Toyota overtakes Ford as number 2 car builder


KMCBOSS

KMCBOSS

RED GT owner
Mark II Lifetime
Dec 3, 2006
995
Bremerton, Washington
I was so depressed when I saw this! Was hoping Ford would right their ship before it happened. I knew there were major problems with the big 3 when driving around Los Angeles this past Summer - all I saw was toyoda, honda and nissans. I sure hope the folks in the front office at Ford have a plan to counter this!
 
KMCBOSS said:
I was so depressed when I saw this! Was hoping Ford would right their ship before it happened. I knew there were major problems with the big 3 when driving around Los Angeles this past Summer - all I saw was toyoda, honda and nissans. I sure hope the folks in the front office at Ford have a plan to counter this!
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Just so you know, It has always been like that out here on the west coast. Atleast the 13 years I've been out here... Don't know why.Nothing but BMW's, Mercs,Honda's etc.. American trucks are a big thing. I always point out to my wife when we go back to chicago how many run about american cars are on the roads there... It's weird for me to see so many because of what I'm use to seeing out here..
 
It's a shame the American Auto Makers let this happen and a shame more Americans don't realize and/or care how damaging this is to our economy.
I'm proud to say I have never purchased a Toyota, Honda or Nissan product and that ain't gonna change. God Bless America. :cheers
 
There are many way to measure the top car company, unit sales, revenue, profits. In the end the only one that matters, is profits. Without profits a company won't be in business for the long haul. By that measure, Toyota has been number one for a long time! Toyota has done this without having any cars people really lust for. Ask people, "if you can have the car of your dreams what would it be?" I would bet less than 1% would say Toyota.
 
What I don't understand is why FORD, GM and Chrysler won't compete in the market share where the toyoda, honda etc started out. This gave them a base to grow and now expand out into market areas that are traditional operating territory for the big 3. I know its a tough market but there has to be about 50 different import models competing there and I don't see much from the big 3. Wave after wave of compacts and subcompacts hit the dock in Los Angeles and other ports on the West coast every day and I suspect it is rare to see anything US brands heading to overseas ports.
 
Toyota, Honda, and others have been making extremely reliable higher MPG cars for decades. U.S. auto makers have been making mainly excuses up until recently. Buying American just for sake of buying American would drive the U.S. auto makers into extinction eventually. You can't bury your head in the sand and just buy American. The reason people touted "buy American" in decades past was because; "It was the best made product in the world". Now that is not always the case. We here in America need to better educate our kids, and motivate them to be something other than a "rock stars". Most people in this country have their minds polluted with TV shows and don't live in reality. If we don't wake up soon, we're going to be speaking many other languages here in our own country in coming decades. It's our own laziness that's causing the problems. We do have the best country in the world, and we can make the best products in the world, but we haven't been living to or potential for a long time. We've been living on our laurels.
 
KMCBOSS said:
What I don't understand is why FORD, GM and Chrysler won't compete in the market share where the toyoda, honda etc started out. This gave them a base to grow and now expand out into market areas that are traditional operating territory for the big 3. I know its a tough market but there has to be about 50 different import models competing there and I don't see much from the big 3. Wave after wave of compacts and subcompacts hit the dock in Los Angeles and other ports on the West coast every day and I suspect it is rare to see anything US brands heading to overseas ports.
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Don't get me started.Say all you want but most asian parts are made with .19 to .27 cents per hour labor, no BC/BS no retirement no bennies. Not a damn thing Americans can do to compete with that.
When you see an American car at 27K it takes near 27K to make
When you see an asia kia hundia at 27K it take near 9k to make what they do with the other 18K is bribe, advertise and convince Americans that taking care of your own is and should not be a priority.

Next, just this week (and all the past few years)
Ford #1 is safety with 5 models
Ford # 1 in quality to many models to count.Consumer reports reprinted a retraction 2 months ago removing the new Tundra from recommended buy and several others as poor quality and most number of severe recalls. But American's run out and say who cares about the retirees and what they buy, who cares about the USA infatructure, who cares about 700,000 midwest workers out of a job who cares they are no longer paying taxes.
How much money does the foreign & 1/3 comunist car makers pay to support our military? "Support our troops buy a Kia" :bs
Who cares about slave labor making the crap and sending it to the USA.
Who cares if they can pump toxins anywhere they choose it wont make it to USA:bs

Infinety in Japan was head line news years ago I can tell you from experience this is fact.

The headlines said American so stupid they have bought the complete production run of Infinitys' W/O ever seeing the car.

The comerical only showed waves on a beach front and the word Infinity comming soon.

Wonder why the housingmarket is in the toliet?How many special early retiries in the past 5 years? 420,000 auto related only
Average age 54
How many would have sold the family home for a nice mid life dream home b/4 the florida retirement condo?

So take them out of the buying picture and now on a fixed income and a long time of watching every penny.

Yep blame "them" for everything.....oops most of us here are Americans so we are blaming our selves.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aq4QeLLIEF54&refer=japan

Tips on buying a car in japan:
http://uktoyotaestimasite.tripod.com/Buy_Car_Japan.htm

40% extra plus 20% tax in Japan to buy USA
Here is a 38K tahoe for sale in Japan (XLR & Hummer are sold out)
GM CHEVROLET TAHO
Z71 Off-road PKG
¥6,824,000 Calculate Freight Cost
$61,211 USD
Year New car
Odometer 200 km
Displacement 5,300 cc
Steering Left Hand Drive
Transmission AT

Normally I would say I am sorry fo rthe rant.....I am only sorry I could not be more specific.:ack
 
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tpraceman said:
Don't get me started.Say all you want but most asian parts are made with .19 to .27 cents per hour labor, no BC/BS no retirement no bennies. Not a damn thing Americans can do to compete with that.
When you see an American car at 27K it takes near 27K to make
When you see an asia kia hundia at 27 it take near 9k to make what they do with the other 18K is bribe, advertise and convince Americans that taking care of your own is and should not be a priority.

Next, just this week (and all the past few years)
Ford #1 is safety with 5 models
Ford # 1 in quality too many models to count.Consumer reports reprinted a retraction 2 months ago removing the new Tundra from recommended buy and several others as poor quality and most number of severe recalls. But American's run out and say who cares about the retirees and what they buy, who cares about the USA infatructure, who cares about 700,000 midwest workers out of a job who cares they are no longer paying taxes.
How much money does the foreign & 1/3 comunist car makers pay to support our military? "Support our troops buy a Kia" :bs
Who cares about slave labor making the crap and sending it to the USA.
Who cares if they can pump toxins anywhere they choose it wont make it to USA:bs

Infinety in Japan was head line news years ago I can tell you from experience this is fact.

The headlines said American so stupid they have bought the complete production run of Infineties W/O ever seeing the car.

The comerical only showed waves on a beach front and the word Infinety comming soon.

Wonder why the housingmarket is in the toliet?
How many special early retiries in the past 5 years? 420,000 auto related only
Average age 54
How many would have sold family home for a nice mid life dream home b/4 the florida retirement condo?

So take them out of the buying picture and now fixed income and a long time of watching every penny.

Yep blame them for everything.....oops most of here are americans so we are blaming our selves.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aq4QeLLIEF54&refer=japan

Tips on buying a car in japan:
http://uktoyotaestimasite.tripod.com/Buy_Car_Japan.htm

40% extra plus 20% tax in Japan to buy USA
Here is a 38K tahoe for sale in Japan (XLR & Hummer are sold out)
GM CHEVROLET TAHO
Z71 Off-road PKG
¥6,824,000 Calculate Freight Cost
$61,211 USD
Year New car
Odometer 200 km
Displacement 5,300 cc
Steering Left Hand Drive
Transmission AT

Normally I would say I am sorry fo rthe rant.....I am only sorry I could not be more specific.:ack
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I hope your not telling me the BIG 3 will never be able to compete with the import junk! I never want to see the day toyoda owns FORD!
 
KMCBOSS said:
I hope your not telling me the BIG 3 will never be able to compete with the import junk! I never want to see the day toyoda owns FORD!
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Spot on:thumbsup look what you just wrote.
The Big 3 GM, Ford, Chrysler is no moreNow
The Big 3 GM, Toyota, Ford

Some how - someone has to rise up and preach the word to convince people that to take care of a countries monetary system it needs to have at least a equal trade balance.

If "the country" is one who helps other countries with aide then it needs to export more than import.

Just basic math. But will we all sell it down the drain because of what ever excuse we can make for reasons to buy foriegn goods.

Someone please find us a leader willing to step up to the plate.
 
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I nominate BONY for president!
 
I agree with most things said here, but Ford (and GM and Chrsyler) shoots themselves in the foot with their sales strategies.

Kirby Vieira said:
It's a shame the American Auto Makers let this happen and a shame more Americans don't realize and/or care how damaging this is to our economy.
I'm proud to say I have never purchased a Toyota, Honda or Nissan product and that ain't gonna change. God Bless America. :cheers
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Also, my Toyota truck is more American than any other Domestic truck.
 
Spirit's Son said:
Also, my Toyota truck is more American than any other Domestic truck.
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The problem is the profit goes to Japan and is used to further erode American manufacturers share of the American market. Toyota has an inferior product that I will never buy. There are American alternatives that may not be as cheap, but IMO that's part of the price of being an American.
 
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Spirit's Son said:
Also, my Toyota truck is more American than any other Domestic truck.
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Not true.

The Japanese put plants here to have trained chimps assemble vehicles sourced elsewhere and then say "Look at this American made product!". That's an overstatement, but raise your hand if you want to be a nation of assemblers at the call of our Asian masters. They willing accept the competitive cost disadvantages our labor market has for fear of otherwise causing backlash in this market. Yes, some of their vehicles have higher domestic content than others, but on balance, it's not even close.

In 07, the F-150 and Silverado were both 90% domestic content. The Tundra (a vehicle they actually said caused them "shame") was 65%. Out of the top 32 most popular cars built in the U.S, over 50% of the domestics on the list are 75% domestic content or higher. Of the Nissan, Honda, and Toyota vehicles on the list, less than 25% are. If you want to go model range, Ford and GM are near 80% overall, Honda is 51%, Nissan 46%, Toyota 40%.

p.s, watch these and tell me which you'd rather have:

This one especially from 5:00 forward.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRfE_XAk2mE&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWjTbiYo3x0

But hey, I give credit to the Japanese for instilling this notion (especially amongst people under 30) that their products are more American than the ones designed, engineered, marketed, developed, and built up the street from me.
 
'Pretty darn impressive differences if you ask me.

The 'dancing boxes' footage should tell all prospective buyers something.
 
Kirby Vieira said:
The problem is the profit goes to Japan and is used to further erode American manufacturers share of the American market. Toyota has an inferior product that I will never buy. There are American alternatives that may not be as cheap, but IMO that's part of the price of being an American.
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Kirby you got it! :cheers

Ps. I priced a new Tundra loaded with every option and a Harley F-150 loaded with every option imaginable and I was shocked the more loaded HD F-150 was so much less I had a Whipple installed and still had cash left over.

Ok its the wifes truck but you guys need to feel a AWD F-150 with a 5.4L Whipple in it. I am ready for John Force :banana
 
You ROCK, tpraceman, right on! I don't own a Japanese or Korean car, won't buy one, like my Yukon Denali 2002 XL, and my FGT, and my Dodge Viper and my 66 Shelby GT350!

However, I do like driving my 03 JCW Mini Cooper to work!
 
Dave you always have such cool links to accentuate you point. Very good demonstrations of the Ford design philosophies!
All my car purchases since my FGT have and will continue to be Ford products.
 
People, especially Americans, will buy whatever is good for them... be it Ford, Toyota or whatever else they want. Unfortunately for the BIG 3, the American way is kicking their tail... Competition.

It's not fair competition and government sanction could correct it but we live in a global market and if they don't sell it here they will sell it there. We are going to have to become more competitive or quit.

The one thing we can do better than most other countries is come up with 'new ways to skin a cat.' We are idea people at heart. All...ALL of the Asian car companies started by copying what we were doing. We just failed to change fast enough to leave them behind.

Toyota/Japan isn’t the country that scares me… China is.
 
Americans were won over by Japanese vehicles because, I believe, it can be fairly said that for a period of time, they were better vehicles overall in terms of reliability and fuel economy. Japanese cars gained huge market share largely because American car companies were complacent.

GM and Ford now make vehicles which in my opinion are superior to the Japanese offerings. Since GM and Ford now have the product necessary to win in the market, they simply need to lure back those that defected to the Japanese cars. Ford's Fusion marketing program is a good effort (although I don't know how successful).

When talking to one of my employees about my new F250 diesel King Ranch, she was surprised at how well built it was and commented that she and her husband never even think to stop to look at domestic vehicles when they buy a new car. This is precisely the problem. I educated her a little and hopefully they will consider domestics in the future.

Before recently buying my truck, I shopped around quite a bit at numerous dealerships and was greatly impressed by the quality of both the new Malibu and Fusion, both of which I would buy over a Japenese sedan. GM has proven with its CTS that it has what it takes to compete in the luxury/sports sedan market (Ford badly needs a car in this segement-if GM can reinvent Cadillac, surely Ford can reinvent Lincoln).

Bottom line is that with the high quality, efficient cars being made by domestic companies today, there is absolutely no reason to buy a Japanese vehicle in my opinion.
 
Had for two weeks a Pontiac G6 as a rental for my wife. I drove it one day while my car was being serviced. Nice peppy little car, as good as anything you can buy in that category.


Last year we toured the Mazda plant in Hiroshima. Robot heaven, interesting line that allows three or four different plantforms to be built at the same time.
 
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