Made in "Your Country Here" ; Is it important to you?

[Hammerskjold]

I'm curious. I keep hearing so much from a subset of people that I know that they will buy Made in the USA over "Made in anywhere else", because it's "Home Done", and what not.

So I'm curious. Does it matter to you where it is made? Especially to those of you who don't live in the US. Does it matter where it is made to you?

Yes and no, and it depends. The 'When' is also a factor for me. A Japanese made car in it's early days was a bad joke. A Japanese made car in more contemporary times, is no longer a joke. It hasn't been a joke for a while now, and it's probably a sign when a competitor stops laughing and starts cursing. And starts a not so subtle 'patriotic' angle. Or innuendos about enslaved labour etc.

Some American made cars from a certain era like the 50's and 60's, is something I would love to have. Styling wise they look great to me. At the time of this writing, I would not buy any recent North American car brand.

From my own experience at least, the whole NA car maker keeps locals employed angle is, hogwash. I used to go to a school where there was a Ford assembly plant nearby, and I knew many students who wanted a summer job there. Very few got in. They instead got hired by Toyota and Honda. That Ford plant I later learned closed shop and moved to Mexico for more 'competitive labour wages'. Insert eye roll gif here.

Before anyone misunderstands that I somehow advocate Japanese cars are the end all and be all forever and ever. I'll just say that success can breed complacency, and IMO if I were looking to buy a new car right now. I'd give a serious look at the S-Korean brands.

The Indian Tata car (hehe, tatas) looks like a replay of the early Japanese automotive effort to me. I wouldn't buy one now because it looks like a death trap. But if it has safety improvements without adding useless gadgetry (blue tooth compatible jumbo slurpee cup holder with satellite temperature tracking) and a low enough price. It may no longer elicit derisive chuckles.

Put in an plug in ready, robust electric motor and a revolutionary cheap and powerful battery technology. And I'll safely bet that some competitors will be scrambling to yell how unpatriotic it is to purchase a 'furrener made' product. Until they have their own version of course.

For me, I've never cared. I care more about the quality of the product, and I don't automatically discount the quality of a product based on where it was made. I have a feeling that my perspective is colored based on being a musician, and owning several high dollar instruments, and I own them because of the quality not because of the place they were made.

I'm fairly similar in that view point. IMO it also depends on how far you define 'made in fill in blank'. I don't know the whole detail for every country, but the legal definition \ requirement for a product to have a 'made in' can be, eh, hilarious.

IMO there's a limit on the whole 'PROUDLY Made in the blankety blank'.
What's that Sagan quote, " if you want to make an apple pie from scratch..."