General > General Technical Chat
why is the US not Metric
KL27x:
Well, the US car industry, including GM/Detroit, has been totally metric since the late 80's or maybe mid 90's. But nice try.
America has given up the car industry. America is putting all the subsidy into the MIC, oil/energy, and farming. The value of cars does not skyrocket in times of need. But life? The margins are only limited by how much you need to live at any given time.
SilverSolder:
--- Quote from: KL27x on January 05, 2020, 10:00:43 pm ---[...]
America has given up the car industry.
[...]
--- End quote ---
GM is one of the top 3 auto makers in China... - the US car industry not going away anytime soon.
ebastler:
--- Quote from: KL27x on January 05, 2020, 10:00:43 pm ---Well, the US car industry, including GM/Detroit, has been totally metric since the late 80's or maybe mid 90's. But nice try.
--- End quote ---
Right, but the the industry went downhill before that, in the 70s and 80s, when they had missed the boat on "novel" ideas like fuel economy, decent suspensions and whatnot.
I didn't mean to imply that not being metric was the cause the for the US car industry's downturn; that cause was being too internally focused and blind to progress made abroad. But the exclusive use of the imperial system at that time can be seen as a symptom of that unhealthy internal focus. And likewise, the subsequent adoption of the metric system may be one indication of an increased openness to international competition and ideas, but not the root cause for the (slight) recovery of the car industry.
KL27x:
As an average American, I would venture the reason for the American car industry to fall off is just natural competition and the relatively lower priority of the US to subsidize this industry due to lower profit potential. Air/energy/food/weapons, OTOH, are in high demand anywhere the average citizens start becoming unhappy with their leadership/government. And/or threats from expansionist neighbors.
Competitive markets are great and all, but you can make a lot more money, power, and influence if you have an edge if not a monopoly in industries where the price tags are almost irrelevant when they are needed.
Is this a good long-term strategy? Compared to China, where they subsidize steel and general manfucaturing and infrastructure with similar amount of resources what US spends on defense industry?Who knows. But that's where we are, and we'll find out in another 100 years.
Edit: also, during the 80's and 90's Japan basically kicked everyone's ass at making engines. There was a good decade where they shook things up and took the lead. This really didn't have anything to do with metric or imperial, AFAIK.
tooki:
--- Quote from: ebastler on January 05, 2020, 10:16:36 pm ---
--- Quote from: KL27x on January 05, 2020, 10:00:43 pm ---Well, the US car industry, including GM/Detroit, has been totally metric since the late 80's or maybe mid 90's. But nice try.
--- End quote ---
Right, but the the industry went downhill before that, in the 70s and 80s, when they had missed the boat on "novel" ideas like fuel economy, decent suspensions and whatnot.
I didn't mean to imply that not being metric was the cause the for the US car industry's downturn; that cause was being too internally focused and blind to progress made abroad. But the exclusive use of the imperial system at that time can be seen as a symptom of that unhealthy internal focus. And likewise, the subsequent adoption of the metric system may be one indication of an increased openness to international competition and ideas, but not the root cause for the (slight) recovery of the car industry.
--- End quote ---
Nah, that’s not really it.
The US auto industry was complacent, but you also have to remember that totally different market forces were at play in USA. They’d had cheap fuel for ages, and that changed suddenly. In contrast, Europe and Asia had had expensive fuel for a long time by then, so they’d adapted to that already.
The other thing, the really big one, was management structure. Toyota (the singular leader in auto management at the time) was much more agile, so they could release a new model in far less time. And their quality management led to ongoing improvement so that bad parts, and thus bad cars, never made it out, whereas the US automakers were letting subpar product slip through. (And the Germans were manufacturing just as poorly as the Americans, except that then they’d spend enormous amounts of time on corrective rework, under the guise of “craftsmanship”.)
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