Great Opinion Piece on Toyota

How? They're in Detroit, it's not like they're anywhere near where cars are made.

 

I'm not going to disagree with the article at all, it's correct in it's criticism.
I'm just going to ONCE AGAIN re-iterate to you that most of us here are not "Toyota" fans... but "Prius" fans. Attacking Toyota as a company means nothing to us as most of us really wish a domestic maker had produced it. And none of the very real problems at Toyota Corp. changes the fact that the Prius is an incredible car that no GM offering comes close to.

Where's my friggen Volt! When it is finally in showrooms for a test drive I'll give it a shot and compare...until then, you're throwing rocks from a glass house and selling government cars while griping about the "socialist" in the White house.

 

I don't think much of The Detroit News, but that is a good piece. There isn't much you can argue with in it. It's a classic example of what happens when companies get too large and comfortable.

Tom

 

Mabe you should get fewer people to watch fake news programs.


You know darned well that I supported the auto bailouts. I just love pointing out the irony of it given your politics.

 

Wth... of course they had a choice and they should not have. Along with the darn banks.

 

I am choosing NOT read the article, not because it is in the Detroit News, but because it is posted by a GM dealer and I KNOW it bashes Toyota without reading it.

And I agree with Darwood: I am not a Toyota fan, I wish the car with the highest MPG and best technology was made by an American auto company. But until the American auto companies "catch up" with the rest of the world, I will buy imported. My Prius is a 2004 and I typically get 10+/- years from a car purchase so I am hopeful that by 2014 I will have an American option.

 

Malorn, you and GM just don't seem to get it.
There are a number of reasons I would rather drive a GM car than a Toyota. However, the reason I am driving a Toyota instead of a GM comes down to one reason:
Better fuel efficiency.

That's it, very simple.
Build me a more efficient car (and actually sell it) than the other car makers and I will buy it.
Yes, Toyota screwed up. Yes, GM has also screwed up in the past. And yes, those facts play a role in my buying decision. But the number one fact will be fuel efficiency.
Stop whining, stop trying to throw mud at the other guy and build me a better product and I will buy it.

 

I used to laugh when you'd come here to rip on the Tundra and other Toyota trucks...as if any of us here gave a rat's nice person about those vehicles.

There has to be a toyota forum somewhere for that kind of venting...
This is not that forum or even a toyota forum...it's an "I hate spending money on gas" forum.

It's been five years since you first posted here to bash Toyota and you're still here. That really emphasizes the point from The (non) Electric Me's post about how great this community really is.

 

The observations about TMC are mostly correct. But the public relations executive, now automotive and airline industry expert is flat wrong about the purity of the MSM in all of this. Their reporting has not been neutral because that doesn't sell.

At the same time, a lot of his issues seem to be with Japanese culture. For some reason, Mr. Toyoda and TMC executives in Toyota City don't seem to trust American TMC executives. Fiat is replacing American Jeep plant managers with Europeans. I'm sure that Opel has a completely free hand in Europe too, not.

The Japanese don't have a high regard for American business education these days. Why should they? It's all about financial games in our casino capitalism. Something like 40% of MBAs are trained in financial wizardry, not leadership or business development. Who learns how to run a manufacturing facility? Why bother building a business the hard way. Just inflate your stock and buy the real innovators and builders.

The Japanese are like Americans- they think they know best. TMC has been guilty of ignoring our American culture. Hopefully they learn something out of all of this, but it won't be from our MSM or LaHood or Towns or Ralph Nader.

 

I'm sorry, I will be buying the car that best fits my needs. And I don't think the Detroit auto makers get it. They are making an effort to make smaller cars, but they really aren't serious. They still think small= cheap. Too bad.

 

Totally agree.

 

Which is why I let my fingers do the walking, instead of trusting brain-dead WAG opinions

http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/Press-Release/current_press_release/ft900.pdf

Scroll down to page 11 and consider the makeup of imports

 

i'm on board that train. wait... did it already leave the station?