American auto maker

The auto business is so intertwined anymore your probably going to get a slew of different answers on this one if the members actually wish to respond to the question.
Personally I haven't thought of it because I haven't got a wallet deep enough to purchase a new vehicle. If I did it no doubt would be a big three car because most of the monies do stay in the USA. But having said that a ton of parts for Honda, Nissan, BMW, ect are also made here by your neighbor or buddy. So at what point do you shut out the foreign cars from your buying portfolio. There are some brands that are %100 off limits for me no matter what but there are many that if they produced a vehicle I liked that I would have to spend time on evaluating it.
We currently make parts for Honda, Nissan, Ford, GM, Chrysler, and many more. Just after the recession Honda die's and parts helped us survive, it would be hard to turn my back to them. Reverse shoring of many parts is a lot more common today than 3 or 4 years ago, so what do you do if your paycheck is partially dependent on companies from across the big pond.
Not a question that is particularly easy to answer anymore.

Real easy for me, since I work for Ford. Two cars that my wife and I have bought new, a 04 Focus wagon and a 10 Escape. Both built here in the states, with US built transmissions. Hard to find any vehicle that is 90+% North American anymore. Fusion is nice but it is Mexican.

I will say this, when the Tsunami hit Japan, the Japanese Big 3 were crippled. The Domestic Big 2.5 didnt miss a beat. All the companies are global entities, but only GM and Ford are truely American companies. Chryslers heart is here too, has their HQs here in Detroit, but they have a Foreign parent.

I'm a big Pontiac guy, I was looking to buy a G8 6 speed GXP. When GM killed off Pontiac I said screw GM and I went an bought a 2010 Challenger. When I needed a part for the interior, the part was made in China .

My first love , in the automotive world, was the '65 Olds Cutlass/442. However, in 1970, I married into the Ford Family of Fine Cars having married a Ford dealer's daughter. Ever since I've had to carefully walk the line to keep myself and everyone else ( including my 3 Mustang crazy daughters ) happy. I must say that for the past 42 years a long line of Ford trucks & cars has been my main mode of transportation and they've never let me down! I also want to remind everyone that Ford was the only company a short while back that didn't have to accept a government bail out to stay alive!!!! Many cudos to Henry

I am very pro domestic, pro local etc. I wouldnt entertain ever buying anything but American, with the exception of maybe a German car I could never afford. My desire to only purchase a Ford product is strictly based upon past experiance, I was born and raised in a GM family, and the majority of my friends were GM crazy. This might get a little long winded but below is why I want to stick with Ford, My fiance just graduated from school to become a respiratory therapist so I do forsee a late model purchase coming and we have been seriously looking at the Buick line.
1) first car, 85 Z-28, 29k miles, before 30k miles, cam wore out, GM would not stand behind it, Tranny went at 33k miles, again GM would not stand behind it.
2) second car Dodge Turbo Conquest, JUNK JUNK JUNK too much to list, it was a lemon
3) between 17-24 I bought sold traded etc several highway patrol mustangs, all with 100-200k miles, used, abused, added Nitrous, etc, never had a single problem with any of them except for me breaking transmissions due to abuse
4) Jeep grand cherokee, bought with 41k, by 105k I had replaced rack/pinion, PS pump, water pump, front diff, rear diff, sold to a neighbor and motor blew at 111k
5) ford crown vic, 85k, drove it till 200k and sold it for more than I bought it for
6) Volvo S60 51k, drove it until 150k, great car, had an oil leak we could never get fixed, but plug a quart in every month and be done with it
7) Toyota Avalon, (it was my first and only toyota) 40k drove it til 79k, had to replace steering rack, air cond compressor, several sensors, wheel bearings, valve cover gaskets, exhaust rusted apart, frame was rusting, etc etc,
8) Cadillac CTS-V 31k, sold at 65k, loved the looks, loved the performance, 6 rear ends not by abuse, they all had bearing issues, brake caliper shattered completly in two car was under warrenty, Cadillac refused to fix it stating that the local GM dealer that put the brakes on was not an authorized Cadillac dealer, finally got regional Cadillac rep involved, after a month of a loaner car they decided to fix it, guages would work and not work from time to time, noisey car.
9) Ford F-250 110k til present, this was a former work truck from a supply house, it has been beat to death and still going, presently has 251k, I change the oil every 15k miles whether it needs it or not, you cant kill this thing!
10) Ford expedition, bought at 85k sold at 278k, I had to replace the air cond compressor, and the window come off track once, also plugs 1 time, other than that, another bullet proof vehicle, I abused it, same as my ford truck, oil gets changed between 15-20k, I sold it because I got a new Company truck and dont need the Olds, The f-250, the expedition, and the new truck, I wished I would have kept it, Ran into the guy I sold it to, it is clocking 335k and still no issues
11) 2002 Chevy Silverado, Bought at 29k, currently 61k so far I have had to replace window motor, a control module for the air conditioning, its a 5.3, and I was getting 12 mpg, so dealership replaced all the fluids with synthetic, and plugs, to which I now get 18 mpg, but have to keep plugs changed quite often to keep the mileage up, replaced key lock device in the shifter, its a good truck just upset with all the minor stuff going bad at such low miles.

So based on the above I have had much better experiances with Ford, I can say my worst Ford has been more relaible than my best of any other brand.

Before we all become proud papa's of Ford because they didn't need a bailout, look at the facts.

Ford was in a diehard situation the year prior to the financial crisis. It was at this time Bill Ford stepped down and Allan Mullaly from Boeing was hired to save the company. Ford mortgaged all its assests to raise 23 billion dollars to save the company from going under.

Had the financial crisis occured a year earlier Ford would have needed the bailout just as much as anyone because there would have been no financial institution on the planet with the money to lend Ford.

So we can stop waiving the Ford American Flag and chalk it up to pure luck. Timing is everything.

That being said, buy whatever car appeals to you as a Car guy. While I am a GM guy at heart, I have owned two Audi A4's, and two Volkswagens (1999 Passat and my current 2008 GTI). GM just did not make any kind of car that I willing to spend money on when I purchased these cars. If you like cars that handle and are really fun to drive, it's hard to beat the german cars. The two Audi's were trouble free (to 50K when I sold them), the 1999 Passat was trouble free (50K), the GTI needed a new engine (burned too much oil, replaced for free). Before the germa cars I purchased my first new car, a 1989 Pontiac TransAm. According to Consumer Reports it was not supposed to be a reliable car, but I went 175K miles (10 years) and never needed anything but oil changes. Not even brakes or a clutch!

In the last couple of years I have been pretty impressed with some GM cars, so perhaps my next car will be a GM. Some of the interiors are now the best in the business.

GM does and always has had the misconception it can stick a bow tie on anything and suck the public into buying it. I always was and still am, a Pontiac guy (pre 77 anyway) I sat at a Pontiac gathering in the mid 90's and heard the GM executive tell myself and and three hundred or so others that GM didn't build very good cars in the eighty's,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, well DUH!?!?! But they kept right on doing it til they went belly up. Now they want the public to come runnin' back and bend over again. Well, they got to go a lot farther to convince me to buy another GM vehicle.

It dosent matter how you look at it or even word it, Ford Vs. Chevy has and always will be a huge pissing match. However its more fun to talk shit with your buddies about who's Ford Or Chevy is better than discussing who is republican or democrat, which always turns into an argument. Me personally Im kinda on the fence, Ive owned Ford Trucks and all kinds of Chevy Trucks. Currently Own a 2009 Silverado 4x4 crew cab, That SOB has all the bells and whistles, but for over 40 grand it had better. The Wife drives a Fords Relative, 2006 Mazda 6, and boy is that thing fun, It feels like you are in a huge Go-Kart. We have always Bought new cars every Ten years, next up is the wife and she wants some kind of Lexus SUV, So we will own a Toyota I guess. That will be my first Toyota. All that said I look at it as good MPG and Point A-B, Although Remote Start can't hurt, especially in Wisconsins winters.

So does the " no one ever asked us to" mean we only do what were told and don't give any ideas to a higher power or what. They build cars for the american people correct? I wouldn't last one day working at a company that dosent value employee opinion or customer opinion. It wasn't always about making a buck, Just wait 20 more years.......