MacNeil Auto - David MacNeil letter

This is not a canoe!

My work buddy passes his old Car & Driver's to me as he doesn't like cars.

David MacNeil has an eight page advertisement asking "What Matters to You?" and he talks about manufacturing and the good old USA.

Does anybody else catch this guys letter?

Is he off base and will soon be laying people off?

I like his ideas, his products seem to be decent to me, and they always have that cute lady. But do his ideas have merit?

You can manufacture many products more cost-effectively in the US. The only time you save big by going off-shore is for labor intensive products or products that are cheaper to manufacture when you dont have to worry about OSHA or the EPA. (imagine how much cheaper your car would be without airbags, ABS, impact beams, decent brakes, a muffler, a catalytic converter...) Automation can level the playing field, but of course, requires a big capital investment up front.

From my experience, injection molding is almost gone domestically so he really is making a stand. His product will prablably be sold at a higher price point, but he can control tolerances for better quality, offer more custom-fit options and tap into the "Buy USA" demographic. I don't know if it will pay off, but I do know that I wanted a custom-fit liner for my Rondo and he made one and I bought one and I am happy with it.
! And for the record, when do we get to learn more about the cute lady in the ads? Investigative report idea there GRM!

Don't worry, I'm on it. I contacted them last week.

Seeing huge spreads in other publications drives me nuts!

and the cute lady changed recently.....they now have a blonde.

I think that the original cute lady may be his current ex-wife.

pete240z wrote: This is not a canoe! My work buddy passes his old Car & Driver's to me as he doesn't like cars. David MacNeil has an eight page advertisement asking "What Matters to You?" and he talks about manufacturing and the good old USA. Does anybody else catch this guys letter? Is he off base and will soon be laying people off? I like his ideas, his products seem to be decent to me, and they always have that cute lady. But do his ideas have merit?

I don't get the dentist office rags. Can you scan and post?

DILYSI Dave wrote:

pete240z wrote: This is not a canoe! My work buddy passes his old Car & Driver's to me as he doesn't like cars. David MacNeil has an eight page advertisement asking "What Matters to You?" and he talks about manufacturing and the good old USA. Does anybody else catch this guys letter? Is he off base and will soon be laying people off? I like his ideas, his products seem to be decent to me, and they always have that cute lady. But do his ideas have merit?

I don't get the dentist office rags. Can you scan and post?

You'll have to schedule a cleaning like everyone else. Luckily my teeth are bad enough it's like having my own subscription to C&D R&T and Ladies Home Journal.

It's also in Autoweek. GRM advertising department needs to hit this guy up methinks.

I was shopping around for slush mats before we bought our Forester and his weren't the cheapest, but I've always liked his advertising and obvious pride in his product. I'd probably have sprung for a set had it not been for my E30 mats being an almost perfect fit. A consumer product like this I wouldn't be opposed to paying a few extra bucks for knowing they are truly a domestically made item, unlike cars which aren't inexpensive and have only proportional domestic content in them anyway.

I'm also willing to bet MacNeil is not a union shop.