Former Mexican President Fox Slams American Manufacturing as 'Mediocre'

by Steph Willems

Published: January 27th, 2017

former mexican president fox slams american manufacturing as mediocre

When Mexican President Vicente Fox Quesada left office in 2006 after a six-year stint, he didn’t go quietly into political retirement.

With the advent of social media, the outspoken Fox gained the ability to launch barbs with ease and generally treat politicians like a well-used piñata. His latest target? Take a guess.

Following President Trump’s recent declarations — including a promise to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement and a threat to impose a 20 percent border tax on Mexican goods — Fox spoke his mind on the issue, trolling Trump on Twitter and making statements on the U.S. auto industry that won’t get him invited to many parties in Detroit.

Fox, whose last tweet reads, “Amigos in the world let’s make twitter great again,” followed by the activist anti-Trump hashtag went to bat for his country’s manufacturing scene.

The ex-president’s Twitter tirade included several messages for the new American president. In one, he asked Trump, “who’s gonna pay for the costly products after you tax them? American citizens! You’re not respecting them.”

In another, he tried to appeal to reason, while adding a threat of his own. “Trump, please don’t be stubborn,” he wrote. “By taxing 20%, again American people pays for the f..wall. You know MX will impose same tax to US exports.”

While his tweets targeted Trump and trade, the mustachioed Mexican didn’t back on his neighbor’s automobile industry when interviewed by CNBC.

“You produce cars in the United States at such a high price and such a mediocre, mediocre quality that you cannot compete, you cannot compete manufacturing in the United States,” Fox said today. “That’s why Ford, Chrysler, General Motors went broke.”

Mexican manufacturing, on the other hand, is top-notch, Fox said. Blame American job losses on the rise of the machines.

“We’re productive because we’re competitive, because we produce high-quality cars,” he told CNBC. “We are not taking away jobs from the United States. It’s robots … not Mexico.”

A quick perusal of Fox’s Twitter is a good glimpse at both the free time enjoyed by ex-presidents, and of a country’s simmering anger towards a proposed policy that could hurl a wrench into its economy. The proposed border tax aims to prevent American industry from setting up shop in the cheaper environs south of the border. It would also fund the construction of a border wall.

After a planned meeting fell apart earlier this week, Trump spent an hour on the phone with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto today.

According to the Washington Post, Trump said, “We had a very good call. I have been very strong on Mexico. I have great respect for Mexico. I love the Mexican people,” adding, “Mexico has out-negotiated us and beat us to a pulp. They’ve made us look foolish.”

[Image: Gage Skidmore/ Flickr ( CC BY-SA 2.0)]

#AmericanCars #AmericanManufacturing #DonaldTrump #MexicanManufacturing #Mexico #Production #Trade #Trump #VicenteFox

Steph Willems

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JaySeis on Jan 28, 2017

Combined current trade between the US & Mecico is nearly 2/3s of a trillion dollars (about 60 billion US deficit) but... Fab deal compared to the Middle East war(s) R.O.I. If this is how the DT treats a friendly neighbor, there'll be hell to pay with the "enemies" and once a global trade war awakens and the protection isolationists are truly isolated...and American consumers can't get their WalMart deals...he'll get hoovered up. Of course his overseas hotels present an easily i.d'd target rich environment for those pesky terrorists. It's only a matter of time.

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Skor on Jan 29, 2017

“We are not taking away jobs from the United States. It’s robots … not Mexico.” Since the start of the industrial revolution the Luddites were screaming about how everyone was going to lose their jobs. The reality was that improvements in tech changed the nature of jobs, but overall more jobs were created, and people earned more. Now that we have arrived on the threshold of AI, the Luddite prophecy may be upon us. When machines begin to learn, and robots can construct other robots, a large portion of humanity will become economically superfluous. Economists....real economists, not people writing for crackpot blogs.....are now saying that only beneficiaries of AI will likely be people who control capital and political power. The rest of us, not so much.

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- OldManPants on Jan 29, 2017
  
  That's why the near future will be a great time to die leaving no progeny behind. Feudalism and overcrowded rat cages for everyone else but the 1%. Great and rare point, though, about dumb machines having ultimately been employment multipliers.
  
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Bouzouki Cadillac (aka GM!!) made so many mistakes over the past 40 years, right up to today, one could make a MBA course of it. Others have alluded to them, there is not enough room for me to recite them in a flowing, cohesive manner.Cadillac today is literally a tarted-up Chevrolet. They are nice cars, and the "aura" of the Cadillac name still works on several (mostly female) consumers who are not car enthusiasts.The CT4 and CT5 offer superlative ride and handling, and even performance--but, it is wrapped in sheet metal that (at least I think) looks awful, with (still) sub-par interiors. They are niche cars. They are the last gasp of the Alpha platform--which I have been told by people close to it, was meant to be a Pontiac "BMW 3-series". The bankruptcy killed Pontiac, but the Alpha had been mostly engineered, so it was "Cadillac-ized" with the new "edgy" CTS styling.Most Cadillacs sold are crossovers. The most profitable "Cadillac" is the Escalade (note that GM never jack up the name on THAT!).The question posed here is rather irrelevant. NO ONE has "a blank check", because GM (any company or corporation) does not have bottomless resources.Better styling, and superlative "performance" (by that, I mean being among the best in noise, harshness, handling, performance, reliablity, quality) would cost a lot of money.Post-bankruptcy GM actually tried. No one here mentioned GM's effort to do just that: the "Omega" platform, aka CT6.The (horribly misnamed) CT6 was actually a credible Mercedes/Lexus competitor. I'm sure it cost GM a fortune to develop (the platform was unique, not shared with any other car. The top-of-the-line ORIGINAL Blackwing V8 was also unique, expensive, and ultimately...very few were sold. All of this is a LOT of money).I used to know the sales numbers, and my sense was the CT6 sold about HALF the units GM projected. More importantly, it sold about half to two thirds the volume of the S-Class (which cost a lot more in 201x)Many of your fixed cost are predicated on volume. One way to improve your business case (if the right people want to get the Green Light) is to inflate your projected volumes. This lowers the unit cost for seats, mufflers, control arms, etc, and makes the vehicle more profitable--on paper.Suppliers tool up to make the number of parts the carmaker projects. However, if the volume is less than expected, the automaker has to make up the difference.So, unfortunately, not only was the CT6 an expensive car to build, but Cadillac's weak "brand equity" limited how much GM could charge (and these were still pricey cars in 2016-18, a "base" car was ).Other than the name, the "Omega" could have marked the starting point for Cadillac to once again be the standard of the world. Other than the awful name (Fleetwood, Elegante, Paramount, even ParAMOUR would be better), and offering the basest car with a FOUR cylinder turbo on the base car (incredibly moronic!), it was very good car and a CREDIBLE Mercedes S-Class/Lexus LS400 alternative. While I cannot know if the novel aluminum body was worth the cost (very expensive and complex to build), the bragging rights were legit--a LARGE car that was lighter, but had good body rigidity. No surprise, the interior was not the best, but the gap with the big boys was as close as GM has done in the luxury sphere.Mary Barra decided that profits today and tomorrow were more important than gambling on profits in 2025 and later. Having sunk a TON of money, and even done a mid-cycle enhancement, complete with the new Blackwing engine (which copied BMW with the twin turbos nestled in the "V"!), in fall 2018 GM announced it was discontinuing the car, and closing the assembly plant it was built in. (And so you know, building different platforms on the same line is very challenging and considerably less efficient in terms of capital and labor costs than the same platform, or better yet, the same model).So now, GM is anticipating that, as the car market "goes electric" (if you can call it that--more like the Federal Government and EU and even China PUSHING electric cars), they can make electric Cadillacs that are "prestige". The Cadillac Celestique is the opening salvo--$340,000. We will see how it works out.
Lynn Joiner Lynn JoinerJust put 2,000 miles on a Chevy Malibu rental from Budget, touring around AZ, UT, CO for a month. Ran fine, no problems at all, little 1.7L 4-cylinder just sipped fuel, and the trunk held our large suitcases easily. Yeah, I hated looking up at all the huge FWD trucks blowing by, but the Malibu easily kept up on the 80 mph Interstate in Utah. I expect a new one would be about a third the cost of the big guys. It won't tow your horse trailer, but it'll get you to the store. Why kill it?
Lynn Joiner Just put 2,000 miles on a Chevy Malibu rental from Budget, touring around AZ, UT, CO for a month. Ran fine, no problems at all, little 1.7L 4-cylinder just sipped fuel, and the trunk held our large suitcases easily. Yeah, I hated looking up at all the huge FWD trucks blowing by, but the Malibu easily kept up on the 80 mph Interstate in Utah. I expect a new one would be about a third the cost of the big guys. It won't tow your horse trailer, but it'll get you to the store. Why kill it?
Ollicat I am only speaking from my own perspective so no need to bash me if you disagree. I already know half or more of you will disagree with me. But I think the traditional upscale Cadillac buyer has traditionally been more conservative in their political position. My suggestion is to make Cadillac separate from GM and make them into a COMPANY, not just cars. And made the company different from all other car companies by promoting conservative causes and messaging. They need to build up a whole aura about the company and appeal to a large group of people that are really kind of sick of the left and sending their money that direction. But yes, I also agree about many of your suggestions above about the cars too. No EVs. But at this point, what has Cadillac got to lose by separating from GM completely and appealing to people with money who want to show everyone that they aren't buying the leftist Kook-Aid.
Jkross22 Cadillac's brand is damaged for the mass market. Why would someone pay top dollar for what they know is a tarted up Chevy? That's how non-car people see this.