearly don't know that Chinese components are in their German cars. The computer they are using no matter what the brand is Chinese made. Nearly everything in their house is touched by China.
 
RJM62 said:
Some of us here can remember when "Made in Japan" and "Made in Korea" were also synonymous with "Cheap ****."

Rich
Click to expand...

EXACTLY!!! Now the "Made in Taiwan" label means it's the good stuff. :rolleyes2: I'm not kidding, it really does these days.
 
wsuffa said:
There are a lot of Buicks on the streets in Beijing today. Long-term, that's a bigger market. Makes sense to have production there. Can't opine on the cost of transportation.
Click to expand...

As long as more cars go from the US to China than the other way, the cost to bring a car back from china will be low. At times, the car-carriers going back and forth from europe to the US have to load ballast to remain within their required center of gravity/buoyancy limits. There was a time that shipping a car from the US to europe was pretty much free, spare the handling cost at the port.
 
Dav8or said:
EXACTLY!!! Now the "Made in Taiwan" label means it's the good stuff. :rolleyes2: I'm not kidding, it really does these days.
Click to expand...

I find the South Korean stuff to be of consistently high-quality. I don't think anyone's overall build quality is better than that of Hyundai / Kia these days. And as an added bonus, the South Koreans actually like us and buy our stuff in return.

The important thing about this evolution from manufacturers of cheap **** to manufacturers of quality products is that it tends to follow a similar path as the overall economic vitality and quality-of-life in a country. Japan and Korea are no longer threats to U.S. manufacturers because of low wages, but rather peers who compete with us on a more level playing field.

I believe that China is also on the way to becoming a peer. It may take longer because, firstly, there's still plenty of Communist-era heavy-handedness operative in their economy; and secondly, because Communism and its collectives destroyed most of the ingenuity and pride in achievement that are necessary for a thriving free-market economy to flourish. But I think it will happen eventually.

Rich
 
China needs an Edward Deming. So far, China has been satisfied to lower their pricing to the point that the quality of the merchandise is acceptable. The marketing of products from Japan turned around because they wanted to produce US quality materials. I don't see that the Chinese are following that model so far, but it could change. Given that China already has such a large market share in the US with what they are producing now, there's little incentive for them to up their quality standards.

Example from yesterday. I went to Leslie's pool supply because I wanted a good quality pool brush. They have 6 different offerings in the store, but all are from China. I walked away when I noticed that all of them use the same bristle and they all come off the frame after a year or less. It's a classic case of market saturation, and controlled obsolescence.
 
docmirror said:
China needs an Edward Deming. So far, China has been satisfied to lower their pricing to the point that the quality of the merchandise is acceptable. The marketing of products from Japan turned around because they wanted to produce US quality materials. I don't see that the Chinese are following that model so far, but it could change. Given that China already has such a large market share in the US with what they are producing now, there's little incentive for them to up their quality standards.

Example from yesterday. I went to Leslie's pool supply because I wanted a good quality pool brush. They have 6 different offerings in the store, but all are from China. I walked away when I noticed that all of them use the same bristle and they all come off the frame after a year or less. It's a classic case of market saturation, and controlled obsolescence.
Click to expand...

But on the other hand there's Lenovo. Much to my surprise (and at the cost of my consuming quite a few helpings of crow), Lenovo seems to be putting out products that are every bit as IBM's were before they sold the division. SunSun (who make aquarium filters and the like) are another example of a Chinese company whose product quality is on a par with its competitors.

I also have a few advertisers from China whose products are top-notch. The companies are also very professional to deal with and pay their bills on time without argument, which is more than I can say for most of my American advertisers.

What it comes down to is that in terms of both product quality and business acumen, there already are Chinese companies that are doing excellent work. They're in the minority at this point -- most of the country is still in the cheap **** business -- but I fully expect that to change. Whether in my lifetime or not I don't know, but I believe it will happen. I hope it happens soon because among other reasons, it will help level the manufacturing playing field again.

Rich
 
Jay Honeck said:
I thought the same, until I bought twenty LG HVAC units.

Average lifespan, new to dead: 33 months.

Never again!
Click to expand...

I wonder how much of it is due to LG manufacturing practices, and how much is due to LG focusing less on HVAC and more on consumer electronics like phones, televisions, etc. The focus on something that can fail or be replaced without as much fanfare like a phone might influence the engineering and product quality of the HVAC division if they share similar sourcing. Not that it matters in the end, as a failed product is a failed product. I would find it interesting to pinpoint the period which caused LG's historically dependable HVAC units to lose their durability.
 
Anthony said:
It wasn't meant to save jobs, it was meant to pay back the union pension funds, and the union bosses.
Click to expand...

However.....thousand upon thousands of jobs were indeed saved and the auto industry is now prospering, including G.M. The debts have also been repaid or nearly so. It was a win win all around. I would think Walmart would sell the buicks made in China. Most everything they sell is made there.
 
The GM bailout wasn't even remotely a win win all around. And leave your politics out of my CAR thread, both of you.
 
Jay Honeck said:
I thought the same, until I bought twenty LG HVAC units.

Average lifespan, new to dead: 33 months.

Never again!
Click to expand...

And the US stuff is better? I had repeated issues - including a rotted heat exchanger - on the 4 year old Carrier package unit at the house in San Antonio. No, the service folks were of no particular help and Carrier told me to buy a new one rather than repair.
 
docmirror said:
The GM bailout wasn't even remotely a win win all around. And leave your politics out of my CAR thread, both of you.
Click to expand...

Big big win. You need to read more. Your way behind. One of the few things bush started that turned out well! It's about finance incidentally.
 
wsuffa said:
And the US stuff is better? I had repeated issues - including a rotted heat exchanger - on the 4 year old Carrier package unit at the house in San Antonio. No, the service folks were of no particular help and Carrier told me to buy a new one rather than repair.
Click to expand...
There are no US made HVAC units for my application anymore. Even the American names have outsourced production.

The days of buying a heavy duty, 240 volt HVAC unit that was built in Chicago are gone -- driven out by cheaper competitors who now own the market and can therefore dictate quality standards.

We have switched to buying Frigidaire brand units. Ask me in 3 years if they're any better.
 
Last edited:
you want to see buicks, drive into iowa. Stop at the first cracker barrel or bob evans. Parking lot full of buicks. That's who buys them, old people in iowa. Do you think any of them have a clue where they're made? They've always bought a buick and will continue to buy buicks. It's an american brand, after all. No way are those old people doing to ditch their buick and try a scary foreign car like a hyundai (from alabama) or a VW (from tennessee) or a toyota (from indiana) or a bmw (from south carolina)
 
JHW said:
They've always bought a buick and will continue to buy buicks. It's an american brand, after all. No way are those old people doing to ditch their buick and try a scary foreign car like a hyundai (from alabama) or a VW (from tennessee) or a toyota (from indiana) or a bmw (from south carolina)
Click to expand...

The other car at the Bob Evans parking lot may be a Mercury Grand Marquis (from Mexico).
 
Jimmy cooper said:
However.....thousand upon thousands of jobs were indeed saved and the auto industry is now prospering, including G.M. The debts have also been repaid or nearly so. It was a win win all around. I would think Walmart would sell the buicks made in China. Most everything they sell is made there.
Click to expand...

Lets not let facts get in the way of some good union bashing. Repeat after me.

The bailout made the union bosses rich... the only reason for the bailout was to make the union bosses rich...

The head of the UAW makes about 175k WOOOOOWWWW! getting rich.. he can almost afford a cirrus if he lives in a trailer.

The AFL-CIO head was paid 283k in salary and benefits. Decent pay but not rich.

The average CEO misplaces about that much money in 6 months.
 
I think Buick has been importing Opel cars from Germany (a European GM product) and rebadging. It's a solid car. Honda imports the European Accord and rebadges it as the Acura TSX.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Did the OP not ask to keep politics out of the thread? Some folks just can't leave well enough alone. :(
 
josephbelt01 said:
I think Buick has been importing Opel cars from Germany (a European GM product) and rebadging. It's a solid car. Honda imports the European Accord and rebadges it as the Acura TSX.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

This is true. Opals (also known as Vauxhalls in the UK) have been also sold here as Saturns and Cadillacs. GM has a real problem with over capacity in Europe. Unlike the other German car makers, Opal has had little success in export partly because other GM brands already occupied those markets. All of this was fine as long as Europe had a strong economy and car sales were good, but with car sales in big slump in Europe, Opal is a huge liability for GM.

One way to mitigate this is to export Opals rebadged with different marques on them. GM, like the rest of the car industry by and large, is working towards a one world car type strategy like Toyota, Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes have. Eventually, Opal, Vauxhall, Buick and Holden will all pretty much be the same car. They are also trying to introduce the Chevrolet and Cadillac brands into other markets in hopes of creating a three tier marketing plan worldwide. So far it's a tough sell.

China is a big bright spot for GM. The Buick brand is wildly popular over there. One of the best sellers of all car brands in that market. It's so important that they are already letting designers in Shanghai take the lead on new Buick designs. I believe that the Buicks we see here in the future will definitely have an Asian feel to them. We shall see...
 
SoonerAviator said:
I wonder how much of it is due to LG manufacturing practices, and how much is due to LG focusing less on HVAC and more on consumer electronics like phones, televisions, etc.
Click to expand...
The other aspect is whether Jay's LG air conditioners were made in South Korea, or whether LG subcontracted it to a company in another country.

That bit us at work a few years back. We'd bought some Sanyo NiCD batteries and had excellent results. We re-ordered the same part number from Sanyo, and the batteries were crap. Turns out the batteries were so popular, Sanyo had sub-contracted to Chinese manufacturers. We worked with vendors to get actual Japanese-made Sanyo batteries, and all was well again.

Mind you, I'm not saying it isn't LG or Sanyo's fault. If they put their label on them, they need to ensure they're up to their quality standards.

Ron Wanttaja
 
I drive a 2004 Toyota with 120,000 miles on it. My wife drives a 2014 Toyota with 4,000 miles on it. They were made in Indiana, and employed American auto workers to make them, of which I approve strongly, whenever possible.
 
Number7 said:
I drive a 2004 Toyota with 120,000 miles on it. My wife drives a 2014 Toyota with 4,000 miles on it. They were made in Indiana, and employed American auto workers to make them, of which I approve strongly, whenever possible.
Click to expand...

Interesting thing about Toyota and all the other Japanese brands is they are likely to miss out big time long term in the Automotive world. They have very little inroads to the Chinese markets. Funny the way that if you make total murderous pigs of yourself, it can come back to bite you decades later.:rolleyes2:

You will likely not see a made in China Toyota anytime soon. What you likely will see is a Made in Mexico Toyota though. The automotive industry trend in North America is to move south. Toyota is expected to do so as well.
 
Jay Honeck said:
Yep. I've owned, and loved, LG electronics. This played a major role in my decision to give them $11K for their HVAC stuff.

Big mistake. Never again.
Click to expand...

Got 12 years out of a LG window unit before I gave it to a staff member. The reason might be that I didnt't use it in a coastal salt-spray environment.
 
Dav8or said:
You will likely not see a made in China Toyota anytime soon. What you likely will see is a Made in Mexico Toyota though. The automotive industry trend in North America is to move south. Toyota is expected to do so as well.
Click to expand...

The Tianjin explosion shut down three of Toyotas assembly plants.

The japanese have a 20% market share.
 
Last edited:
weilke said:
The Tianjin explosion wiped out three of Toyotas assembly plants.
Click to expand...

I saw a pic of a field of VWs cooked to a crispy crunch. wondering if they were coming in or going out. I think they were coming in. Messy.
 
docmirror said:
I saw a pic of a field of VWs cooked to a crispy crunch. wondering if they were coming in or going out. I think they were coming in. Messy.
Click to expand...

Coming in I believe. The NBs come from Mexico iirc. VW has chinese plants since the 80s, initially they assembled the 'Santana', a sedan version of what was sold as 'Dasher' in the US. Not sure what they build in china at this time.
 
For the Fords, GM, Honda and Toyotas of the world....STOP with the multiple brand names.

Pick one and make one good quality car line.
 
VW tried that 10 years ago, but they found there were few people willing to spend 60K or more for a VW when that's Audi, BMW, and Benz territory. Now, if they could stop taking a mediocre vehicle and throwing multiple brands on the grill - think GMC vs Silverado - Tahoe vs Yukon - that would be nice.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
josephbelt01 said:
Now, if they could stop taking a mediocre vehicle and throwing multiple brands on the grill - think GMC vs Silverado - Tahoe vs Yukon - that would be nice.
Click to expand...
I think it had to do with balancing out the dealer networks. Chevy dealers could show you a full line of passenger cars, SUVs and trucks. But the Buick store down the street only had cars to sell, unless they were also a GMC dealer.
 
Jay Honeck said:
There are no US made HVAC units for my application anymore. Even the American names have outsourced production.

The days of buying a heavy duty, 240 volt HVAC unit that was built in Chicago are gone -- driven out by cheaper competitors who now own the market and can therefore dictate quality standards.

We have switched to buying Frigidaire brand units. Ask me in 3 years if they're any better.
Click to expand...

Go to Asia and look at what the hotels use, almost all are Mitsubishi.
 
Henning said:
Go to Asia and look at what the hotels use, almost all are Mitsubishi.
Click to expand...
Yeah, Mitsubishi supposedly makes good units.

Unfortunately to retrofit this hotel to those style units is prohibitively expensive, or I'd do it in a heartbeat. If I could start our (recently completed) 5 year renovation project over, I would include those units in the plan.

Alas, too late for that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top