Re: Any data for that statement?

[PGK75S@xxxxxxx]

In a message dated 9/1/05 12:34:16 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
tbrown@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:

<< Wow...This got LONG, even for me.   Read at your own risk!!! >>


Tom

I totally agree with most of what you say.  The world is changing, companies, 
even BMW, exist to make money.  While we'd all like to think they really 
exist to make us bikes and cars that keep us happy I just don't think that's 
realistic.  And to our loss they'll make what changes are necessary to 
maintain/increase their profits

I guess what really rankles me are those proud owners of X5s, Z3s, and 
Mercedes "M" cars who are so proud of their "German" vehicles and visibly deflate 
when they learn their babies were built in South Carolina or Alabama, as if 
these vehicles instantly transformed into something less.  I just tend to hold 
companies to their marketing hoopla, if you're gonna tell me your product is the 
ultimate and charge accordingly it damn well better be.  My RS needed a clutch 
and head gaskets at 9K and the final drive failed at 41K.  My Guzzi at a 
little over 20K has needed gas and oil changes and Guzzi has virtually no 
marketing hoopla to live up to ;o)


<< BMWs have always had occasional design tragadies, but the parts
they were made of always seemed nearly works of art.  Every component really
well conceived and pretty, down to the humblest little things.  Even if
something didn't work right, like the too small radiators in 2002s way back
when, it was MADE right.  My second gear synchros were worn out when I bought
the car with 40K miles on it.  I just double clutched it and drove it for
another 100K.  It was the best shifting gearbox I've ever used.   Now we're
starting to see things that just aren't made right.  Defective transmissions
that just quit after 8,000 miles, engine pieces that don't last...stuff like
that.    It just seems to be different now.>>


"It just seems different now", that really confirms what I was trying to say, 
the Germans have no inherent superiority and are just as susceptible to the 
lure of profits versus quality as anyone else.  There was a time when Dusenberg 
and Cadillac truly set standards for the world.  It is VERY different now and 
will no doubt continue to change.


<< I do know that they're a company
that's really exported German jobs to other countries in a big way.  Assembly
plants as well as component plants and contracts for the little things have
moved to the cheap countries. >>

Well....................there's at least one wanker in DC that we could have 
tell the Germans that this will be good for their economy, that oughta ease 
their worries.

Cheers

Paul

------------------------------