Chinese-made cars will be making their way to the U.S. next year, and guess which company is going to start exporting them to our shores?
A Chinese company, of course.
Chinese-owned Volvo’s parent company, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, will begin exporting its S60L from China to the United States as early as next year, according to a Reuters report which quoted a senior Volvo executive.
Volvo is trying to take advantage of two new Chinese factories that will make up an export hub to send vehicles to the U.S. and Russia. Sales have been slumping in the U.S. for Volvo since Ford sold the brand to Zhejiang Geely Holding Group in 2010. Volvo’s sales in the U.S. fell 10 percent in an automotive market that grew 5 percent.
We simply have too many formidable and quality American-based and American-made alternatives to be entertaining supporting a Chinese-owned automotive brand, especially if these cars are going to exported to our shores from China.
One thing is for sure: There is never a shortage of predatory foreign producers that are all too willing to take a healthy slice of the American market, which was largely created by American-owned companies. It was undoubtedly American companies, like General Motors and Ford, which first erected American automobile factories and created a vibrant middle class. Had these American companies not done this in their infancy as they grew and prospered, there would be no thriving American market for foreign companies like Chinese-owned Geely to exploit.
In shunning Chinese companies, we need not only focus on the automobile industry. Chinese-based Lenovo recently agreed to buy Motorola wireless from Google, and the sole U.S. cell phone manufacturing plant, which currently cranks out the Motorola Moto X, will close by the end of the year. Apparently the closure is not related to the Chinese takeover of America-owned Motorola. I own one of those American-made Moto X phones, and if you’re in the market for a cell phone, I would recommend you consider purchasing what may be one of the last cell phones to be made here in the foreseeable future.
What should we do after the deal for Lenovo to buy Motorola is finalized? Stop buying Motorola products. In fact, we should be boycotting Lenovo products right now. As in the auto industry, there are plenty of formidable and quality America-owned companies that make laptops and PCs like Lenovo. And, there are also plenty of American-made computers that can be bought as well. In short, there are too many American alternatives across almost all industries to worry about getting caught up with patronizing Chinese companies.
As I have said many times, the logic behind supporting American companies goes far beyond American jobs, profits, and the resulting national tax revenue. It’s also about independence and national security. Many may recall when in 2005 IBM sold their personal PC business to Chinese-owned Lenovo. CFIUS (Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.) cleared that deal eventually even though the U.S. military subsequently alerted the Defense Department about PC security incidents and their use was banned by the State Department on its classified networks.
Now Lenovo wants to buy IBM’s computer-servers business for $2.3 billion and once again we find ourselves dealing with national security concerns. Our role as American consumers in preserving the American market for American producers is clear: Stop funding foreign-owned companies!
Just imagine a patriotic citizenry that, once informed that an existing American-owned firm is about to fall into foreign hands, stands ready to mount a massive boycott of the future foreign-owned company to be. Then, imagine how foreign-owned companies could be deterred from acquiring our American companies, land, and factories based on a projected sales demand drop-off once the foreign acquisition goes through. This is the potential power of the American consumer using their pocketbooks in a patriotic manner. Fewer imagined dreams could be more economically advantageous for our nation if realized.
