Morning with Toyota Technical

Well let’s just take a look at that statement and how foolish it is compared to GM.

GM’s most recent failings started in 2008 with gas prices shooting to US$5.00 a gallon. It’s product mix was primarily centered gas guzzuling SUVs and trucks. It completely failed to meet American demand for fuel efficient vehicles. Even after desperate steps such as retuning transmissions for higher highway mileage and massive rebates, and incentives Americans weren’t buying GM products in the numbers that GM required.

Since 2008 General Motors have cost American citizens a total of $66.9 Billion dollars in Federal Bailout money. GM has shuttered 14 plants and 3 warehouses during the past 13 months.

Let’s look at the hypocrisy of GM with imports. Just one example is the engine for the Equinox is imported from China. GM reported sales in January (not the strongest of sales months) of 9513 Equinoxes. Just doing simple math and projecting sales of the Equinox at 140K units for 2010. GM will import 140,000 engines from China. At an estimated cost of $2K per unit. That equates to GM shipping $280,000,000.00 overseas to China. Of course that is just the tip of the iceberg for GM exporting US dollars overseas. The Buick Regal will be completely built in Europe, GM is getting transmissions and other major components from Asia and Europe.

Now let’s look at Toyota. Since 1990 Toyota US has invested US$36.2 Billion as direct investments into the US. This number does not include investments made by its US suppliers and 2 independent distributors into the US economy. Toyota has purchased US$22.3 billion in goods from US manufacturers. It is currently employing over 172,000 Americans.

Marlon, you make a lot of bold statements but only a few are supported by numbers or facts. The fact is that companies like Toyota, Nissan and Honda has tapped into the US market with a product and mix that works for most Americans. GM has successfully failed to match that performance thus losing market share and credence.

Can GM recover? Maybe but it has to stop complaining and envying what others do and try to make a product that Americans like, want and meets their needs. Only GM can be faulted for failing to make products that Americans want and needs.

 

No, not from Toyota but the New York Times. Here are some highlights.

Ian Austen / New York Times / March 26, 2008

OSHAWA, Ontario --
The company has since eliminated brand distinctions between engines, saddling them with names unlikely to inspire songwriters, like Ecotec, Vortec and Northstar. But some owners of the Chevrolet Equinox, a "compact" sport utility vehicle built in North America, might be surprised to learn the origin of the engine under their hoods -- it's made in China.

Last year, China exported more than $12 billion in auto parts, up from less than $2 billion in 2002 -- the majority to North America. The increase in exports has added to the problems plaguing North American suppliers. Most famously, Delphi, which is seeking to emerge from bankruptcy, has closed dozens of plants and moved some production overseas to become more competitive, including to China.

Soon China will be exporting whole vehicles to North America. Last year, Chrysler signed a deal with China's largest car company, Chery Automobile, to supply a Dodge subcompact.

"This is the first Chinese-made engine going into this market," said Eric A. Fedewa, vice president for powertrain forecasts at CSM Worldwide, an automotive analysis firm. "It was an experiment to see if GM could use its facility in China to take costs out of a vehicle."

GM neither promoted nor hid the fact that the Equinox engine (and that of its twin, the Pontiac Torrent) is made in China. The car's sticker notes 55 percent of its content is make in the United States and Canada, 20 percent in Japan, 15 percent in China and the rest from elsewhere.

But no sticker tells consumers the engine is built at Shanghai General Motors, a joint venture of GM and the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., a Chinese company.

The same model of engine as the one made in China is produced at a GM engine plant in Tonawanda, N.Y., about a two-hour drive from the Canadian factory that builds the Equinox.


It uses a five-speed automatic transmission made in Japan by Aisin Seiki, though GM is a leading manufacturer of automatic transmissions. And the parts are assembled at a factory in Ingersoll, Ontario, a joint venture between GM and Suzuki, another Japanese firm.


http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=2&ved=0CBIQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2008%2F03%2F26%2Fbusiness%2Fworldbusiness%2F26chevy.html&rct=j&q=Ian+Austen+%2F+New+York+Times+%2F+March+26%2C+2008&ei=YzJ7S5zvNMqWtgeZj6SfCg&usg=AFQjCNEGonq9QT5xyI8Xb7cAEfFZwQO8Mw

Now please show me where I discounted the Toyota’s imports. Just to jog your memory remember Opel, Geo, Aveo and others. GM imports. Are you condemning GM for selling those? Taking away American jobs? What is a fact is that Toyota produces over 60% of its vehicles in the US.

Not knocking GM, but it does show a distinct failure in GM’s product line and matching its product to what Americans want to purchase and drive. Not to mention poor management.

15 Plants in Japan. 12 in ToyotaCity. Why does that matter?

Why does GM produce more than it sells domestically? Why did GM produce so many cars that they had to rent land to store them all in 2008-2009? Why did GM produce so much that American tax payers and creditors paid for them?

Unfortunately the market demonstrated it doesn’t want that many GM vehicles today. The shuttering of plants and the lay off of 28,000 employees provides evidence of that. Not to mention GM’s willingly using foreign products in its US produced vehicles.

Well that is certainly better than a taxpayer bailout of a failed business plan and management of GM and Chrysler. GM cost the US taxpayer approximately $12,200 per taxpayer or a total of $66.1 billion. Chrysler cost $18.2 billion. A combined total of $84.3 billion taxpayer dollars. Darn it Toyota’s investing$36.2billion in US infrastructure certainly looks good compared to GM and Chrysler taking $84.3 billion from our pockets with no return.

Let’s look at GM employment. Currently GM has 38,000 blue collar employees and 27,400 white collar employees. A grand total of 65,400 in other words Toyota being a Japanese owned business has over 60% of employees GM has. BTW GM laid off in 2008-2009 over 27.000 employees due to poor management and product planning. Impressive considering Toyota doesn't have its global headquarters here.

Oh I don’t know. Detroit seems to be doing a pretty adequate job of outsourcing its suppliers, parts and components. You got to remember Delphi, Denso, Aisan, Getrag and countless others are providing Detroit their products and services from outside the US.

 

Completely agree. Toyota is a global company as is GM and Ford and just about any other major corporation in the West.

Just disagree with Malorn's demonizing of Toyota and blaming them for GM and America's troubles.

 

Imagine that at least 6 other sources including CNN states that the engine is made in China.

What makes a car American? - CNN.com

http://www.motorauthority.com/blog/1024689_gm-powering-its-cars-with-chinese-engines


http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0UDO/is_3_16/ai_93954922/


http://www.chinacartimes.com/2008/03/31/chevrolet-equinox-gets-chinese-engine/

http://www.internetautoguide.com/1-2-16-1433/chevrolet-equinox.html

http://www.motorpoint.com.au/chevroletequinox.asp

 

And the significance of GM building more in the US than Toyota is? Of course GM should build more they have a larger market share of the US market.

Oh you forgot to mention Australia, whoops that went down the tube with Pontiac. Or Canada, or the fact that GM sold rebadged Suzukis, Toyotas and Isuzus in the US market. Or that Isuzu designed and produces the Duramax engine for GM.

Also interesting is a statement by GM indicating they will import a Chinese made GM car starting in 2011. Granted its initial number will be approximately 17K in 2011 with a goal of 51K in 2014.

http://usgovinfo.about.com/b/2009/05/19/gm-plan-to-import-chinese-cars-irks-senator.htm

Never said Toyota was an American company. Toyota is global manufacturer home based in Japan. As such Toyota produces 60% of its product in the US using American labor, suppliers and designers. GM is a global company producing vehicles in the US with global suppliers as well. Names like Aisin, Denso, Getrag, and countless other non American companies produce parts and provides services for them.

Since you are interested in numbers. Here’s one for you. GM currently has 204,000 employees globally. Of that 65,400 are employed in the US. Simply put only 31% of GM’s workforce are Americans.

What does that mean? Nothing more than GM is employing 65,400 Americans and Toyota has almost 40,000 employed Americans.