American cars and trucks have come a long ways!

Doh – you’re right. But it is still a Japanese brand.

The truck argument goes both ways. I did acknowledge in the original write-up that many Americans have real use for their trucks (your boat for instance, my brother-in-law’s business, etc.) whereas nobody can honestly give me a good purpose for the existence of an Escalade/Navigator/Aviator or the Jeep Patriot/Compass/Commander. I know my Dad’s Tacoma gets nearly 30mpg although he opted for the "weaker" truck options – a fact that I make fun of him for constantly. When you have to have a particular vehicle (4×4, hauling power, boat pulling) then you simply have to have it for that purpose – no problems there. But soccer moms and even the average dude don’t need that kind of power – the light truck works for them.

I give a lot of credit to the American Jeep Wranglers. There are a lot of people that put nearly half a million miles on the straight-six engine and that includes stressful off-roading as well. But it has more than 60 years of development under its belt. Wranglers have even been rated as one of the least depreciating vehicles to own. But Chrysler doesn’t have anything else (even the other Jeeps) that I would consider a worthy purchase.

Other than introducing an additional 1% unemployment in a single bang, I just can’t justify anything about the American auto industry that demonstrates legitimate corporate responsibility of giving its shareholders a return. We produce generally useless cars that are next to impossible to export and (a select few excluded) that our own population doesn’t even want/need.