I also keep a GM in my driveway all the time - the darn thing just won't start.

Best article that I have read in Janesville Gazette in a long time. I couldn't agree more with the entire article. Bravo!

You should never let "Loyalty" be the main driver of your purchasing decisions.

For starters, the product quality certainly fluctuates over time.

Secondly, your situation in life evolves. I bought a foreign car when gas hit 2.50 a gallon because I could not find a domestic vehicle that obtained 40+ MPG on the highway.

should we call all food american because we make it here?? its still chinese food, but without a doubt, by DEFINITION...its produced domestically...people are always going to buy chinese food, its that good;), but i think we can all agree that we would all prefer that chinese food(even you im sure have consumed) be produced domestically, even discounting the health factor of importing chinese food

silly analogy sigma. silly.

For those that think their foreign car is domestic just because it was made in the US, is your chinese food really made in china? And if not...why is it still called chinese food?

fuzzy, GM had to because our politicians allowed foreign to sell and be here a long time ago, it cut up the pie, upset the American apple cart. The population base of America cannot support more companies.

i am afraid the last g m product will be the one that is presently in our garage....just like g m we to are going to ABANDON the brand just like gm ABANDONED this town.......we are loyal to a certain point...what g m did is unforgiveable..

Where was GM's loyalty to you when they took your jobs and you lost your house and had your
GM vehicle reposessed and took your tax dollars to get bailed out. Give that some thought.

so they should buy our products but we shouldnt buy theirs??
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You sure like to twist my words.
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I'll start worrying about buying american when american companies stop producing or selling in different countries.
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My comment was in regards to stopping selling in other countries.
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I believe you said you were a salesman at one point Kid. So you must know that a foriegn sale brings new money into the country, which is good for everyone.
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Guy I used to live across the street from bought a 2004 Pontiac GTO and walked over and said to me "See what an American car company can design and build in the US?" I just told him to go look at the door tag and tell me where it says it was built. He walked over, opened the door and looked. Then slammed the door, gave me a dirty look and walked into his house. Car was gone later that week. Guess he didnt like a car that was designed and built in Australia. Didnt have the heart to tell him that his 2008 Pontiac G8 is also from Australia. hehe.

Buy what makes you happy. Screw what anyone else says. If someone says you should buy this or that, then tell them to buy it for you and then you'll drive it.

BTW all the Japanese brands are owned by stock holders (just like the Big 3) and many stock holders are Americans. And as said previously, how many Americans are EMPLOYED directly or indirectly by Honda, Toyota, Nissan, BMW, MB, Kia, Hyundai, etc. I guess some people here would rather see them unemployed.

What a great column. You are right about those folks riding in the foreign cars and having an american flag flying or the Marine, Navy, Army and Air Force riding in those same kind of cars. I just don't get it but you are right. It's called Loyalty. Thanks for a great read.

'Not wanting American companies to sell overseas is insane. We need more foreign money coming in, not less'

so they should buy our products but we shouldnt buy theirs??

We have also been loyal to a particular brand of vehicle - Honda. Why? Because our (nine) Hondas have given us 35 years of consistent dependable transportation with an enviable resale value. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the few American brand cars we owned in the early 70's. From our first Civic in 1975 to our current Accord and CRV, our Hondas have provided reliability with minimum maintenance required. I am a huge fan and will be looking at them again when I am ready for a new vehicle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svsUfBdvD...

Not wanting American companies to sell overseas is insane. We need more foreign money coming in, not less.

it's a global market folks. I'll start worrying about buying american when american companies stop producing or selling in different countries. in other words, never. If some 12 year old kid wants to make my stuff in inhumane conditions, that's alright by me. I just wish my sweatshop made sneakers didn't cost so much.

There are a few foreign cars with domestic badges on them. Just because it says "chevy" on it doesnt make it a GM built vehicle. You kind of have to know what is what. Who owns what company doesnt matter either. I'd be more concerned about quality than where its made. European cars are for more superior, Korean, japanese, they are disposable. A lot of GM cars are disposable now too... pretty much everything front wheel drive is.

I will never buy a CHevy as long as I live. they ripped off the taxpayers in Wisconsin and the US. They owe us $10m and they owe the US $1.3 B. As far as I am concerned, they should be giving us taxpayers a car for free since we paid for it with our taxes:-)

It doesnt matter where its built... its the name. Honda, Toyota...etc, will always be foreign.

silly, makes you sound like an abused person who sticks with the abuser. "I know he beats me, but deep down inside he realy loves me".....GM only wants to sell you overpriced yet cheaply made junk. GM powertrains have been decent for the most part but body and interiors are crap. I have a GMC, a Chevy and a Ford because they suited my needs, not because I feel loyalty to a company.

I didnt know they still ran production cars in the Daytona 500. Oh wait... they dont.

'As far as I'm concerned they didn't save a job'

you obviously have noooo idea how many 'overseas' cars are built right here in the good ole usa. buying an 'overseas' car doesnt save those jobs?? what about the people who sell those?? service those?? transport those?? those jobs arent saved?? steve, i obviously appreciate that you have that gm car in your driveway but you are thinking way shortsighted here. maybe a blog post about GM putting 500 MILLION DOLLARS into their mexico plant last year while our local plant sits idle?? how many american jobs did that save?? maybe a post explaining how a gm employee will buy a buick built in canada but not a honda built in ohio?? is it because even though its built by american hands its still 'foreign'?? hint: it has more to do with the canadian autoworkers union than it does the american hands in ohio. CAN YOU ANSWER MY QUESTIONS STEVE??

Thanks for buying American Steve!

3 GM products in my driveway. I can't promise they will always be GM, but they will always be an American vehicle....I want to keep jobs and the profits HERE.

Because it doesn't run and no one wants to buy it?

Frogger: don't forget those "foreign" companies also pay lots of taxes for their facilities here, not just the employees wages. Admit it people, foreign car makers are more invested in the American Workforce than our Domestic car makers currently are.

It will probably stay that way because of reliability and overall value.

What about the auto insurance on that vehicle? Are you loyal to one of the auto insurers who are headquartered in this state, or do you use another?

I have a couple of questions. Where are your bicycles made? Helmets, biking shoes, special biking outfits, socks, underwear, water bottles, and all of your other stuff. And why do you keep all of this stuff in your garage and your GM car in your driveway?

I'm a gm owner, a democrat, and a fool for both.. We, as a government loaned gm all that money, and then they build more plants in Mexico. I have no loyalty, as I have in the past, when my country's leadership has none for bringing jobs back to the gm employees here.

Every union worker I know doesn't shop at Wal-Mart, unless they are out of options (try going to AR on a family trip), or that's all that is open. My fine young friends can and will buy ping pong balls at bar time.

A retired Janesville GM worker friend of mine told me when I was shopping for my first new car that he wouldn't mind if I bought a car that wasn't a GM car as long as it was built at a UAW-crewed plant. My big problem with buying a GM or Ford vehicle today is the Janesville dealerships. I wouldn't buy a vehicle from the Fagans or Boucher. There are reasons why the out-of-town dealerships have a good number of Janesville customers.

What I don't understand is...I am supposed to buy a General MOtors product because they are made in the USA...when in fact they aren't all made here. The same people that tell me to buy American made shop at Wal-mart where almost nothing is American made????? I don't understand. BTW, for the record I do have 2 GM products but still don't understand why union workers shop at Wal-mart.

Why not take it out for a drive?

GM didn't show much loyalty Janesville.

gotthat: please check your facts a bit closer. GM and Chrysler did not both steal from the government. GM is still owned in part by the taxpayers who the President is bragging will only take a 14 billion dollar loss. Chrysler recently paid back its loans from both the Canadian and US government ... How? by borrowing the money from private sources that were not charging the 12% interest rate the goverment was charging Chrysler. The government made money both from the loan guarantees to Chrysler 30 years ago and more recently from the "bailout" loan to Chrysler.
The UAW Chrysler retiree health care fund is the majority owner of Chrysler right now ... the government does not own any of it. I could go on about the other benefits that the present Administration forced the UAW to take away from the Chrysler retirees but won't. So please do not lump GM (government motors) in with Chrysler (UAW retiree health care fund motors). I can see how you could because the present Administration is going to push to make both companies look bad since they are on the hook for GM and are going to lose billions on GM for the taxpayers.

HUSHHHH. On a quiet day you can hear a chevy rust.

The whole point of competition in capitalism is that a better product will be produced at a lower price. Looks like we've been beaten at our own game.

GM made overseas, good choice. Better to buy a car from a foreign company that is made here in America! Do your home work kid.

I myself will never have anything other then G.M. product.
Some people say that they have had a bad experience with American made, so they bail to the foreign stuff.
So in thinking that way,most would/should be living in other countries,how many times have we had a rotten apple running this land?
A few bad apples,or experiences should not make a person bail,on what is only a few real American jobs left in this country.
By the way i've mellowed some,i never would let a foreign vehicle even park in my driveway,not often,but i breath,& hold my tongue!

I bought a VW TDI locally from Frank Boucher. I went to Fagan first to buy GM but the Hybrid Silverado was not available for me to trade my truck in, nor was the Volt even available at all. As much as I hated that GM and Chrysler stole from the taxpayers in the form of a bailout (that will never be fully repaid)... I still wanted to support my local economy and an American Automaker. If Ford had a hybrid full size pick up, or if their 65mpg Diesels were available in the U.S. (European market only, WHY!?!?!??!) I would have bought either of those instead. Unfortunately, the CEO of GM chooses to lobby for a $1 per gallon tax hike so people will be forced to buy a VOLT? (As if no other automaker can build anything like it...) Hey GM... business 101, build an innovative product that can outclass and outperform your competition for a competitive price and most importantly MAKE IT AVAILABLE TO YOUR CONSUMERS. People might actually buy your vehicles on their own free will.

Wow Steve. I pictured you in a subaru with a rainbow sticker in the back window.

I WAS A LOYAL GM OWNER ALSO, BUT I ERRORED WHEN I TRADED IN MY TRUCK WHEN GAS PRICES WENT WILD 6 YEARS AGO, DOWN SIZED TO A CHEV MALIBU MAXX, MY ERR WAS GOING WITH A LEASE PROGRAM, TOOK THE 4 YEAR LEASE BUT WITH THE OPTION TO TRADE THE VEHICLE IN AFTER 42 MONTHS, BUT GM CHANGED THAT OPTION WITHOUT ANY TYPE OF NOTICE...THIS OF COURSE SOURED ME ON GM, STOPPED BY A TOYOTA DEALERSHIP, THEY PAID OFF THE REMAINDER OF MY LEASE, ZERO INTEREST, 4 YEAR PLAN...8 MONTHS LATER GM CALLED WANTING TO KNOW WHAT I DID WITH THE MALIBU MAXX, AFTER EXPLAINING I HAD TRADED IT 8 MONTHS AGO AND GIVING THEM THE DEALERS NAME, I FOUND OUT THAT A GM REP HAD CHECK THE MALIBU OUT THE DAY AFTER THE TRADE, BUT NO ONE COME BACK TO THE DEALER TO PICK THE VEHICLE UP...I BUY AMERICAN, BUT GM IS OFF MY LIST

I preached for years to buy American and followed that practice. Have a Dodge short wheelbase van and a Dodge truck both built in St. Louis. Now both those plants are gone. Wanted a PT cruiser but would not buy one because it was made in Mexico. Now I have 2 stepsons driving VW Jetta's built in Mexico and complaining about the economy. I would have rather seen them driving a Honda built in the U.S. Although the profits would have gone back overseas, at least the wages for assembly would have stayed in this country. SAD. I will stick with Dodge if and when I ever buy a new vehicle. Chrysler paid back the bulk of the federal loan plus paid lots of interest to the government as well. The taxpayers are still on the hook for GM. The UAW retireee health care fund got stuck being on the hook for Chrysler thanks to the present administration. So I will try to help out the Chrysler UAW retirees by buying Dodge products made in the U.S.A. if able to do so again.

Thanks for this blog Steve. It makes me want to go put a big 'ol American flag across the back window of my Chevy Aveo. I for one am proud to be your GM brother. USA 4-EVER!

frogger, reality bub. When I find the article I'll post, then you might be able to comprehend.

I buy older GM cars.. I'd never buy new, biggest waste of money ever. A lot of the cost is warranty, and when you dont need one why pay for it?

I can't believe that you wouldn't look beyond loyalty, especially when that company you feel so loyal to took millions of dollars from our state, then bolted. Instead, why wouldn't you purchase the best car for the money. A wise man once said, "A fool and his money, soon do part". I'm not saying that GM doesn't make good cars, but that mentality is what got GM complacent in the first place. No need to worry about quality, they have a bunch of blind followers ready to drink the kool-aid.

". The end result the money goes overseas."

Tired of that one- the workers work HERE. Don't think they send their money over seas!

I've always owned GM cars, 2 of them new. As much as I love GM cars, I think I'll be a Ford guy from now on. I can't deal with GM politics.

macdaddy"with more safety features and more options and even a higher chance of reliability."

amen and when you are done with it it will still actually have VALUE.

crunchmunch "GM vehicles. I have a Oldsmobile and a Chevy...

OKAY- no comment- am I supposed to laugh??

My issue is Gm is made in Mexico and Honda for example makes MOST of their cars HERE in the US giving US folks Jobs and GM ships the work out to Mexico and closes our plants here. Most of the content is US or Canada as well.

I buy GM products assembled in the USA. Currently owned GM vehicles were assembled in Ohio, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Over 180,000 (248,000 highest) on every GM vehicle I have owned, (current ones excepted, but two are close), without significant problems. (Exception: my wife had a Barretta (sp?) that I got fed up with the cruise control being flakey and traded it in).

I purchase GM vehicles for no other reason than they are quality vehicles. They have good reliability but if need be fixing them does not cost as much as a foreign car.

The foreigners love to confuse people, just because it is built here. The end result the money goes overseas. I read an article that explained how there is overall way much less bang for the buck by buying foreign made here on our U.S. soil. The Japanese do not play fair, just see what it would take to buy a GM vehicle if you lived in Japan. If we had a government with balls the foreigners would never be allowed to sell here or build vehicles here. For them to be here is not in my constitution nor I do not believe that it was in our founding father’s intent. You can Google it, but I have never found our founding father’s stating “Well we just formed our country, and we all know Bob down the street builds stage coaches but I read in some magazine that Russia builds one hecka of a stage coach, let’s buy some, we don’t care about Bob or his family”. I have never discovered this attitude in history from our founding fathers. Why? Because they believed in their fellow Americans ingenuity and resolve. Sadly our founding father’s intent and thoughts are gone in present day.

I have a rule in our house, only vehicles MADE IN THE USA! That is why I bought a Honda Ridgeline.

Sorry, but GM closes plants here in the US, needs taxpayer money to bail them out and produces cars in Mexico. Only car I would buy from GM is the Corvette since your odds are pretty good it is 100% built in the US (depends on engine). For a dailey driver I went with a Ford. No bail out and better product. Sorry, would love to be loyal to GM but I am loyal to having things built here in the US even more

I am a loyal GM retiree. Thank you Steve!

I thought you meant it was another broken down GM car.

meh

I have always had a GM vehicle since it made a lot of sense with getting the discount. Now that the discount is not as good, I will definately look at other brands. And if GM screws its retirees with their pensions in the future, you can definately bet I will never buy from them again. I would recommend the Cadillac brand though. I have loved both of my CTS's and they have performed well with no issues.

http://www.cars.com/go/advice/Story.jsp?...

Read 'em and weep

Purchased a new Chevy Traverse a year ago. Love the vehicle and love the way the auto industry is coming back. Thanks for the loans to help bring them back, Mr. President!

That seems a bit silly Steve. My Toyota was made in America, my old Chevy pickup was made in Canada, and the used Tahoe I sold a few years ago was made in Mexico. Brand loyalty is fine, but if a product doesn't meet stand up to competitors, then it's adios muchachos. Cars aren't cheap, I need to get the best bang for the buck, and if it's American, great, though to be honest, I'll probably only be looking at Ford from now on.
My family also benefited greatly from GM, but as stated below, they worked their tails off for their paychecks, and GM certainly made more money off of them then they did from GM, so I don't understand why I would owe them anything. It's more of an emotional kind of thing, rather than anything tangible, I would assume.

Sorry Steve..
2 Fords..
2 Harley Davidsons..

It's too bad GM (stands for Government Motors) doesn't feel as much loyalty to you as you do to it. I heard that GM is encouraging gas to go up another $1 gallon so people will look more favorably at their Volts. Also heard some GM dealers are selling their hybrids to each other so they can get the $7500 federal rebate.

At last - a person who is willing to state his loyalty. This is a quality that has been missing in so many areas of life lately. We should be trying to buy American-made products, buying from local business people and farmers. A lot of lip service is given to patriotism but not a lot of action. Time to wake up and put your money where your mouth is.

people, people, today's "foreign" cars are more made in America than our "domestic" brands. For example my last 2 GM cars were made and assembled in Canada. And the majority of parts in GM cars are made in Mexico. While Toyota has invested millions in plants in Kentucky and in South Carolina is the BMW plant where they make the majority of BMWs that are sold in America. Face the facts, GM is out to make money and the fact that I went to look at a Malibu and it was $31,000 is RIDICULOUS! I can easily buy a foreign car with more safety features and more options and even a higher chance of reliability.

Several GM vehicles are in our driveway and always will be. (no we did not work at GM)

My Dad worked at GM also. We were very fortunate growing up. My Dad never owned a foreign car and thought people who did were against America. His loyalty runs through our blood too, always checking labels, etc. to try and find American made goods. Food is the scariest thing with most of our candy, soda, juice, etc. coming from other countries. Distributed in the U.S. does not mean it was made here!

If only you were not the only one who thought this way. I feel the exact same way as you...and even though I never worked at the GM plant in Janesville, it sure helped put food on my plate when I was younger and I would have never grew up in this area if it weren't for that plant.

Just remember GM made more off your dad than your dad made off them. He earned that money, GM didn't just give it to him. You owe GM nothing.

One of the vehicles in my driveway was made in the janesville plant not long before it closed.