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The Germans are none too happy with us these days. (http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081008/OPINION03/810080350/1148/AUTO01)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2009_BMW_128i.jpgManny Lopez – Detroit News – Oct. 8, 2008

2009 BMW 128i – BMW’s most fuel efficient subcompact US automobile rated at a miserable 22 mpgUS combined.

Maybe if BMW and MB offered more fuel efficient sedans, they might have something to be ticked off about :rolleyes: -- Ed.

They're especially upset about the $25 billion in loans the U.S. government secured to help automakers build greener vehicles here.

Auto industry officials in Deutschland are calling the auto loan program a "distortion of competition" and bastardization of the free market, among other things. And in the purest sense, it is.

But the outrage is a bit overblown, if not completely misplaced. The loan program is hardly as protectionist as say, Germany's controlling stake in Volkswagen AG and the State of Lower Saxony's attempts to keep it that way. Or the mostly closed markets that exist in Japan and other Asian nations.

And the indignation about the auto loans is laughable when you consider how much German auto companies have gotten in tax breaks in the United States. BMW AG, for example, earlier this year got a $15 million grant from South Carolina for site improvements for its plant there and millions more in tax breaks over time. Tennessee is offering millions to Volkswagen for the plant it is building in Chattanooga… http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081008/OPINION03/810080350/1148/AUTO01

The European manufacturers don't have the health care cost that GM and Ford have. That in itself is also unfair. I think it works out to $1500 per American car.

Everybody is real quick to bash the US.

Ein wort: Airbus

The European manufacturers don't have the health care cost that GM and Ford have. That in itself is also unfair. I think it works out to $1500 per American car.

Good point. Socialized medical care in Europe in effect relieves businesses of that cost. Never thought about it that way, thanks!

The European manufacturers don't have the health care cost that GM and Ford have. That in itself is also unfair. I think it works out to $1500 per American car.

Everybody is real quick to bash the US.

But....the corporations agreed to the union contracts, knowing the cost could eventually get out of hand. "Competitive disadvantage" it is, "unfair" is questionable at best. One could also make the argument that it is "unfair" to Toyota because they had the foresight to invest their own money, without cheap loans, in HSD while domestics rode the strong-economy-and-cheap-fuel bandwagon. Pardon my opinion, but the "woe is us" routine from domestic automakers and Ron Gettelfinger at the UAW is getting really old.

Hi Southerncannuck:

___Thanks for that addition and one I did not think of either! You should go post that over on the Detroit News blog.

___Greenrider, there has been discussion in the past that HSD was not developed without some intervention by the Japanese Government within Toyota as well. Toyota does not do things willy nilly within the nation of Japan and you can bet their was plenty of back room deals for Toyota to become as big as it has not just on its own but with some guidance form the powers that be.

___Good Luck

___Wayne