[DeTomaso] DB electric starter bites the dust

Boyd Casey boyd411 at gmail.com
Tue Jul 23 09:16:07 EDT 2013


Dear list subscribers that still haven't had enough,
Having spent many years working in the automobile business and a
substantial part of that time was spent working managing Toyota, Honda and
BMW dealerships I can say from experience this is a subject that came up
with customers on a regular basis. All three of these manufacturers have
assembly plants in the USA. They all had statements on their Monroney stickers
(official factory  window sticker to customers) stating the percentage of
parts that were made in the US. On the opposite side of the same coin many
of the so called American cars used a substantial percentage of foreign
manufactured parts in their assembly but I don't recall ever seeing  a
comparable statement on their documentation. I'm sure you all remember cars
like the Dodge Colt ( really a Mitsubishi) Geo Metro's were Suzuki's and at
one point Chevy Novas were really Toyota Corollas. So just like the say at
the ball park " you can't tell the players without a score card!"
The US manufacturers manage to squeeze through a loophole in the FTC
regulations concerning labeling of  products. FTC regulations state that
any product advertised as having been"made in the USA"  be "all or
virtually all" made in the U.S.
Sine most American manufacturers of automobiles don't say "made in the USA" (or
have to say it,) . For Instance most Americans that go  into a Chevrolet
dealership  assume the product is "Made in the USA".  Since it;s not
explicitly stated "Made in the USA" the manufacturer  is  exempted
from the "all
or virtually all" made in the U.S. stipulation. After all most Americans
assume when they buy a Chevy or Ford they are buying an American made car.
F.T.C. regulations still  require that the total non U.S. manufactured
 content must be
disclosed<http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus03-complying-made-usa-standard#Other%20Statutes>
on
automobiles , textiles, wool,and fur products. So since we are discussing
 automobiles  they are still required  to disclose the percentage of
content that is made in the U.S. but there’s no law that I am aware of that
spells out exactly how that information is disclosed to the  customer.
 However, manufacturers and marketers who choose to make that their product
is "made in the USA must comply with the FTC’s Made in the  USA policy*. So
American cars that don't specifically say "made In the USA" are not required to
comply with the  "all or virtually all" made in the U.S. stipulation. But
all cars  textiles and furs  sold in the US regardless of  whether or not
the say "made in the USA" they are still required to disclose the
percentage of  US made content. It doesn't specify that this info be
disclosed on the Monroney sticker  or anywhere else specifically and in
what size type face ( as far as I know) so this sounds like a perfect
candidate for the infamous "small print" warnings.
Sincerely,
Boyd



** http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus03-complying-made-usa-standard*

On Monday, July 22, 2013, Jeff Udelson wrote:

> >I believe in putting my big mouth of never ever buying Chinese when there
> is a US produced product available.
>
> Are you sure the Power Master Mastertorque starters are U.S. made?
> I was under the impression only their more expensive Ultra Torque
> starters were U.S. made.  Also, many of the "U.S. made" starters are
> based on Nippon-Denso motors with just the nose being made in the
> States.  I was never able to find out where the Ford PMGR starters
> are made.  My Hitachi starter says it is "made in the U.S with U.S.
> and imported components".
>
> Dan Jones
>
>
> Dan,
>
> I can not speak to where they are produced today. But when I bought mine I
> called and spoke to their tech support for the correct application. The rep
> emphatically stated it was US manufactured. I still have the box it came in
> with "Made in the USA" emblazoned on it.
>
> I am often concerned that some products can qualify to be labeled "Made in
> the USA"  because of a small percentage of US parts or final assembly
> point. There seems to be little to no regulation in this regard. We are at
> the mercy of a company's honesty. And many products  have no statement of
> where a product is produced.
>
> Jeff
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 D



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