Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/05/08
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Horror of horrors! Instead of conscientious German craftsmen our beloved Leica lenses are now made by happy-go-lucky Portuguese peasants?! What's next??!!! (NOTE TO P.C. POLICE: THIS IS TONGUE-IN-CHEEK!!! A AM A JEW MARRIED TO A PUERTO-RICAN WOMAN, SO I AM ALLOWED TO MAKE ETHNIC JOKES ABOUT LATIN PEOPLE) I frankly do not understand your neurosis about the assembly point of the lenses. In the modern global economy companies have their products assembled wherever it makes economic sense. I can easily imagine that 5-10 years from now Leica will not be manufacturing ANYTHING in Germany. Why? The world's highest labor costs. They could keep the R&D, marketing etc. in Germany and have all manufacturing done in Portugal, or Uzbekistan. Who cares (except collectors)? When I lived in NJ in '91 I needed to replace my clapped-out Plymouth and had decided on a Japanese car. I bought a Mazda 626 which had been built by American workers in the Midwest. The fact that it was not built in Japan did not make it any less of a Mazda. I was buying the brand, not the country. The Japanese transplant car plants in the U.S. turn out cars every bit as good and reliable as the ones in Japan, except at lower cost. In the same vein, Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Minolta have many (most?) of their cameras and lenses assembled outside Japan. My HP calculator was made in Malaysia. Etc. etc. I am sure Leica will go down this road too, and as long as the pictures (presumably the reason for buying Leica) have the Leica look, I do not mind. If you want pure German Leicas with the spirit of the Black Forest built in, you should stick to the screw mount models. Nathan DonjR43198@aol.com wrote: > Does this mean that the APO and ASPH lenses, in whole or in part, are being > manufactured in Portugal? > > This is getting more interesting by the post. > > Thanks for the info. - -- Nathan Wajsman Overijse, Belgium General photo page: http://members.tripod.com/belgiangator/index.html Belgium photo page: http://member.xoom.com/wajsman/index.htm Motorcycle page: http://www.geocities.com/motorcity/downs/1704/index.html