steviedeluxe

Looks like the Huff Post has latched onto Spain's charms.

20 reasons to drop everything and head for Spain

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/minube...usaolp00000003

agoreira

My wife has a Kindle but I never use it, if I did want to I think the Kindle app on the tablet is better, and it's free. I was just looking at a book on Amazon, it was £3.50 paperback, £8.86 hardback and .37p Kindle edition, so not hard to see why the Kindle type readers appeal. My wife reads loads of free books on her Kindle, there are loads available.

amideislas

Many people might be shocked at how much of those high quality, expensive German products are made in China. Germans still make good stuff, but they aren't stupid.

We've had a Siemens diswasher for many years. Good reliable product. Unfortunately, it broke down some time ago and cost too much to fix. We replaced it with a cheap Balay. Low and behold, inside it's exactly the same as the Siemens. Parts 100% interchangeable. All made in... You guessed it.

Value is value. Value is not price. Value is what you get for the price. The Balay was a good value, as many inexpensive products are.

Perception of value can vary, especially when it comes to subjective aspects like taste and style. For example, if the Balay dishwasher were pink, I would place a much lower value on it. Some only want to display brand names in their home. Many find value in a warranty from a leading manufacturer.

Some believe "marketing" is solely a means to misrepresent a product, but that's not at all what marketing is. Such a strategy would quickly fail, because people would soon perceive a poor value in the misrepresented product and sales would tank.

Some say Starbucks is crap. But that's subjective, not objective. Great coffee isn't the value Starbucks offers, nor is great food the value that McDonalds offers.

The value they both offer is consistently good, expectable quality of product with a range of choice, with the convenience of being nearby most all popular places, at an affordable price. That's what makes them successful - simply because most people know and favour the value proposition, even if subconsciously. And even those who'd like to believe that it's crap will buy it. Fact is, both consistently offer pretty good products. Not the best, but you can always expect something satisfying.

And VALUE my friends, is successful marketing. You can't offer competitive value by selling crap.

agoreira

Surely not! I recently bought a Cullmann Magnesit Tripod, respected German based company, and yep, Made in China. Nice bit of kit though!

andyrich666

Its assembled in China, I thinks Dysons are too or Korea, does not mean the R & D is not done elsewhere, Dell Used to be Ireland and Poland but a lot of it is assembled in China now.

Acer is the crappest make of computer you can buy but its internals are in the majority Sony, just the crap on the outside (plastics) is acer.

Nearly everything now comes from China that's why they have those super huge Maersk boats

Dick Dasterdly

Amazing how some folk are often prepared to pay more for something with a German company name on it without being aware where it was actually made.
VW are made in Spain and elsewhere for instance from exactly the same components as other well known manufacturers and it's noticeable how they have slid down the scale regarding customer feedback and faults in recent times.
Ikea's main selling point is so called Swedish style and fashion, mostly very basic design and crap materials made in the cheapest sweatshops they can find worldwide.

amideislas

VW? Seat.

Ikea? Actially, much if not most of their wood comes from Scandinavia. The raw materials are abundant and cheap there.

The designs come almost exclusively from Scandinavian designers, which explains their simplicity. Much of the non-wood products are manufactured in Asia or Eastern Europe.

agoreira

We change our car every two years and the last three have been VW's, so in 6 years I've had trouble free motoring, but Spain never made any of them! Mind you I had 4 Seat's before that and they were all fine. UK also has a lot of stuff in German produce, we became their largest trading partner, and supply engines to the BMW amongst other things.

Dick Dasterdly

I now stick to far eastern brand cars manufactured in the far east.
Lost count of how many I've had, but can't ever recall being let down by one on a single occasion.

Like many I had a passion for BMWs at one time, but after three very expensive failures they've definitely seen the last of my money.

Had mixed results with other EU manufactured cars but none were entirely 100% reliable with Renault coming out bottom of the pile.

Barbara Red lips

So often the design and marketing are more important than where the product is made .... as long as it's well made to a good standard! Of course some workforces are more disposable than others .... the uk workers were also there once. That's world progress... sadly!

Dick Dasterdly

To a certain extent UK workers are up with the best again in some places.
The Sunderland Nissan plant is rated as the most efficient in Europe and competitive with anything else Worldwide.
Whilst many others have improved their standards, some still have a way to go.
Quality control and reliability have always been major factors with far eastern cars, though some of the early ones were little more than rust buckets with the bodies falling off them whilst still basically mechanically sound.
I recall the first Jap cars even carried labels with the signatures of the workers who had passed them out the factory and tested them before dispatch.

andyrich666

Mate I love my beemer, I used to change my car every 6 months or less, prolly had over 60 / 70 cars and vans since I passed my test 18 year back but I stuck with my baby for 4 years now and she loves it here, I will cry if the GC take it from me, I don't want her wearing them peasant Spanish plates.

I had a big issue 2 years back when the car leaked water all over the electrical components and cost 8k to fix but credit to BMW I was in tears and it was out of warranty by I think a year, and they BMW Big Bosses paid all the labour and parts and I had to make a 1k contribution.

me me

Is that an out of date tax disc I see there..................only kidding

agoreira

Without doubt the UK factories have built a good reputation over recent years, and although they are nearly all foreign owned, they are turning out ever increasing numbers of cars. Mini, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Lotus, Aston Martin, Bentley, Rolls Royce, Jaguar/Landrover, MG, Vauxhall, they all seem happy with a UK workforce. We produce more cars than Germany, but I've read here we don't make anything any more! All the Ford diesel units in Europe are produced at Dagenham, Bridgend exports Ford engines to Spain, Sweden, Germany, Russia, Belgium and the USA. Even the majority of the F1 racing teams opt for a British base.

Dick Dasterdly

As I mentioned my love affair with BMs ended with some very expensive repair bills. Almost as bad as turning my ex loose with a handful of credit cards and access to one of my bank accounts.

Now I have a motor with a 7 year guarantee, (wonder why so called German quality can't offer that at the prices they charge), plus another reliable one in the garage which I could afford to keep on as a spare in case of a mishap, when I bought the new one and I still have money to spare over the price of a BM.
No brainer really.