Toyota Pulls a Detroit of Yesteryear

Once upon a time not so long ago there was a scary monster that ruled the land by seeding the world with its demonic like fire breathing spawn (cars). They used to call it the Detroit Big Three. Its children would roam the world devouring liquids (GM SUV) at every gas station, rusting (Chrysler) out right before our very eyes, and exploding in flames like a Phoenix (Ford Pinto) when offended by a fender bender. Till one bright and shinny day, a bunch of knights (engineers) from Japan decided that they could rid the world of these monsters by offering a tamed down domesticated version of the DBT from across the big blue sea. All was well with the world. The End… or was it?

Toyota has lost its way when it comes to quality and the only one they have to blame is themselves. It’s easy to be the number one car manufacturer in the world if you ignore your customers and just keep pushing out units as fast as your factories can make them. Toyota basically refused to look in its own rear view mirror. So when did Toyota stop following the “Don’t do what the DBT did” business formula? The answer to that question is simple. When profit was more important than the quality of their product. AKA, if you build it then they will buy it or being number one is systemic with built in arrogance.

"Consideration for customers was lacking in Toyota," Seiji Maehara, Japan's minister in charge of transport, said this week after the government learned that the carmaker had known for months about a problem of squishy brakes on its Prius hybrid.

Yet until the Japanese government pressured them to recall more than 400,000 Priuses and other hybrid models on Tuesday, Toyota executives had insisted that the braking issue was a matter of driver "perception."

In the United States, where years-old problems with a sticking gas pedal led to a suspension in January of the production and sale of eight vehicle models, Toyota had also neglected customer complaints, blamed drivers and was not forthcoming with federal investigators. - Washington Post

Recalling 400,000 cars is a huge admission of a serious quality control problem and that is not the way to keep repeat customers. Numbers of that size recall are nothing new to Toyota but seem to be the status quo. Going back to just August of 2006 it was evident then that Toyota had a quality problem and yet they still pulled a DBT. Has Toyota taken up the old DBT quality standard of built in product obsolescence? Could this quality problem be a precursor as to what will happen to Toyota jobs here in America?

At Toyota's annual executive meeting in June, its outgoing chairman, Hiroshi Okuda, its new chairman, Fujio Cho, and its chief executive, Katsuaki Watanabe, all vowed to the gathered managers that the quality issue would be addressed, according to a senior Toyota executive who attended the meeting.

"The quality issue is a big concern. They're embarrassed about it," said the executive, who insisted on anonymity because the meeting was private. He added, "You think about Toyota, and quality is in our DNA. We are concerned about looking like the rest of the pack. The market is forgiving because of our long reputation, but how long will they be forgiving?" - New York Times

There is a reoccurring pattern when it comes to the blame game at Toyota and that is and has been to blame its engineers. Yes, they do have some ownership but the boys in the executive branch are the ones making the decisions that the customers end up buying and owning. Companies like the “New” Toyota are their own worst enemies when they “choose” to ignore the reason they became successful to begin with. QUALITY!

Click on the link for the full list of the latest Toyota recall. And you can be sure that the insurance industry isn't going to miss a heartbeat raising your rates when it comes to your Toyota car insurance. Poor safety performance on any vehicle is too good of an opportunity for them to miss.

UPDATE 2/15/10: Toyota considers incentives to maintain customer confidence post recall according to CNN Money

Papamoka

***Washington Post has linked to this post... Thank you!

Republican Walmart Deal For Detroit

I’m sorry but I am totally not in agreement with Republican’s when it comes to the Big Three Bailout that failed in the Senate today. Apparently, the only concession that Republican’s wanted was that Detroit Auto Workers agree to the same pay as Walmart workers! What concessions did Wall Street and the billions of greed laden bonuses were part of the discussion for $700 Billion by the banking industry? Do you read anything anywhere about pay cuts in the banking or brokerage houses? Yes, there are job cuts but nobody is cutting their pay down to subsistence levels. I’ll tell you what… NOT ONE big bank that will take the bailout money is going to trim pay scales! But if you are a Detroit Auto Worker you are supposed to put on a blue vest and be thankful while Republican’s break your legal union up simply because they can. This would not be the same outcome if Democrat’s fully controlled the Congress. Um, Democrats do control the Senate but apparently the leadership has no backbone to actually lead. If Jim Web of Virginia were Senate President it would have passed with no concessions.

Over at the New York Times they have this one last chance to slap the working class in the face by Republican’s with a screw you attitude towards the middle and lower classes of America. And in doing so they dump all of the problems they have refused to work on to fix on a new Democrat President…

U.A.W. at Center of Dispute Over Bailout
By MICHELINE MAYNARD
Published: December 12, 2008

DETROIT — Opponents of a Congressional bailout for Detroit auto companies and the United Automobile Workers union traded charges Friday over who was responsible for the defeat of legislation that would have provided temporary financing until the automakers restructured.

Senator Bob Corker, a Republican of Tennessee, suggested the fault lay with the U.A.W.’s president, Ron Gettelfinger, whose union declined to agree to allow wage concessions in 2009 as part of a deal.

But at a news conference Friday morning, Mr. Gettelfinger said the union feared that it was “being set up” by Mr. Corker, who he said was asking the union for concessions that were not sought from other participants in the talks.

Snip… Grab A Wrench to throw…

In a statement Thursday night, the union said it was “prepared to agree that any restructuring plan should ensure that the wages and benefits of workers at the domestic automakers should be competitive with those paid by the foreign transplants. But we also recognized that this would take time to work out and implement” using programs like buyouts and early retirement offers to bring in new workers at lower rates.

“Unfortunately, Senate Republicans insisted that this had to be accomplished by an arbitrary deadline,” the statement said. “This arbitrary requirement was not imposed on any other stakeholder groups. Thus, the U.A.W. believed this was a blatant attempt to make workers shoulder the lion’s share of the costs of any restructuring plan.”

In an interview Friday morning on CNBC, Mr. Corker suggested the union, not Republicans, bore the burden for the measure’s failure.

“I offered them a solution,” he said of discussions with union representatives. “Our caucus was 100 percent behind it. Do we own it, or does the U.A.W. own it?” – New York Times

There is more to this story than we are all reading and I think it comes down to the foreign automakers spread out over more states that are using that Congressional power of numbers to protect and defend their own interests. If the Big Three fail, then Toyota, Honda and every other foreign owned auto maker with plants in the United States wins. You will never be able to buy another American made car ever again! But the campaign war chest check cleared for the Congress members that shot this bill down. All of them Republican!

What is the real destructiveness of this loss is to the American worker across many industries. Republican’s have found a way to cripple a union and make them look like the guilty party. Good wages for good jobs are wrong in America for people punching the clock and working forty or sixty hours a week. The wet dream of the people that killed this bill is to have a nation of Walmart workers where your pay sucks, your benefits suck, and your opportunity to move up in life is less than the chance of winning the lottery. A nation of part time workers where the top of the food chain of the company hands out crumbs to the masses and feels good about the people eating cake.

This bills failure to pass just created several million new Democrat voters all over America that used to be Republican. With the possible bankruptcy of the Big Three Automakers comes millions of middle management and business owners that will see their own business forced into bankruptcy. Good paying jobs all across America will be lost because Senator Bob Corker of Tenn deemed it so. Democrat’s in Congress wanted to pass a bill to bailout the Big Three, Bob Corker and his Republican friends in the Congress killed it.

I do have this to say, Harry Reed should resign as Senate President. If he didn’t have the guts to politically deal with the Republican’s in the Senate then he has no clue as to how to do the job. How the hell is this going to pass once Obama is President or for that matter any tough legislation he needs passed for America? Nice knowing you Harry but you need to step down and let a real leader with backbone take over.

Hopefully, Walmart can keep opening up stores all across America to keep up with the number of JOBS Senator Bob Corker just put into the unemployment lines. Here is your smiley sticker, you can’t eat it or pay your mortgage with it but doesn’t it make you feel better? NOT!

Papamoka

UPDATE: MSNBC HAS REPUBLICAN MEMO ON KILLING GM AND THE UAW!

Video Link




*****YaHoo News has linked to this post in Blog News... Thank you!

Move your Ass Detroit!

In India they unveiled the cheapest car in the world. It’s God awful ugly but goes from point A to point B at 50 MPG. Don’t even think about looking for it on the streets in North America any time soon. It won’t pass the bicycle hitting the newspaper stand test. But it is innovative in an entrepreneurial kind of way of making brand new car ownership possible to millions of people in India.

This raises the question, why the hell can’t Detroit do this for the folks in the United States? Could it be that all the outsourcing of jobs to India has created the end of Detroit’s ownership on the world transportation needs? Either way you look at it, India has a compact super little car that fit’s the needs of their people and cuts emissions that can be bought for $2500 US dollars.

Tata unveils Nano, its $2,500 car

The long-awaited Indian 'People's Car' aims to replace the scooter in first-time buyers' hearts. Though you won't see it in the West anytime soon, it could signal a wave of lower-priced cars to come.

By MSN Money staff and wire reports

India's Tata Motors today unveiled the Nano, its much-anticipated $2,500 car, an ultracheap price tag that brings car ownership into the reach of tens of millions of people.
Company Chairman Ratan Tata, introducing the Nano during India's main auto show in New Delhi, drove onto a stage in a white version of the tiny four-door subcompact, his head nearly touching the roof.

With a snub nose and a sloping roof, the world's cheapest car can hold five people -- if they squeeze. And the basic version is spare: There's no radio, no air bags, no passenger-side mirror and only one windshield wiper. If you want air conditioning to cope with India's brutal summers, you need to get the deluxe version. - MSN MONEY

All is fair in love and war and American’s love cars. The current administration has proven that we will go to war over the go go juice that gets our people from point A to point B. With this little car we just might not have to go to war to protect our need for more go go juice.

Cheap cars are never pretty, remember the Yugo? That was a joke of a car but many people bought them and drove them till their Bic Lighter life ran out. Same thing goes for the Geo Metro, put me in the ownership column of Geo Metro lovers. I loved my little four door grasshopper. Filling the tank once every two weeks with a work commute of 19 miles each way fit my larger than life family.

Watch your back Detroit, India is knocking on the door and they are bringing savings to the driving consumers. It may not be pretty now but these cars will be on the streets of North America in less than ten years with some beefing up crash test passing results. The clock is ticking… tick, tock, tick, tock…

Papamoka

Feel free to link to or steal this post...

Technorati Tags:
Conservation, Gas Mileage, Saving Gas, Gas Prices, Cost of fuel, nano, India, Detroit, Michigan, Ford, Chevy, GM, Toyota, Chrysler, Jeep, Compact Car, automotive innovation, Oil, MPG, Cars, Car and Driver, MSN Money