I wonder how many F-Series, Silverados, and Rams are sitting dismantled in Toyota & Nissan sites

 

Which is why these damn Dell Motherboards keep dieing. Stupid chinese capacitors.

That would be a fun job.

 

I would guess quite a few. Seems like the japs are the innovators in terms of sedans, the domestic market are the innovators in terms of trucks/SUVs, and the europeans are the innovators in terms of pure driving machines / cars with a soul.

So I guess if you aren't an innovator you are an immitator.

 

The only flaw is that while GM is tearing apart the RX400H and trying to "find out what makes it tick" Toyota is busy working on the next generation RX400H. Unless they do a bunch more "regular engineering" along with the "reverse-engineering" they aren't going to get ahead...

 

So you are saying GM locked Ben Affleck in a room with an RX400h.

 

Yes, but somebody needs to take him out before they have him build a machine that sees into the future.

 

You guys are missing out on the main reasons why a manufacturer disassembles another manufacturer's vehicles:

1) To gain insight on assembly. If you read the article, you'll see that GM tracks the thickness, shapes and assembly of each part. GM knows about the vehicle's design -- and none of it should come as any surprise, there are only so many materials/designs on common parts -- but you can also reverse-engineer the vehicle's & the component assembly. How many robots, how many weld spots, etc.

2) If the competition is doing something you are not, then you'll find out about it the minute it hits and streets and can react accordingly. This isn't just design or quality. It's construction/assembly costs. If your competition has found a way to build seats $10 cheaper than you, go do the math: 1m Silverado's a year x $10/seat = big savings for you.

3) This is the key reason right here: when you disassemble a vehicle, you are looking at how a part is engineered and who has manufacturered/assembled it for them. When you know that a company has already invested in the tooling & training to manufacturer a part that's similar than yours, you immediately KNOW they can build your part for you the cheapest (they don't have to undertake new tooling/training for your part -- they've already undertaken it for somebody else). Presumably they've charge that original manufacturer enough to cover their tooling & training & to cover a profit. Anything they do after that is gravy -- and would allow a 2nd manufacturer to woo them to do similar jobs at a reduced price.

 

There is a factory here where I live called Monoplast, a German owned company that makes among lots of other things composite intake manifolds for the Ford 4.6, at first there was a Ford flag flying outside the front with the German and American flags, now the plant has tripled in size and a GM flag flys outside along with the other flags. I don't know what they make for GM, but something tells me they may make the LSx intake manifolds.

 

I hate to kill the argument in this thread....but htis is nohting new.....GM has been tearing into other companies cars for YEARS!

Go read A.C.A.R and it will explain more.

 

Yep...

I think this comparative study or disassembly of vehicles is done at what's unofficially called the "Mona Lisa".

Like folks have hung a paintings on the wall to contemplate,... pull a car apart and hang the parts up on the "wall" and contemplate, to see if there's good or not good engineering.

 

Every manufacturer does this. In fact, we just delivered a new BMW 330i with every option available to Mazda NA so that they could take it apart.

Of coarse, we made money on the sale. They have to buy it retail.

 

i really don't know any industry that doesn't take apart its competitors products

 

Whoa Whoa Whoa............I am the evil monkey on this site!

I've had it for about 3 1/2 to 4 years now!

Please before there is any confusion change your avatar!

 

split personality???

 

stars finally got his comeuppance.