Japan's cash for clunker programs excludes US automakers

[blue_onyx]

"Detroit's three automakers criticized Japan on Thursday for keeping foreign automakers out of its cash-for-clunkers program while noting how Japanese automakers claimed nearly half the vehicles sold under the U.S. clunkers program.

The dispute is more about symbolism than sales. Detroit automakers sell a handful of vehicles in Japan and have no North American-built vehicles designed to appeal to Japanese customers or meet strict Japanese fuel economy rules.

But after U.S. automakers reluctantly agreed to a U.S. cash-for-clunkers plan that was open to all automakers, Detroit's trade experts say Japan's policy highlights how it keeps its market closed to foreign automakers."

More: http://www.freep.com/article/20091211/BUSINESS01/912110331/1210/Business/Japans-clunker-policy-blasted

[FLAprogressive]

1. so basically we got ass raped by Japan

[girl gone mad]

5. Japan is just doing what's in its people's best interest.

Pity our government has devolved into a tool that our "betters" use against us.

[FLAprogressive]

8. exactly we don't

[demosincebirth]

6. Yeah! Lets go out and buy more Japanese cars!

[FarCenter]

2. Why didn't US makers get their cars certified for fuel mileage in order to qualify?

Under those Japanese import rules, low-volume models don't need their fuel economy certified by the Japanese government. Japanese officials have said their clunkers program excluded uncertified models because it was designed to boost demand for more efficient models.

[Octafish]

3. Same reason Japan sells as many cars as they want in the US.

Effective lobbyists.

[FarCenter]

7. This sounds like the Japanese version of the EPA fuel ratings

So you would have to put the car through the tests prescribed by the Japanese regulators. Doesn't have anything to do with lobbyists.

http://www.dieselnet.com/standards/jp/fe.php for information on requirements and test procedure.

[Octafish]

9. No. I meant rhetoric, as in getting people to do what you want. Like Congress.

Like presidents. Like the public.

The Japanese car makers get big lifts from the government -- from subsidies to build new models, to health insurance for workers, to financial assistance to export them to the U.S.A. where they are sold cheaper than in the home market. Eamonn Fingleton tells the story:

How the Press Helped Destroy the Auto Industry

Detroit's Collapse: the Untold Story

By EAMONN FINGLETON
CounterPunch
July 3-5, 2009

For decades East Asian competition has played a controversial role in the decline of the American car industry. Both Japan and Korea have long been accused of unfair trade and closed markets. For their part Japanese and Korean officials have argued that their markets are open and that an incompetent and heedless Detroit doesn't make the sort of cars their consumers want.

In all the charges and countercharges, little of the remarkable truth of Detroit's trade problems has come out. To see how well -- or rather how badly -- you understand the background, try this quiz:

1. What was the Detroit companies' share of the Japanese market in 1930? (a) About 90 per cent. (b) About 20 per cent. (c) Less than 4 per cent.

2. How many models do the Detroit corporations currently make with the steering wheel on the right (the standard configuration for Japan)? (a) More than 40. (b) 12. (c) 3.

3. What was the combined share of all foreign makers – American, European, and Japanese – in the Korean car market in the last decade? (a) Less than 2 per cent. (b) Around 15 per cent. (c) More than 70 per cent.

The correct answer in each case is (a).

If you flunked, don't feel bad. Just cancel your newspaper subscription.

For decades American press coverage of global car industry competition has been abysmal. Reporters and commentators have almost never dug below the surface and their idea of fact checking has too often consisted merely of "accurately" recycling previous observers' errors. Worse many commentators have displayed an almost venomously elitist bias against Detroit. In short, readers of the American press have been fed a diet of falsehoods, while key facts that give the lie to the foreign trade lobby’s special pleading have been swept under the carpet.

Much of the most egregious press coverage moreover has emanated from writers and editors at some of the most “respected” media organizations, not least the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, the Washington Post, and the New York Times. Reuters and Associated Press have not been far behind and even the automobile trade press has often unforgiveably spun the story to Detroit's great disadvantage.

CONTINUED...

http://www.counterpunch.org/fingleton07032009.html

This I knew before Finnegan. I live in metro Detroit.

[Gold Metal Flake]

4. Good for Japan.

They are protecting their economy and their workers. We should do the same, but it will never happen without major election reform and 100% public financing of elections.

[TexasObserver]

10. Yes, because we're the only country in the world practicing "free market."

Every other country protects their manufacturers, but we don't, because we have a bunch of right wing mouth breathers who control our trade policy with terms like "protectionism."

[Obamanaut]

11. Perhaps the answer lies in a statement in the article, that is "...Detroit

automakers sell a handful of vehicles in Japan and have no North American-built vehicles designed to appeal to Japanese customers or meet strict Japanese fuel economy rules..."

Make some automobiles that appeal to Japanese customers and meet Japanese fuel economy rules, and maybe they could even sell some of them to US customers.

[Octafish]

12. Your ignorance about Detroit is, most likely, due to Corporate Media.

1. What was the Detroit companies' share of the Japanese market in 1930? (a) About 90 per cent. (b) About 20 per cent. (c) Less than 4 per cent.

2. How many models do the Detroit corporations currently make with the steering wheel on the right (the standard configuration for Japan)? (a) More than 40. (b) 12. (c) 3.

3. What was the combined share of all foreign makers – American, European, and Japanese – in the Korean car market in the last decade? (a) Less than 2 per cent. (b) Around 15 per cent. (c) More than 70 per cent.

The correct answer in each case is (a).

If you flunked, don't feel bad. Just cancel your newspaper subscription.

SOURCE:

http://www.counterpunch.org/fingleton07032009.html