Apple Pie, Mom, and... Toyota?
http://www.mindfully.org/Industry/2006/Ford-Mustang-Patriotic11may06.htmFew sports cars have captured the nation's imagination like the sleek Ford Mustang, a 21st-century reincarnation of an American classic. The Toyota Sienna minivan, by contrast, speaks to the utilitarian aesthetics of Japan: refined interiors, arm rests and lots and lots of cup holders.
Mom, Apple Pie and...Toyota? Ford Says It's Patriotic to Buy A Mustang, but Sienna Is Made In Indiana With More U.S. Parts JATHON SAPSFORD & NORIHIKO SHIROUZU / Wall Street Journal 11may2006
Yet, by a crucial measure, the Sienna is far more American than the Mustang. Statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that were publicized in "Auto Industry Update: 2006," a presentation by Farmington Hills, Mich., research company CSM Worldwide, show only 65% of the content of a Ford Mustang comes from the U.S. or Canada. Ford Motor Co. buys the rest of the Mustang's parts abroad. By contrast, the Sienna, sold by Japan's Toyota Motor Corp., is assembled in Indiana with 90% local components.
That's rather startling, actually. But, some people think that the Sienna is "foreign." Told the Toyota Sienna has higher North American content than the Mustang, he is unimpressed. "I wouldn't buy a Sienna," he says. "I don't like them because they are foreign."
I'm thinking... what planet does he live on? Made in America by Americans - and it's foreign? Huh??
Clear proof, it seems, that American educators haven't been teaching critical thinking skills for decades.
Mom, Apple Pie and...Toyota? Ford Says It's Patriotic to Buy A Mustang, but Sienna Is Made In Indiana With More U.S. Parts JATHON SAPSFORD & NORIHIKO SHIROUZU / Wall Street Journal 11may2006
Yet, by a crucial measure, the Sienna is far more American than the Mustang. Statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that were publicized in "Auto Industry Update: 2006," a presentation by Farmington Hills, Mich., research company CSM Worldwide, show only 65% of the content of a Ford Mustang comes from the U.S. or Canada. Ford Motor Co. buys the rest of the Mustang's parts abroad. By contrast, the Sienna, sold by Japan's Toyota Motor Corp., is assembled in Indiana with 90% local components.
That's rather startling, actually. But, some people think that the Sienna is "foreign." Told the Toyota Sienna has higher North American content than the Mustang, he is unimpressed. "I wouldn't buy a Sienna," he says. "I don't like them because they are foreign."
I'm thinking... what planet does he live on? Made in America by Americans - and it's foreign? Huh??
Clear proof, it seems, that American educators haven't been teaching critical thinking skills for decades.