http://autoextremist.com/page2.shtml#Rant

 

"So, get used to it, folks. Toyota is a car company the likes of which this industry has never seen before. They are not content to rest on their laurels - not by any stretch of the imagination. They're even deathly afraid of getting too "big" in attitude, like so many other car companies have before them. Which is why they remain ever vigilant in their quest not to lose their way.

As a matter of fact, Toyota is the hungriest car company in the world right now. They're using their success to do more research and development, chase down their flaws, explore new segments and fine-tune the details - all in order to build on the eye-opening success they've already achieved.

Uh, hello, GM, are your top managers reading this?

What a novel concept..build products people like and want and they'll keep coming back.. radical.

Like it or not toyota seems to have the right stuff in terms of business philosophy. I'm curious now to what new daring design direction they're going to take.

 

this should be aplied to Saturn and some of Chevy, instead of tricle down of Caddy's sucsess...



wake up cus Toyota in 30 years is going to be the most winning car making in Nascar.

 

I think you could axe Saturn. Chevy's small cars overlap them.

Toyota's philosophy and business practices can be successfully applied to all the GM's divisions. They each have their own target markets, although Chevy and Pontiac's are the most blurred.

In 30 years GM could probably be Caddy and Chevy.

 

DeLorenzo has been writing that "toyota world domination" editorial for at least the last 3 years, by my count (I've read him since the beginning)

Anytime there's a slow news week, he brings out the ol' "GM/Ford/The germans in DCX/environmentalists are a bunch of freakin' idiots" essay, or the toyota one...


Unfortunately, this doesn't make the toyota essay any less true....Pretty remarkable, since Toyota doesn't build anything I'd buy with a gun to my head

 

Toyota's huge profits come in part because every car they build shares most of its components with everything else. My friend who is a tier 1 supplier told me this. I'm not sure that's true but if it is it would explain a lot. Buy parts in that kind of quantity and it's going to be cheap and more efficient at the plants to assemble.

Still as you said, Toyota builds nothing I would even be remotely interested in. Cookie cutters sell these days I guess.

 

lol, they don't just do cars. right now they are getting into loans or something like that

 

Like someone said, thats pretty amazing since there is not a single car in all 3 lines of cars that I would drive.
GM WAS like that, remember? GM did build car that people liked... hell, we are the by-product of the love affair with cars from GM, Ford, and Mopar! People couldnt get enough of big, curvy, sexy American cars.
GM needs to get back to that point. GM needs to attack whatever weak spot Toyota has, i.e. boring, overpriced cars. People will spend the extra money on a Toyota just because of the "quality" of one. Its the idea that Toyota makes a better car then GM. GM needs to show the public that this no longer is the case. Quality is equal or surpases the Toyota models. The best review I ever read was the article in MT about the Malibu coming AHEAD of the Camry. I think more and more people need to start coming back into domestic dealerships as there are a lot of cars out there that offer equal or better quality for a lower price.

 

Save maybe for Hyundai / Kia. They too are "hungry", and are really blistering the markets.

I am more afraid of Toyota right now than anyone. They are the benchmark in so many areas. Even guys from GM and FOrd are taking the class on Lean Enterprise that was founded and owned by Toyota. We have guys in my company that are "sensei's" in this principle.

Toyota could gobble up Hyundai in a year, and never burp or fart from it. They could outright take control of GM or Ford through buying outstanding shares at market value - and do it with CASH from US-based car sales. These are scary thoughts.

My sig has been unchanged now for way over a year... wonder why?

 

we know that in the coming years, with intro of Zeta and other glocal platforms, that the quality (of chasis and interior) will get better. The Maxx maybe an indication, and hopefully, the GTO's quality will ruboff on future cars produced here.

Had lunch with a colleague yesterday who has a fairly new lexus ES300 and 3yo Infinity SUV. He was commenting about an itch for a 2-seater sportscar, and I mentioned the Solstice. His immediate reaction was, "I'm never getting into another American vehicle. Had a Pontiac a few years ago and it was a POS". I mentioned that he should at least have an open-mind to checkout the quality of the GTO to see what's coming down the pipeline in future GM vehicles, and checkout the Solstice when it does come out...

 

It'll take a while for the domestics to better the percieved quality of Honda and Toyota. The big three sold some pretty crappy stuff for a long time, even when they owned the market place.

Advertising will be a big part of it. Any quote you can grab stating you car is better built now and down the road and keep pushing that message. Next, get epole into the cars anyway you can. 24 hour test drive is a good start. Next, how about I part my Camary/Accord right next to a new Malibu and I can compare any/every detail I want side by side.

Maybe those two dweebs Chevy has selling their cars from pizzarias can make the announcement in the grocery store

 

it's obvious what needs to be done. yes, GM and Ford can just do reasonably well and wait for the public opinion to change on its own over time. What they SHOULD be doing is completely dimolishing any competition in everything. Yes it will be expensive and they may have to give some cars away, but all it takes is for people to start talking. And I think I've said this before already, but now we've got proof. Let me point you to the Chrysler 300. Plush interior, reasonable pricing, great presence, great power from the Hemi (halo), decent power from the affordable 3.5L for main stream. it has everyone buzzing! Chrysler hasn't even sold 10K 300's and everyone's talking about how Chrysler's on the upswing. This is exactly what GM needs to be doing. Ford has a similar thing going for it with the F-150. Could use more power, yes, but the interiors are killing the competition.

so how this relates to making money for GM, it won't in the short term. they might be losing cash in fact. but in 2 years or so they will have earned a reputation for building good cars and people will want to buy GM again. at this point the hurdle of "bad image" has been surpassed while unit sales go up and the prices can be deservadly nudged back up.

and of course, efficiency is something that needs to go up dramatically at GM. this does not mean cost cutting per se. but it does mean spending less money per car built.

 

The big 3 (GM especially) have already done an excellent job in boosting the perceived quality and initial (first 90 day) quality of their vehicles. And for that, I'm very proud of them. But most people keep cars for more than 90 days, and that's where GM has historically fallen flat on its face: cars that just don't hold up over the miles. I think that people in general just want to see a steady track-record of long-term dependebility matching that of their japanese rivals (Toyota and Honda in particular) before they'll be willing to reconsider.

 

I'm growing a little tired of all this wide-eyed fawning over the Toyota juggernaut. They're not supermen. GM has steadily closed the quality gap with them to the point now it's nearly a statistical dead heat. Toyota's cars are numbingly boring and bland (at least Nissan has had the courage to come out with some bold styling like on the 350Z and Maxima!). Sure on paper - Toyota is making a good profit. So what? Where's their Avalanche, CTS-V, Corvette Z06 and Hummer H2? They don't even have a car which can compete with my Grand Prix CompG, feature for feature. They offer no HUD, no Night Vision, no midgated trucks (GM has TWO models now with that), no affordable supercar like the Z06. If you're 'Jennifer' Toyota is just the car for you.

 

what does not having exciting cars have to do with making money? yes they build boring cars for the masses, THEY ARE MAKING GOOD MONEY ON IT.