How about this?

It's not that Toyota is so great... it's that very rarely do manufacturers from America, Europe or Korea make a product that is practical for the Japanese market. Cars sold there are small, efficient, practical, and high on technology.

Hybrid technology is doing well in Japan... Prius is popular... Toyota sells a hybrid minivan there, and in a few years the Honda Civic sedan will cease to be offered in a non-hybrid config. THAT's progress.

AND there's a sense of nationalism there that heavily favors Toyota, Nissan and Honda... but you're one to talk if you're going to criticize them for that.

Japan may no longer be a relevant market since it's effectively locked up, but we can look to China for a new market... GM is doing well, but as i pointed out before, only because they have Daewoo and are selling products specifically tailored for the asian market... smaller more efficient cars.

It should also be noted that Toyota is making inroads in selling Prius and hybrid technology to China.

 

Locked up in the sense that nationalism is very high. Imagine a country full of Malorns that refuse to buy anything but domestic... that's Japan about A LOT of things.

But it just so happens that it fits in Japan because Toyota, Nissan, and Honda provide vehicles that do a good job of satisfying the Japanese usage model. Even if there were no tax barriers, and no inherent nationalism, most Japanese would continue to buy japanese brands because they're so in tune with their own market...

About daewoo, did you even read the article from business week that a posted?
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/conte...31/b3945056.htm

Based on the daowoo lacetti...

 

Well it's too late to worry about that now... and I argue that even if the dealers were more than willing to put a Chevy in the showroom, outside brands would make very little inroads in Japan.

The same thing happened with Microsoft and the Xbox 360. Microsoft send over a quarter million of those new consoles to Japan for the launch, and very few of them sold. Japanese customers are wary of non-domestic brands.

It's a difference between the American and Japanese cultures.

But what's more significant is that the Japanese carmakers, despite having a stranglehold on their own market, are well in tune with the needs of the Japanese people. The domestics in America need to be able to do the same thing. Meet the needs of the Americans. Figure out how to do that, and you'll keep the Japanese from filling the void.

I believe strongly that the Japanese carmaker's success in the US has been due to filling a void that has been ignored for decades by the domestics.

 

I'm sorry, I can't help but laugh. What does a GM dealer website tell us, exactly ???

I googled "GM china sales 2005", and looked over the first five or so results. Feel free to correct this snapshot:

VW went into China early, and gained a predominant position. GM has successfully eaten away at VW's market share up through 2005.
Through 2004, GM posted nice profits, on a mixture of mini-buses and large cars.
GM profits plummeted 80% in 2005, as the large car demand dried up, and other Korean manufacturers forced GM to cut prices.
GM increased sales in 2005 by ~ 30%, but this was eclipsed by Hyundai's 200% sales increase.
Approximately 600K vehicles were sold by GM in China in 2005, 50% of which were mini-buses. If only passenger cars are taken into account, GM stayed in the game by relinquishing profits (sound familiar ?).

 

Malorn,

Could you be pissed because you and your family missed the biggest business opportunity of your lives when you decided to stick with GM dealerships and did not invest in a Toyota dealership?

Sounds like you are formulating a retirement strategy for yourself. Have you determined how much you need in order to sell out and retire completely? Once you do that and find ways to protect your retirement investments and savings, then you can take what's left and do some thinking about how to really improve the community.

Dan and I want to travel and support the charities we think important. I'd like to run for political office but I don't think Dan would like being First Husband to the Whatever.
A girlfriend, Jane, who counsels girls with eating disorders and battered wives, wants to write and then teach a series of self-help lessons for girls with image problems so she can reach patients before they become patients. If you know what I mean.
There's a Pro Bono group in town that uses retired volunteers to help small businesses become sucessful. They set up accounting systems, computers, teach marketing, business ethics and law, etc. Maybe there's a need for a group like it in your neck of the woods.
Eldest brother, a Vet, would like to export his Rotarian business practices to towns in countries like Afghanistan and Iraq. He's already made contacts back in Vietnam. Crazy stuff but that's how strongly he believes in the free enterprise system.

 

Hahahahaa.....

That made this whole thread worth reading.

 

There's no bubble to burst. my point was that it was manufactured by Daewoo, therefore not made in the USA. The Daewoo purchase worked out extremely well for GM for markets like China.

 

First of all, a comment like that from a Texas oilman is like a drug dealer telling his hopelessly addicted customers they should cut out crack and meth. I just don't buy it.

Much like the State of the Union speech when he mentioned Mid East oil, and barely 24 hours later his "minders" issued hasty "corrections" about the comment.

My opinion on the "meat and potatoes" is that there will *not* be any. It's just hot air to give the Sheeple the impression something is being done, when nothing is being done.

 

Do you have a retirement "number", a retirement strategy? Or do you plan to drop while still in harness?

 

No, not a retirement advisor 'though some friends use Dan and I for investment and retirement advice. Usually we tell them to talk to a professional. Once in a while we share our thoughts (as in NO, do not "invest" in retirement property in Florida unless you plan to retire and move there, today!).

Sometimes life seems a gamble. Smart gamblers know how to plan and what to do when they reach their goals - they cash in their chips and go do something else.

Life shouldn't be about work unless you absolutely love what you do and would continue doing it even if you knew you'd drop dead in a month. If you have set a number and you've acheived it, then you should stop working and go live a life that you love, one that makes a difference in the world.

Otherwise, don't expect anyone to show up to mourn at your funeral.