According to wiki the 2nd gen Fits were made in 12 countries. Mine was manufactured in Japan. I feel like this is the best place for it to have been produced in.

From what I've read Japan and Canada are by far the top quality producing car countries.

Do most here have Fits from Japan?

 

Country of origin might have used to mean something, but it really doesn't nowadays. Think the Accord. One of the most reliable sedans ever, and all sold in America are built in America. It's also the most American car currently built, according to parts sourced within America.

Toyota makes the Tacoma and Camry in the states. The Civic, CRV, Passport, ridgeline, and Odyssey are all built in the states and they all share that Honda quality build.

Mercedes and their top selling GLE, GLE coupe, GLS and Maybach GLS are all built in Alabama. We are the fastest Mercedes plant by numbers and the most profitable by volume. Rave reviews from around the world and they're built just off a freeway between two cities in western Alabama. We're cranking out close to 800 a day here, base price of 56k and on average selling for about 73k

 

All US bound 2nd gen Fits were built in Japan.

 

Canadian Fits were built in Japan for the first years (09-11?), then in China (12-14). The 14 Fit is the same as the 13...

Don't think any Fits are built in Canada. Some Civics are built in Canada though.

 

I'm seeing more of this pushback about American manufactured cars the past couple years. I just don't buy it. I'll concede that it has improved but the bar was so low. There's no way that I would purchase a new car made in anywhere but Japan, Thailand or Canada. The quality controls in those countries are on point.

 

Parts content is probably more important these days than where the final assembly takes place. I'd rather have a car assembled in Mexico with parts content from the US than a car assembled in the US with a high Chinese parts content.

The assembly and paint is so automated these days that the assembly location is almost unimportant. However, the location where the parts are manufactured does affect quality.

 

Reading the problems with early Mexican built Fit's from this forum and being informed about quality differences between assembly plants of various car manufacturers I'd say that the quality of an automobile can be messed up in many phases of the manufacturing chain, including final assembly. Work ethic does matter.

 

Often, first model year cars are subject to more problems, that are corrected the following years...
Same thing in a brand new plant.

 

You are right, but Mexcan built early GK had much more problems than Japan built ones sold e.g. in Europe or Australia.

 

Well if we want to get down to it than we can all just say that Japanese automakers surpass all others.

I've talked to people that work at a parts supply company and they talk about how much more strict Japanese automakers are when it comes to specs. I don't remember the exact conversation but it was something along the lines of how Japanese automakers would require a spec of say the length of a screw to the .0000- degree while others were much more lax with it.

 

Agree. Part of that is also because the Japanese automakers do very little to zero business with China. Manufacturer's of our Domestic vehicles aren't the same and it shows in the quality.

 

Work ethic?
Could we maybe say education and training, experience, management's standards and attention to detail instead of blaming an ethnicity?

 

I'd say it's about workplace culture. Nothing to do with ethnicity.

 

Y'all should also know just because a car is built in a certain location doesn't mean parts are sourced locally. Its cheaper for Mercedes to ship major components (read engine, trans, computers, some hardware and fasteners) from the homeland in Germany all the way across the ocean to us to then ship the completed car back across for sale. Some components (axles, bumpers, seats, wiring harnesses, headliners, wheels, headlights) are assembled just outside the plant and then shipped in on sequenced line side racks.

We also have standards how we hand off a sequenced part. Our parts show up from one contractor by being shipped in by another contractor. Then that truck is unloaded and used by another contractor, who then finally hands off to Mercedes at lineside installation. At each handoff there is a quality check before the next contractor takes "ownership" of that rack. If there's a question in how something gets mutilated or broken the responsibility falls to the last contractor who handled the part and they're charged accordingly. So its a self policing system where we all try to catch anything before handoff and ultimately we've had high quality marks for as long as this system has been in place.

 

I said work ethic, nothing about ethnicity.
And I mean a desire and determination to work hard and to have high standards for the results of the work.

 

And you think there's lower work ethic in the Mexican factory because of something other than that they're Mexicans? Please explain.

 

I'm not going to take any side on that. I'm just saying that based on very high build quality of japan made products, japanese industry appear to have higher work ethics than most of the rest of the world.

 

I think the American-made Hondas are as good as the Japanese ones. The first year of Mexican Fits weren't good. I don't know that I'd blame that on the work ethic of the employees and I don't know that any of us has any data to support that theory. I think that in any organization there are people who want to do a good job and others who don't care, and it's up to management to train, motivate, supervise and, if necessary, fire employees in order to make things as good as possible.

 

I would like to know if any of us has any data supporting any theory regarding quality problems in early Mexican built GK Fits.

During my years in industry I have found the work ethic to be key factor to the capability to produce quality products by any company. Work ethic is very much affected by company's business culture and it can be improved or ruined by management actions, but it is also related to country's business culture as well as customs.