Are Auto Workers Loyal to the Company They Work For?

Well there are definitely various factors involved. For one you should take into consideration whether they may have owned the car before getting their job. When my wife and I were car shopping she always asked the salesman what they drove. One Toyota salesman drove a Hyundai. He said that he bought it when he used to work for Hyundai. When she asked him if anyone there expects him to drive a Toyota he just said he would if they could offer him anywhere near as good a deal as he got on his Hyundai. Either way he believed in the product he was selling, he was just satisfied with what he already had going into that job. As for the people building them, it does concern me that they don't want a piece of their own craftsmanship. I build computers and I think I would have to have a poor opinion of my own work to buy a Dell or Compaq. Granted, I build those myself, in car factories there are many people involved.

Part of it may have to do with price. Even with an employee discount (and not all are eligible for that) domestic vehicles are usually more expensive than foreign vehicles. Some just want to save money, and not just on the purchase but the actual replacement price of the vehicle influences how much insurance you pay and depending on which state you live in, additional taxes such as for example an annual vehicle tax. For some it might be reliability. The big 3 have a problem with that in their vehicles. They finally, albeit a bit too late, strived for improvements in that area. Keep in mind, these people see what goes into these cars. They see what material is used, how well things are put together, etc. You do have a good point in that they should take pride in their work. But keep in mind, since it's an assembly line, one worker doesn't put together the entire car. If you put in a door all day or a seat or whatever part, you probably know that you can trust your own workmanship, but what's with the others? There is always some slacker where people don't trust that the work was really done right... Another point concerning pride is, if the plant produces lets say trucks, but the worker only needs a sedan.. he/she never sees that vehicle produced. Can't exactly take much pride in the product other than in the brand maybe. IMO, it's very telling if the majority of vehicles in a car manufacturers parking lot is produced by another car manufacturer.... As to the Toyota. They have received high ratings in the past and have been very reliable. We have a plant nearby, and the vast majority of employees there drives a Toyota. As to servicing the vehicle.... we don't have ours serviced at the dealer. That's not necessary. Any mechanic can service the vehicle. It's usually cheaper, too. In fact, most of the work on our vehicles has been done at a Midas. They do all kinds of routine stuff one needs to get done on a car.

I guess, as everyone has mentioned, there could be a number of reasons why they wouldn't drive a vehicle made by the company that employs them, but you would think that, eventually, they would switch over and purchase one. It usually comes down to where they can get the better deal - money talks! I see that you have said you are near St. Louis - have there been a lot of layoffs from Anheuser-Busch since the InBev buyout?