Have you ever noticed how many of the cars we drive here at UW come from foreign countries? In the Forbes.com article “10 Cars That Will Make It Past 200,000 Miles,” only two cars from American companies were predicted to drive more than 200,000 Miles in their lives. Wouldn’t this suggest that foreign companies are offering a much higher quality, more durable product?
Let’s turn back to 1964, the American Auto Worker’s Union is on the verge of strike and Lyndon B. Johnson, worried about the elections later that year, struck a deal with Walter Reuther, leader of the American Auto Worker’s Union, imposing a 25 percent tariff on Brandy, Dextrin, Potato Starch and imported Light Trucks in return for avoiding an auto workers’ strike. And you know what the worst part is? The whole tax has been repealed except the part about light trucks. This is the reason you’ll never see a Volkswagen pickup truck in America newer than 1963. America purposefully stunted them due to our inability to keep up. Whilst talking about the American auto manufacturer’s floundering status, Johnson said “I was shocked when they said they didn’t have [enough ingenuity and imagination].”
The Chicken Tax only covered pickup trucks though. When we delve into the history of foreign cars in Wyoming, we see an interestingly familiar story about what cars are economical to buy and drive. According to an article published in Annals of Wyoming, “History of Foreign Cars in Wyoming: 1946 to 1963” by Kenton G. Jaehnig, Wyomingites didn’t begin purchasing cars until the economy sored in 1957: “the market share of these vehicles grew dramatically, jumping from 2.2 percent of all new cars registered in 1957 to 11.9 percent in 1959. This rate of growth outpaced the foreign penetration of the nation at large.” Still, 11.9 percent is a far cry from over half the cars we see being from foreign countries. History of Oil Professor and faculty member at UW of 25 years, Phil Roberts said “It took a while for Japanese car-makers to convince Americans that their cars were dependable and smaller and more energy-efficient.” Roberts continued on to say, “It took the oil spike in 1973-74 to really convince people that maybe it’s not so good to drive around these huge mammoth Detroit-made cars.”
When you’re trying to support the U.S. auto manufacturers, you’re successfully enforcing their bad habits. Graduating engineering students should look to foreign companies for employment and internships if they want to be part of a company that’s interested in innovation. Our cars suck now and have since the 1970s. That’s the hard fact. I took a survey of 53 students here on campus about what brand of car they drive—the results were very telling, 54.7 percent of them drove foreign cars. This isn’t even counting those that drove Jeeps, Dodges or Chryslers—all of which are divisions of overseas companies now. Had I counted those as foreign car manufacturers and subtracted those that had no car, it would result in 72 percent of the cars in my survey group having been foreign. If the only reason you drive an American car or truck is national pride, you have to ask yourself this—why are you proud of what’s an inferior product?
