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Governors question Toyota's treatment

Discussion in 'Prius, Hybrid, EV and Alt-Fuel News' started by PriusPhile, Feb 10, 2010.

  1. PriusPhile

    PriusPhile New Member

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    Glad that our Governor (Indiana) is questioning what seems more than just a passing feeding frenzy.


    A letter from Governors Beshear (KY), Daniels (IN), and Barbour (MS), and Riley (AL) accuse the federal government, which has a financial stake in many of Toyota's competitors, of unfairly rushing to probe the automaker's reaction to safety concerns more so than with similar domestic recalls.

    Daniels Defends Toyota Amid Federal Probe - Automotive News Story - WRTV Indianapolis
     
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  2. apriusfan

    apriusfan New Member

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    Sounds like the governors who have a financial stake in Toyota plants or suppliers in their respective states are part of a Toyota-sponsored pushback on Toyota being whacked by the Feds. Looks like Toyota's lobbying cash is starting to have some effect.
     
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  3. vegasjetskier

    vegasjetskier New Member

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    What do you expect them to say? They are trying to protect jobs in their states.
     
  4. DetPrius

    DetPrius Active Member

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    Governor Barbour is the governor of MS, not MI. Jennifer Granholm is the governor of MI and would do nothing to support Toyota.:D
     
  5. spwolf

    spwolf Senior Member

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    you mean just like senators from big 3 states are attacking toyota?

    You think Toyota has more political influence than big 3? Thats kind of naive... Even ABCNews article from other day found that Toyota employees gave around 80k to political parties last year, while GM and Ford gave around 1 mil... thats 10x more.
     
  6. spwolf

    spwolf Senior Member

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    so reading over the article what exactly was said wrong? I doubt anyone can not see above as an fact, not opinion.
     
  7. apriusfan

    apriusfan New Member

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    Here is an article for you to read: Toyota begins public, back room PR effort - Autos- msnbc.com

    Cliff-Notes version:
    Wanna bet that Toyota spends waaaay more than $4 million on lobbying this year?
     
  8. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    Yea, I was just wondering when we got a new governor. I thought maybe they deported her since she is Canadian.

    Tom
     
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  9. Tom183

    Tom183 New Member

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    Exactly - they're all just trying to make political gains out of this.

    Don't think for a second that it's about safety or people or even jobs - it's about their own image with the voters, nothing more.
     
  10. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    So ... what's the point. Do you think GM, Chrysler, et al ~ hasn't spent millions & millions over each year, of each decade, for better business positioning? You think manufacturers of ALL kinds don't lobby hard for THEIR way? You think manufacturers don't threaten to "take their advertising dollars" elsewhere .... "if" or, "unless" ??

    Not saying it's nice ... but. Welcome to planet earth.
    ;)

    .
     
  11. DeadPhish

    DeadPhish Senior Member

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    The UAW / GM boi's are going nutz over this news item.

    These bast*ards need to be impeached immediately.
    This is treason at it's worst.
    How big is your check from Tokyo this week, Mr Governor?
    I'm moving out of this state.
     
  12. malorn

    malorn Senior Member

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    It is amazing, governors of states trying to protect a foreign company that is responsible for hundreds of thousands of US job losses over the last 40 years.

    Governors desparate for manufacturing jobs yet this country still won't establish an industrial policy. I guess Wal-Mart is the way.
     
  13. ToyotaFleetManager

    ToyotaFleetManager New Member

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    Or the fact that currently Toyota and its dealerships keep 172,000 Americans employeed. Or the fact that Toyota along with several other non-Detroit automakers keep thousands of subcontractors like CTS, Lear Seigler and countless others employeed.

    And what number of that job loss is attributed to the weak economy, government mandated reductions with the taxpayer bailout?

    And why didn't the Detroit automakers going back to the 60s when they completely dominated the US market failed completely to squash foreign competition. Could it be competitors like Toyota, Honda, and Nissan met market demand better? Produced a better quality product? Provided a level of customer service that Detroit refused to match?

    The market i.e. the buying public purchases products that best meets their expectation of value, quality and need. Detroit automakers have for decades ignored their needs or failed to meet the consumers' expectations.

    Toyota, Nissan, and Honda can fail as easily as Detroit did if they can't met their customer's requirements. Toyota knows it made some mistakes and is currently embarked on repairing those mistakes. What Toyota does in the next few months with effect it for the next few years. Toyota has learned some of what not to do from Detroit's mistakes. It will learn from its current mistakes and improve.
     
  14. apriusfan

    apriusfan New Member

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    Correction: It may learn from its current mistakes and improve. Nothing is ever a given. Other than perhaps death and taxes.
     
  15. Danny

    Danny Admin/Founder
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    You've made a lot of silly comments over the years, malorn, but this one takes the cake.
     
  16. malorn

    malorn Senior Member

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    How many milllions of vehicles has toyota imported over the years, how about the value of parts imported.
    How come foreign companies can't sell cars in Japan? Toyota is a major part of the Japanese industrial policy as is sony panasonic etc.

    Toyota got a foothold during the first energy crisis in 1973, at that time it had carsbacked up at the ports and was thinking about leaving the US.

    Any US job figure toyota spouts off about pales in comparison to the millions of automotive jobs it has helped to export to Japan. The vast majority of the 172,000 Americans are employed at dealerships.
     
  17. malorn

    malorn Senior Member

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    With all due respect Danny, why?
     
  18. apriusfan

    apriusfan New Member

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    How do you arrive at this conclusion? The current population of the U.S. (arguably including illegals) is something like 303 million. Using your metric, every man woman and child would have had a job but for Toyota. :confused:
     
  19. malorn

    malorn Senior Member

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    Noted, I mixed up hundreds of thousands and millions.
     
  20. Danny

    Danny Admin/Founder
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    I just don't think the data exists to back it up. US job losses in the auto industry are also due to outsourcing to Mexico, China, robotics, etc.

    BTW, it's been nice seeing you back on the forums over the last few weeks :focus: