I’m shopping for a new car, and would like to choose one made with the least bad labour practices, if possible.
My reading suggests there is literally no good choice, but curious if anyone here has a perspective that could inform my choice.
Is there any car company that shits on their workers less and/or chooses contractors/vendors that shit on their workers less than the rest? Or are we just doomed to drive around the blood sweat and tears of exploited persons?
Shopping in America.
Edit: New to me. Used just as likely.
If you are buying a Japanese car that is made in Japan, that would be my suggestion but I don’t know what the labour practises of US built Japanese cars is like.
I have don’t literally 0 research so I’m talking out my ass right now. But I would be shocked if cars made in Japan have good labor practices. In Japanese culture it is perfectly normally to work 12+ hours a day. They have one of the worst work cultures of any first world country. It’s so bad that most Japanese media that is about children, they rarely if ever mention the characters’ dad. Think about Pokemon. In most games, they never mention your dad. It’s not even weird that he’s completely absent. This is just a fact for Japanese children. They don’t even know their dads because their dads are always at work, and it’s just something they accept. The one pokemon game that I remember meeting your dad in, he’s actually at work, and you visit him at work (he’s a gym leader).
So my point is that I don’t know why car manufacturering in Japan would be any different than every other industry in Japan, which convinces workers to want to work 12-16 hours a day.
Thanks for the suggestion!
Unfortunately I found this about Honda Canada (presumably same in US because they can), but I’ll see if there’s a way to get a Japanese made one.
https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/how-hondas-anti-union-monitor-works
The VIN tells you country of manufacture with the first digit. US is 1, Canada is 2, Mexico is 3, Japan is J, and Germany is W, to cover the main ones you’ll see in the US. You’ll likely have base your model choice on that. It’s not like you can request a Japanese Accord just for fun. Sometimes a particular trim might be built in Japan for some reason. I think the Subaru Crosstrek and most Mazdas are still Js
I wonder if that originally stood for West Germany
Seems that way: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_identification_number#Country_or_region_codes
TIL how to read VINs. Thank you!
You can, you’ll just have to pay for it. I fix cars for a living, I’ve worked on a handful of imported right hand drive cars for a few people. Most of those cars came out of Japan.
Granted, most of them weren’t Honda Accords, because someone willing to spend the money to custom ship a Japanese car across the ocean is probably buying something more impressive than that. But you could do it if you wanted.
New? Or you talking 25 year old imports? For us mortals in the US, you can’t readily get a new car here from another continent. That’s what I’m assuming OP is buying since it sounds like they want to support the manufacturer directly. Import cars have to be 25 years old, registered as display/exhibit only, have a bunch of paperwork to convince the vehicle commission that your import is “substantially similar” to a USDM version, or supply 4 duplicates for them to crash test and pass US emmisions. Or of course have fuckyou money, drive it like it’s stolen, and not care when you get fined $10k and watch Customs crush your car. That goes for VIN swaps too.
And nah, I bet you someone has imported a JDM Accord a dozen times by now. The nameplate is old enough, right? Americans keep importing garbage cars for the status. I’m guilty of shopping for kei trucks but bought a Sidekick instead
Mazda produces in Mexico, Japan, and USA. Only the CX-50 is made in a Toyota collaborative production facility in Huntsville, Alabama under vin 7MM.
Subarus seem to be overwhelmingly made in Subaru’s facilities in Gunma.
As far as I know, final assembly in the US and Canada is just finishing and installation of various options.
EDIT: Oh, it looks like their Indiana facility builds most of the units for the US market. Well, phbbt.
Found the Reuters report which ain’t great, but it still seems like they’re a better choice than the US big 3. Thanks for the info!
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/japan-subaru/
(facepalm)
Buy a Subaru Solterra. Built in Japan.
Any reason to choose that model over the Forester in the context of this question? Just looked it up and on paper they both suit my needs, but the Solterra is a bit bigger and pricier.
The Solterra is an EV.
Ohhh duh thank you. Totally missed that bit when scanning for ground clearance and price.
I’ll add that to the list. Thanks!
Anti union, but not horribly abusive from what I hear