Say a new RV company came onto the market. The RVs it’s making are absolutely gorgeous! They have a great floorplan, unique design, high-end appliances, and the interior is classy yet modern. The quality is the same as U.S.-made RVs. It’s exactly what you’ve been looking for and it’s even less expensive! The catch? It’s made in China. Would you still want to buy it?
Or, another scenario: Say your favorite RV manufacturer shuts down its U.S. factories and begins making its RVs in China. Nothing is obviously different except the price tag is lower. Would you still want to buy from that company?
Please answer in the poll below, and leave a comment, too, explaining your answer. We’re curious to hear your thoughts. Thanks!
Normally I avoid Chinese made stuff but I’m thinking about the NJ Star
I haven’t seen anything else like it.
Same layout yes but weighing more meaning I would need a bigger truck to tow it.
And a South African company has something similar but they have moved production to China also.
I would not buy an RV made in China. Now ask yourself, would you fly on an airplane made in China?
I would prefer to buy us made products, but our government (so really all of us) has sold out to whatever market is the least expensive. In most cases there is no way that a US manufacturer can compete on price with low cost foreign producers. Domestic manufacturers have to pay higher labor rates and meet many environmental and workplace requirements that dramatically increase their overhead, and simply do not exist in other places. Love or hate Trump, he started to apply tariffs in an attempt to compensate for these inequities. This was essentially the policy of Democrats prior to Clinton. It’s almost funny that Trump haters tag these policies as extreme and racist, when they were the foundation of the Democratic platform not so long ago.
I try to buy domestically, but I will buy direct from China instead of buying a a made in China product that a US reseller has marked up by several hundred percent.
We don’t buy cars built overseas either. American made as much as possible all the time.
Not down loading on you, but have you looked at the point of manufacture sticker inside your drivers side door? I was of the same ideals you have until NAFTA was started. Since then very few American vehicles are made in the USA. On the other hand my Toyota Camry was built in KY, Hondas are built in AL,IN, Hyundais are built in AL, Kia is built in GA. Foreign manufacturers are more American than American manufacturers. Mercedes builds in AL.
Bob, you are exactly right. There are no American car companies. There are only multinational companies that choose to assemble some of their cars in the US.
Remember the Ford Fiesta, ” the world car” that was probably the beginning of the end of US car companies
No, parts would be an issue.
I wouldn’t buy one either, but all the parts are now made in china except the frames so parts is a non-issue. As a matter of fact you might get parts faster from a Chinese RV manufacturer than a American manufacturer importing Chinese made parts.
Hopefully the folks in the US who don’t mind everything being made in China will have a job here in the US to buy all that Chinese stuff.
Cold?
Hungry??
Unemployed???
Eat your Import.
Nice that so many Americans are willing to fund the Chinese military. The American people are truly headed for bad days ahead. But common sense isn’t too common
So very true Chinese are buy large portion of.land here pretty soon they will own us people are so stupid NO pther.country sell their land.go and try and buy some Chinese land.ots the American greed that ruin us
I voted “Yes to both”. I’m a supporter of nationalism AND global trade as both are necessary for economic stability. China takes a hit on consumer perceptions of quality yet their exports to America are staggering. That leaves me to conclude an appealing price to Americans will displace the frustration of poor quality. Product from Indiana isn’t poor quality, it’s indifference and apathy AND at a premium price. Any option from that would be worthwhile to investigate..
Agreed
As a Quality Manager for over 30 years, I disagree. In the Chinese QMS there is no word for non-conforming material. If a customer rejects their goods for non-conformance to spec, they will accept the return but just sell it to the next company and wait to see if that company accepts the substandard product. During the recent supply issues, we couldn’t even source product anywhere else which caused a potential shortage to our customers. by the way we are a medical manufacturer. How would you like to wait to have your life saving surgery due to Chinese supply lines?
I’ll go back to the fifties through the eighty’s before NAFTA we seemed to be self sufficient on our own. It’s the greed of American business that brought all this Asian and Mexican products into fruition. Of course the politicians catered to the money from lobbyists promoting international trade that cost American jobs. Before NAFTA if you didn’t have a job it was because you didn’t want a job just like today where the government is paying more to stay home than employers pay to work.
Couldn’t be any worse than the junk RVs that are built here. Most of the parts are from China anyway.
On the Chinese camper question, in most part the quality my be better! Just saying.
I am so confused, China is our enemy? But we literally buy stuff from them by the boat load, by the hour. COVID supply chain proved that. American companies have parts made in China. I would like to see someone break down the parts of any RV that is built in Indiana, USA. Door hardware, plywood, vinyl, glass, plumbing hardware, steel – every item that is in any RV, where are they from? I will bet most items are not made in the USA. If what we get is from a non Chinese country, how do we know they did not get it, or parts, from China before they shipped it to us? Not that I like it, but this is a world economy. I think it would be likely that a lot of parts in a Chinese RV were not made in China. Would I buy a Chinese RV? I guess I might if the steering wheel were on the left side. It is my understanding that India is the largest agriculture equipment manufacture in the world making USA sold tractors. It’s a Mad Mad World.
Quality Equal? Maybe BETTER!
We will never know until you see one in person.
Only then will you be able to answer to original question.
If the quality is there than yes I would consider it – many of the parts already are made out of this country (but the quality is NOT there). Need to buy a new camper in the next year or two but waiting for the USA to get the quality back in the manufacturing end of things due to what seems to be a few years of really poor construction at ever increasing pricetags.
I believe the word quality is what defines this whole argument. It has not proven to be the case so far, in terms of other manufactured goods. A plan can be followed, but if the materials are inferior and corners are cut, clearly the final product will be impacted.
Buying from China betrays America. Keep America strong by supporting American made products.
Sure why not. As someone who works in the industry and has seen them inside and out, a quality product is a quality product. Who cares what country it’s from. People are all too eager to forget that most of the components are made in China anyway.
That would be a big mistake. China doesn’t know what it takes to make a sturdy RV for American roads, not counting the import tax it would cost. And who would want to support China, since it’s our enemy that constantly steals our technologies.
To be truthful, Yes I would consider buying an RV from a Chinese manufacturer if I were in the market to buy new (which I’m not). I own a Subaru Outback (Japanese manufacturer), which has been the best vehicle I have ever owned.
For many years “Made in America” has meant “assembled in America, with foreign sourced parts”. Even the “support American workers” argument is getting pretty weak. “Real” Americans don’t want (or have) to work anymore. Just ask anyone who is looking for workers. More American jobs, means more migrant workers (I am NOT anti-immigration, as long as it is controlled). I would be curious to know how many undocumented workers are currently employed by “American” RV manufacturers.
why don’t you move to China then.
What a strange response to Sven’s comment, SDW. Just sayin’. Have a good day. 🙂 –Diane at RVtravel.com
Why don’t you mind your own business?
You are comparing apples to rotten oranges when you say you bought a Subaru and then you say would by Chinese. Subaru actually has a plant in Indiana. Do you think China would build here? Plus, there are no Chinese automobiles sold here.
There are no Chinese automobiles sold or assembled in the US because of the political lobbyists of the domestic, and foreign manufactures, who don’t want to share the US market, knowing Chinese competition would seriously erode their profit margins. I AM NOT IN FAVOR OF OPENING THE US MARKET TO THE CHINESE AUTO MAKERS. But something needs to be done to bring down the price of new automobiles to affordable levels for average Americans.
Any ideas?
The Volkswagen model in the 1930s did what you seek for the affordability of American automobiles.
I seldom agree with you but the last third of your post is very accurate. A generation or 2 of very soft American workers is not filling the jobs available. We are lacking 2 generations if craftsmen wanting a career working with their hands. One if my businesses currently employs 24 people, half of which are illegals. If I could hire American only I would. For those of you that think employers of illegals are predators for saved wages, you are wrong. The jobs I have available pay between $80k and $100k/ year and my illegal employees get 2 weeks paid vacation each year along with those wages.
I’m not going to close that business down because American kids feel entitled and deserve free money, free college and a guaranteed income for playing XBox. Not all kids are snowflake soft, but many are. I’ll create the jobs and if no American wants one of them, I’ll find someone that does. I would prefer legal immigrant employees and Americans but I didn’t create the labor problem. I just need hard workers that can operate an alarm clock every night on the way to bed.
NO WAY!!!