Well, despite everything said in the article, Toyota still continues to rack up record profits every quarter and increase its market share in most major markets.

They do make mistakes (original minivans, full-size trucks), but they keep trying and trying and eventually come out with a winner, unlike some un-named automaker who recently gave up on the minivan market because they couldn't compete. Toyota has a huge stockpile of cash that could weather them through any storm and fund almost unlimited product development. Worldwide, they are just getting started on two of the largest markets in the world: Europe and China, and have no where to go but up in those markets.

So yeah, they've taken some slight missteps just like any company does. No one bats 1000. But they're still about the best run auto company out there.

 

Out of curiosity, does Toyota have the same love it hate it relation in its other markets? Here, most consumers either love Toyota and believe their cars are durable and practical, or they seem to really dislike Toyota and would go out of their way to own anything but a Toyota.

What about in well established first tier nations? In Germany, is there similar animosity toward Toyota amongst people that instead promote VW, Audi, BMW, Mercedes, etc? French supporting Puegeot, Citroen, Renault, over Toyota? How do people feel in developing countries like India, China, Brazil, etc? Do they care if it is a domestic start up maker like Chery or established like Toyota?

I know Toyota obivuosly sells well all over the world, but what is the general consensus of the public in regards to Toyota? Is Toyota having to do the same touchy feely "we are one of you" campaigns in other countries to convince local inhabitants that Toyota's presence is good? (For the campaign I mention, try reading the first or second page of Autoweek for the past month or two.)

 

Here Toyota capitalizes on a percieved reality that they are more reliable and more fuel efficient, whether in actuallity it may or may not be true, depending on what their comapred to.

 

Good article thats a few years late. Unfortunately the damage that the prius did (in giving them an obnoxiously highly green image) is going to take a while to shake, as will their image for having the most reliable cars ever all over the world. Itll take some time and i honestly think if one company can do it, its GM. Ive been thinking this for awhile and for the most part it seems that GM is the one out of the big 3 that are coming out with consecutive hits after another. where as chrysler and ford seem to be doing it only so often

 

Most people from far East and Asia like Japanese cars. West indians like Japanese cars. Go to Jamaica or Dominican Republic, you'll see a lot of Japanese cars, and most small trucks are Isuzu, Mitsubishi, or Toyota.

 

The only places I've ever heard anyone with a rabid dislike of Toyota is on GM-oriented message boards. I don't think there's significant number of Toyota-Haters in the general public.

 

Its probably cause 116/117 times ive visited this site, all I see is:
1) If its not singing high praises to GM, its biased.
2) I even read a thread where the article complimented the GM car, yet some still found a reason to call them biased.
3) Complete and utter hatred for Imports, mainly because they're (hesitant to say this) beating GM.

Of course this is a pro-GM site but I could only count in my hands the number of non-biased, objective people here.

I like cars in general, no matter which country they come from. I joined this site because Im interested in the Camaro. Im sorry if Im not as knowledgeable and as fanatic as you guys are....

 

Sadly, Ford is filled with a bunch of inept ego maniacs that well..... should be exterminated.... not that I'm bitter about a bunch of yokels that will no doubt drive them Ford into extinction or anything like that.

 

What a moron...

He says buyers should unemotionally consider the trade-offs of a vehicle but then in the next paragraph says GM has tradition and heritage to their advantage............. Nice little slap in his own face there.

Selling a truck is an impressive feat?

This is one of the worst articles I've ever read...I know you guys are happy about anything good said about GM in the press, but don't give into THIS worthless piece of trash. I thought some of you guys had a decent understanding of the auto industry.

 

The only true realization is that it's a technology in it's infancy in the consumer market. Hybrids can already pay for their premiums in fuel savings if driven correctly (as enthusiasts who know anything about hybrids alreaddy know). What happens when the technology matures? There will be a lot of so-called enthusiasts who think they know what they're talking about eating their words.

 

LMAO...yeah, right. Most estimates say it takes at least 10 yrs to make your money back. A quick back of the envelope calculation bears that out.

Assume an avg driver 12,000 miles a year. Assume a 30 mpg generic sedan vs a 50mpg hybrid. At a currently generous $2.50/gal for regular, that's $1,000/yr in gas for the guzzler and $600 for the hybrid. That's a net savings of $400 a year. These hybrids are EASILY premiumed $4000 above a non-hybrid model...ergo it will take 10 yrs to just BREAK EVEN, much less start actually saving any money.

We'll see. Lets ignore the issue of how nasty for Mother Earth all those batteries are and where you're going to dispose of millions of them. With technologies like cylinder deactivation, 5 and six speed transmissions, electronic valve actuation and direct injection, the traditional internal combustion arrangement is far from obsolete, and I think it'll give hybrids headaches for years to come.

 

What'd I say? Didn't I say "If driven correctly?" Yea I think I said that... Obviously if you're doing 12,000 miles a year and getting 30 mpg then you're not going to be very interested in a hybrid anyway. Because the only sedan (comparable to a full hybrids) that's going to be getting 30mpg is going to be driving almost 90% on the highway. Current hybrids don't have any advantage on the highway. But if you do a lot of city driving where you're more likely to get 20 mpg or less in your average sedan then the upside of a hybrid is much more noticeable. If you decided to change vehicles, with that 12,000 miles a year you'd save $900/year thus the car would pay for its $4,000 premium in 5 years. That's just one example though, I mean suppose somebody goes from driving an SUV to a hybrid sedan? The savings are going to pay for the premium in 2 or 3 years.

It's up to the customer to decide if a hybrid will benefit him at all, not some hotshot journalist who's contradicting himself every other sentence. Hybrids, in their infancy can and will benefit an owner in a way they were meant to.


Every car manufacturer that makes hybrids has said they recycle 100% of the batteries that are brought in to be replaced. I didn't expect you to know that since you know zilch about hybrids (but manage to have such a dedicated opinion of them? hmmm).

The next generation of full hybrids coming out will allow the engine to shut down entirely when commuting even on the highway and will be able to make most 30 mile trips without operating the engine at all (current modified plug-in hybrids can already do that). While the technology gets better the premium will be getting lower. I'm not trying to say non-hybrids are obsolete by any means yet, but if you're looking for gas mileage in a few years then they will be. There is only so much you can do with N/A engines as far efficiency goes, and sooner than later it will be a lot more cost effective for manufacturers to figure out how to make batteries for hybrids more efficient and better than engines.

 

If Toyota wasn't climbing in ranks, you coud bet your GMs would not be as high quality as they are. Thank Toyota for making GM get their *** in gear.

 

Word.

Business was very easy for the Big 3 following post WWII-1970-80s. All 3 companies got 33.3% of the market share, and import competitors were very small. There was no NEED to better themselves, except to compete with each other. Then import companies started to make a bigger impact, forcing the Big 3 to think more outside the box.

Just because Toyota is beating the Big 3 doesn't mean the end of the world....it just means that the Big 3 needed a slap in the face to get some changes done. I for one hope that the 5th Gen Camaro has nice fit and finish quality to it, probably because it will be engineered with Japanese competition in mind, instead of "Oh those Camaro owners don't care about rattles".

 

I hate Yota because I'm an admitted GM fanboy.

I love the country and the things it produces...even if many of our domestics do have a large percentage of foreign parts content, at least the money winds up stateside.