Merc's Built in China??

[Gerritt]

http://www.boattest.com/VLibrary/vPlay.asp...;s=News20080326

 

 

 

First I heard of this.... would this sway your buying decision?

 

G

[Guest lundboy]

It certainly would, hopefully the competitors have not done the same.

[glen]

He said cheep labour is the reason.

[doubleheader]

It's a brave new world, so our leaders in the US have told us. It puts most buyers in quite a dilemma, yet this is nothing new as much of our industry has shifted south of Texas or into Asia over the last 10-15 years. As a result many Americans have had to find new, and mostly lower paying jobs. When Americans choose to buy only U.S. made products they are really pinched at both ends as their wages are lower and they are paying higher prices (usually) for the few remaining U.S. made products. As a result most of us buy imports. From our clothing to our shoes to our autos, and even a lot of the lumber we buy. Where does it end? I have no idea. While I'm a free market person at heart, it's extra tough when competing countries are subsidizing industries and fixing currencies. I just think our American naive politicians had a number of ulterior motives when they rushed into the free trade agreements. To name a few: a desire to keep inflation under wraps (which it did initially), a desire to break unions, and a strong desire to make China and other emerging industrial nations our ally. They may have made them our masters in the process. We have exported so much technology it's frightening.

 

Anyhow, sorry for the editorial. Would I buy a Chinese Merc? The answer is I don't know. Everything I'm wearing except my shoes are made overseas so that ought to tell you something.

[lunkerbasshunter]

its the time we now live in. Im not surprised. The johnson outboard rep told me a few years ago that suzuki makes there smaller outboard motors, they just put a johnson label on it becasue Johnson simply cant make it as cheap as suzuki can in there north american plant. He told me they have been doing that for years.

 

Cheers!

[Hookset]

Ya it would sway my decision.

Problem is, what does that leave as far as "made in north america" goes ?

 

Would the last manufacturing plant leaving N. America please turn the lights off on their way out ?

 

 

Hookset.

[Gerritt]

Evinrudes are still made in Wisconsin...

[irishfield]

As long as they don't hire the same 6 year old that is welding Frabill's ice hut accessories over there.....

[ccmtcanada]

I no nothing about the domestic marine motor industry, but I know this is true of others.

 

A product that is assembled in the US or Canada likely has a large part of it's components made overseas. If this is the case with motors, is there that much of a difference...especially if they are offerring the same warranties?

[fishindevil]

Well it sure doesnt supprise me,man what isnt made in china now ????? .....thats the real question,now they are going to flood the market with their $4,000 car very soon,the sign of the times for sure,hey ford & dodge,nand G.M. all make cars in mexico,and get parts from brazil,and all over the world so this is nothing new ,its just another case of more jobs lost !!! as usual,companies just wanting more profit....

[fishinggeek]

Presonally, I don't have a problem with it at all. The good thing about cheap imports is that they're cheap! People in relatively more affluent countries like our's get to save money when we pay relatively less for the same outboard motor, which means we can buy a bigger motor than we would've otherwise, new lures, more gas, or whatever. Many people seem to view these issues with the perspective of the factor markets (ie. jobs), but what about the goods market? The domestic consumer is getting a great deal, and that is not worthless.

 

And for those of us who have to work here, value-added or non-exportable jobs should be focused on. Instead of building motors, why not get into jobs which we do best and/or which cannot be exported, like real estate, banking, hospitality, or some areas of finance and management?

 

In high school economics, I remember they said that given certain conditions (like low costs and barriers to trade), the world's utility is maximized when nations produce output at their lowest opportunity cost. If these conditions means China is making our Mercury motors but our accountants are doing their audits, then that's great because both nations' utility will be maximized. We will have more outboard motors than we would've without China while earning the most auditing fees from China.

Edited April 1, 2008 by fishinggeek

[Golfisher]

I would wait another decade or two before buying anything sophisticated from China. They've come a long way, but they still have a long road ahead to catch up. Until then, I'm sticking to shoes and cloths.

[bushart]

Offshore did'nt stop Yamaha

 

It is weird though---just look at the size of the forest industry in Canada---ever look where the chainsaws are made...

 

Bushart

[OhioFisherman]

Cheap labor is an American tradition!

 

http://encarta.msn.com/media_461557942/afr...ing_cotton.html

 

And yes they continue to spin cheap labor as a good thing, it is, for the business owner.

[mattyk]

not for me. I wont be buying an outboard made in china. I want something built in North America.

[fishinggeek]

Cheap labor is an American tradition!

 

http://encarta.msn.com/media_461557942/afr...ing_cotton.html

 

And yes they continue to spin cheap labor as a good thing, it is, for the business owner.

 

I'm not sure it's fair to compare cheap labour to slavery. Cheap labour in markets like India and China represent some of the best jobs for their population, whereas slavery is forced labour and some of the worst "jobs". I'm sure a Chinese factory worker making goods destined for America feels far more lucky than the oppressed African slave of the past.

 

But what about other stakeholders beside business owners that offshore? What about us consumers who can buy things at cheaper prices? I was reading Yahoo news one day and they listed the top 10 least expensive cars to own (including purchase price, insurance, maintenance, gas) and most were foreign. So all the foreign car owners have enjoyed years of relatively cheap car ownership. And back to the business owners. Many with the scale required to make offshoring economic are publicly-owned, and much of this ownership is in mutual funds, pension funds, and retail trading accounts that ultimately flow through to retirees and other retail investors. And what about the businesses that don't offshore? Doesn't cheaper imports make them more competitive and efficient on a faster pace than they would've otherwise?

 

I think if a large and diversified country like the US stops offshoring activities, they would be far worse off.

[Gerritt]

At the rate high paying jobs are being lost in North America due to things being sent offshore (mainly in the Manufacturing segment) Who can afford to purchase a Chinese Made Merc? when it is selling for the same price if not more, when it was made here?

 

Hundreds of thousands have been let go from various plants. All in the name of the bottom line. The companies did well while here... but obviously can do better overseas as Labour is any manufacturers largest expense.

 

Problem is your killing your consumer by taking away their wage, therefor shooting yourself in the foot...

 

you honestly think the people of China are going to hang a Merc off the back of their boat? Doubtful they can afford the boat to be honest..

 

Blame the Walmart Mentality folks...

[silveradosheriff]

What impact do you think this will have on quality???

[Blue_Axela]

I'm Chinese...and to be honest I stay away from Made In China goods as well. Not for all the political reasons they many of you have brought up. My main concern is quality and to be honest Made In China = crap quailty.

 

$4000 car? I would never risk my life and buy a Made in China car.

[Hookset]

Problem is your killing your consumer by taking away their wage, therefor shooting yourself in the foot...

 

you honestly think the people of China are going to hang a Merc off the back of their boat? Doubtful they can afford the boat to be honest..

 

Blame the Walmart Mentality folks...

 

Exactly...bang on.

Produce all the cheap goods you want, but when there are no buyers left...what's it worth ?

 

 

Hookset.

[OhioFisherman]

China doesn`t give their people much voice on things, news reports here the average Chinese worker makes 4 bucks a day, I do wonder how the people would feel if they knew and or could speak out about it with out repercussions? Tibet`s voice is being heard, at a price.

 

American car companies created their own problems, a faulty product, poor design at times, not responsive to the public, so they looked at options, the companies seemed to blame labor costs, except for the corporate decision makers that made the problems.

 

Divide and conquer, most Americans can`t understand they have been beaten down and more is coming, flood the labor force with cheaper immigrant labor to hold down costs and raise executives pay, if that`s not enough move the work to a cheap labor country with out a voice for the people.

 

Just my opinion though, American wages have been stagnant or falling corporate pay has risen to 300 times the difference of the 50`s and 60`s. The voice that screams we are worth it the loudest?

 

You do have to wonder if the benevolent rulers in China have billions stashed away in their homes and other places like Saddam Hussian did? Maybe their newspapers will check?

 

I step down from the soap box, gotta buy chinese! my pension fund is probably deeply in debt to them.

[doubleheader]

Again, not argueing free trade is a bad thing, but like anything else the devil is in the details and our politicians (both parties I might add) led us down the primrose path with the guidance of special interest groups without a complete understanding as to the revolutionary impact this would have on the average wage earner nor a plan as to how to migrate into a global economy. That's my beef, it was like "Here's a switch let's flip it and see what happens"

 

Bottom line the standard of living in the US is plummeting. Certain industries are disappearing altogether, and other are bankrupt and don't even know it yet. Like Ford for instance. We could have done things differently. We could have provided tax credits for industries to invest in their North American plants instead of loopholes to send their jobs overseas.

[largemouth]

asians make great outboards!

Honda is the largest motor company on earth.

[danbouck]

We buy a lot of our elevator parts from China. Reason being is that the materials (steel, wiring etc) is insanely cheaper as well as the labour. You get the identical parts for a quarter of the price. I will certainly buy a motor if it is built there.

[2 tone z71]

Mercury bit off ALOT the past few yrs buying up boat line after boat line,I heard a rumour thru a dealer they my be dropping a complete line up of engines time will tell for all these companys