Autoblog: REPORT: Toyota chief admits company is in rough shape, "grasping for salvation"

Oops. I must have clicked the wrong thread. I thought this was about Toyota...

;)

Spectre posted, therefore it is now about GM. :lol:
 
I really do not understand Toyota's problem. They committed themselves to being bigger than GM, which was certainly a mistake, but not irreversible. If they were really interested in preserving (or rebuilding) their reputation for solid, reliable cars they could improve materials and focus on build quality. Or basically: build fewer cars. But I very seriously doubt that idea has even been floated in any board meetings.

I'm equally confused with their supposed inability to build anything interesting. Frankly I think that it's just something they pretend to be concerned about. They're making plenty of money building perfectly average family cars. Just to illustrate how far they've fallen, my '86 Celica GTS was a fantastic little car, even with 250k miles on it (the interior was even mostly intact!). Now not only has their build quality/materials suffered, they don't even build the Celica.

For fucks sake, it's not that hard guys. Keep building the vanilla crap commuter cars and hybrids, but listen to your engineers and R&D guys. They'll tell you how to make fun cars. I'm sure they're brimming with ideas after being forced to redesign Camrys for a decade.

For more than a century, the United States has enjoyed a strong middle class, allowing its citizens to participated in "The American Dream". Taking jobs away, promoting the creation of a two-tiered class system of wealthy and poor, and promoting the downfall of business and industry is anti-American in every way. At least your desire for secession is rightly placed.
Nah, we only had a truly strong middle class for 25-30 years. The Republicans have been effectively destroying it since the 1970s.

Every Chevy I've ever driven is just like that. Even my cousin's old '86 Celebrity could crank the wheel hard over while stopped using only one finger. You could literally "throw" the wheel and let it "coast" through the rest of the turn.
My Dad's Roadmaster was really bad. He ended up fitting a new steering box.
My Pontiac is the same way (awful). My E30 has better steering feel, and it's way more abused.
 
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Alright, back to Toyota now.

I really do not understand Toyota's problem. They committed themselves to being bigger than GM, which was certainly a mistake, but not irreversible. If they were really interested in preserving (or rebuilding) their reputation for solid, reliable cars they could improve materials and focus on build quality. Or basically: build fewer cars. But I very seriously doubt that idea has even been floated in any board meetings.

I'm equally confused with their supposed inability to build anything interesting. Frankly I think that it's just something they pretend to be concerned about. They're making plenty of money building perfectly average family cars.

One thing is clear: The current trouble has nothing to do with the economic crisis. The troubles are completely home-made.

For a couple of years now it is obvious that Toyota have rested on their laurels too much. They pushed hybrid technology and concentrated on it, thinking this is the future, while at the same time neglected the classic virtues of car making.

The results are obvious: A decline in reliability and quality. Objective surveys have been telling it for years and the current negative headlines in the USA also show a symptomatic picture. They lost their feel for the customer's needs. Why should anyone buy a boring car, when it isn't more reliable anymore, than its competitors?

Also the authorized dealers and workshops have failed, at least here in Germany: Faults are not recognized, bills for the same work differ greatly from workshop to workshop, spare parts are expensive and enployees are shortspoken and sometimes unkind. Getting a cup of coffee or some other beverage while you wait, can't be taken for granted.

An anonymous check by leading German car magazine auto, motor & sport in 2008 has revealed, that overall only 56 % of the faults on a prepared car were fixed during a routine inspection. They randomly picked 8 Toyota workshops and 5 of them earned the verdict "not recommendable". Only 1 was doing a decent job. A similar test of VW workshops the year before revealed a 75.8 % result.

So while Toyota is struggling, VW keeps up the high pace. With their new MQB platform they will cut costs dramatically, shorten the development cycles and reduce the complexity of car making, while keeping the variety and character of their brands untouched and remain being able to develop niche models on short notice. Click here for an English article about that. In addition the MQB platform will allow VW to produce practically any car model in any of their factories.

Also VW have recognized that they neglected the American market for far too long and their efforts seem to come at the right moment: When their main competitor on a worldwide scale is in deep trouble, they build a new factory in Chattanooga.

And Toyota isn't the only one in trouble. Mazda for example has had problems with rust for a couple of years now, which they weren't able to solve yet. As a result their reputation is getting worse and worse.

So the question is: Will we see a reverse development now? Will the Japanese car makers lose the terrain again, which they conquered during the 1980's and 1990's?
 
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