Chinese close to buying Volvo

[polskamafia mjl]

lol, dancing has nothing to do with it. Communism is an economic strategy first and foremost. China is considered a marriage between Communism and Capitalism. It's technically called communism but, as bright has explained remarkably well, it really isn't today. China has private business sectors and all of the structure that a capitalist market has.

[bright]

Made in Japan was considered a mark of trash.

He's been quite helpful. Next you're going to be saying bad things about people from the Ozarks.

You should take the time to read the whole of the post. "Made in Japan" was considered a low mark of quality.

And lest you forget, there were many years in which American automobiles (especially in the late 70s and early 80s) were considered poorly constructed and unreliable.

Watch the flames. I never said a single thing that maligned any person. It was the perception of where something was made. There is plenty of stuff from any country that is of poor quality. The forum is about cars, I was referring to the automobile industry.

And I really resent the Ozark comment. My family is Southern and I have family that are from the Appalachians. Don't let this go in a bad way.

[marginal]

lol, dancing has nothing to do with it. Communism is an economic strategy first and foremost. China is considered a marriage between Communism and Capitalism. It's technically called communism but, as bright has explained remarkably well, it really isn't today. China has private business sectors and all of the structure that a capitalist market has.

Not only that, it has freedom of speech and freedom to travel abroad.

[bright]

lol, dancing has nothing to do with it. Communism is an economic strategy first and foremost. China is considered a marriage between Communism and Capitalism. It's technically called communism but, as bright has explained remarkably well, it really isn't today. China has private business sectors and all of the structure that a capitalist market has.

Thank you for the compliment. Too many days sitting in Economics classes

There are two parts to a socialist system. Social Structures and Planned Economies. The planned economies tried to allocate production of various goods via educated guesses as to what would be needed where. It was a horrible, miserable failure that caused massive suffering, including the starvation of millions of Chinese in the Great Famines during Mao's Great Leap Forward. The Cultural Revolution followed up with what would be better known to most Americans as a Stalinist type purge of intellectuals, people with differing ideologies and some local political whim. It was a hellish time.

Mao became ill and it was apparent that the end was near. That's where the fighting began for the control of the country in which Deng won for a short while. The underpinnings of a relatively free market were sowed and the rest is history.

Education has become the next part of the progression of the nation. Free and accurate access to information and technology will either break the political system or transform it. My guess is that it will transform the political landscape rather than destroy it as was the case in much of political convulsions of Eastern Europe independence.

That's my two Yuan worth.

Please understand I am not insulting anyone or any nation. It's just the march of time in which a country was dominant in some field but that eventually changed.

Thanks,
Lee

[mindshadow]

Made in Japan was considered a mark of trash.

He's been quite helpful. Next you're going to be saying bad things about people from the Ozarks.

You should take the time to read the whole of the post. "Made in Japan" was considered a low mark of quality.

And lest you forget, there were many years in which American automobiles (especially in the late 70s and early 80s) were considered poorly constructed and unreliable.

Watch the flames. I never said a single thing that maligned any person. It was the perception of where something was made. There is plenty of stuff from any country that is of poor quality. The forum is about cars, I was referring to the automobile industry.

And I really resent the Ozark comment. My family is Southern and I have family that are from the Appalachians. Don't let this go in a bad way.

Your sarcasm meter is broken. You should look in the repair database on how to fix it.

/Alabamian

[matthew1]

Bright, Mindshadow was making wordplay with the names of our moderators here. We have Made In Japan and Ozark Lee.

Thanks to everyone for keeping the politics to a "low rumble" in this topic. I know it's difficult to do because by its nature the topic is political.

[bright]

Humble pie is best eaten warm. I dutifully have taken my slice.

The word play is pretty good. Never would of caught that in a million years. Wait, hold on...had to wipe more of that pie off of my shirt.

[holler1]

Wow, this topic has exploded in the last day or so. I won't get involved in the politics, but I want to add an item on car reliability. I had made the point earlier that Japan/Toyota has set the standard in quality. I believe this goes back at least 20 years (my 91 Camry is the most reliable car I ever owned) but I can only find data back 10 years. The screenshots below prove the point. Red bullets are the top ratings, white is average, black is bad. I believe the 98-00 V70s were basically the same as the 93-97 850s, so the V70 data probably applies to the 850s. See below.

volvo.jpg (54.99 KiB) Viewed 1320 times

toyota.jpg (75.16 KiB) Viewed 1320 times

Note - I'm definitely not saying V70s or 850s are bad cars, on the contrary I think they are great-safe, beautiful, fast. But we have to accept facts that Japanese cars have been the "gold standard" on reliability. Just look at all the 80s and 90s Toys and Hondas running around with 200-300,000 miles on them. Japanese reliability is traced back to W. Edwards Deming (an American http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming) who went to Japan and taught about quality. They listened!

[bright]

I am impressed that you know about Deming. I didn't want to travel down that road. And you owned a Sunbeam too? More cool points. (Why doesn't anyone mention Tata buying Jaguar?)

The Japanese cleaned the quality clocks of the US. The Germans were doing a great job on the continent but were too expensive for US imports.

I will say this. My Mom has a 96 Camry with a V6. It has proven very reliable. The only thing that needed replacing beyond normal maintenance was the power steering rack.

I have a 95 960, with the mandatory in-line 6. It too has gone under the normal maintenance routine with no replacement of unusual parts (minus the expansion cap.) Unfortunately, the A/C compressor is near the end of its life. It's a lot cheaper than a rack though

Her car is quicker. The Volvo gasps near it's redline and the gear ration is poorly spaced when gunning it from 1-2-3.

That said, my car is quieter, smoother and more enjoyable to ride in. Under normal to medium acceleration it pulls away smoothly and is great for long rides. I just wish parts were cheaper and easier to come by.

Been a fun conversation, and I *actually* had a chance to use all of that history from school. The really neat part is what is happening at the moment.

[wheelsup]

I don't think anyone in their right mind would suggest Volvos are more reliable than Toyota or Honda. However what you get with a Volvo is more in the "fun to drive" category and luxury category.

I test drove a few Camrys and owned a Honda. I was not impressed with the cars themselves. Sure they are reliable but so is a 250# 3 out of 10 woman. She won't leave you, but it sure isn't much fun .

There's a balance and I think Volvo pulls it off nicely. Their parts are also cheaper than the Toyota/Honda parts I've looked up, they tend to be pricey. Plus, Volvo is different and for me, that is part of the reason I like the car. I have one of the only Volvos in my neighborhood that is choked full of Toyota and Honda.