Camry To Do Battle With Taurus And Chevy

Is anyone else excited that there is a team of Camry in Nascar this year? This is going to be quite interesting: East v. West, Asian v. Domestic, new school v. old school. And all that criticism from the Ford and Chevy crowd is more sensation than WWF. The domestic boys are accusing Toyota of being a "predator" by hiring away their personnel. They also say Toyota is on a spending spree, which makes things more expensive for the domestic boys. I think Toyota will be great for Nascar--nothing like racial rivalry.

On the other hand, I hope there will not a serious backlash against Toyota for its entry into Nascar at a time when many blue collar workers in America are losing their jobs to Asians and Mexicans. It's conceivable that Toyota might have made a big mistake by turning themselves into a big target for their domestic competitors and labor unions.

I work with moving new Toyotas around and there are thousands of new ones being built and brought to the dealers.

Domestic car makers would argue that if not for Toyota and other Asian car makers, they wouldn't have to relocate their jobs to Mexico and Canada.

Also, the profits of Toyota and other Asian car makers go back home to Japan or Korea, thereby, benefiting Tokyo and Seuol a lot more than Detroit. We are getting poorer; while, they are getting richer.

Car manufacturing is a collaboration between many countries and the car makers are within their rights to seek the cheapest labor for production and assembly.

I think a lot of Ford and GM's problems are their own doing. If they had focused more on reliability and effeciency, instead of flair and power, maybe they'd be in a better position now. Moving their production to other countries is just a band-aid and doesn't solve the underlying problem. Likewise, blaming Toyota is just creating a scapegoat.

Does the world really need a load of gas-guzzling muscle cars? Not really. Especially if global car-ownership is to continue to increase, everyone has to realize that it would have to proceed with more efficient cars. Is there enough petroleum to go around for the billions of people in India and China entering the emerging car markets there? Nope. Even with K-cars the world can't support it. But it's even crazier to think that Hummers and Chargers will fit in.

I really hope that Toyota does well with Nascar. I've been a Nascar fan for many years and have been a Dodge fan since they re-entered the series a few years back. My daughter works at Chrysler part time and makes more than I do in a week working full time, which explains why our vehicles cost so much.

The Toyota plant a few miles from me doesn't even have a union but makes a good wage. As for Nascar..the Ford Fusion is made in Mexico and the Monte Carlo is made here in Canada. The Dodge is owned by a German company, but the Camry is made right in the good old USA by American workers.

Toyota won the truck championship last year, but so far have to get their butt moving in the weeks heading to Daytona.

Car manufacturing is a collaboration between many countries and the car makers are within their rights to seek the cheapest labor for production and assembly.

Detroit and Dearborn sure have that right. However, when a corporation has benefited so tremendously from the people of the country for a century (like gov't subsidice and people's labor), I would think there are civic duty and moral responsibility to keep as much jobs in this country as possible. With the tremendous political leverage that automakers have, they could keep the jobs here if they really wanted to. They will say they will go out of business, but that's excuses. Toyota and Honda and numerous other foreign companies have shown cars built by American labor is profitable by opening up factories left and right in this country. The real reason is Detroit and Dearborn are only interested in profit for their shareholders.

My daughter works at Chrysler part time and makes more than I do in a week working full time, which explains why our vehicles cost so much.

Allright! My daughter has to go for a 3 hour test for a full time job at the new Toyota plant in Woodstock, Ontario. I wonder if I should let her borrow my car that day????????

 

 

My daughter works at Chrysler part time and makes more than I do in a week working full time, which explains why our vehicles cost so much.

Allright! My daughter has to go for a 3 hour test for a full time job at the new Toyota plant in Woodstock, Ontario. I wonder if I should let her borrow my car that day????????

 

A Toyota would make a better first impression.

 

 

When Toyota entered the Craftsman series with the Tundra, the "good ol' boys" were in an uproar. How dare these Japs come in and invade our event. Well, Toyota is still racing their Tundras and doing well.

So, I am glad that they are entering NASCAR.

Personally, I have no interest in NASCAR (or the truck series). I prefer F1...

But its always nice to know.

I have been in the automotive industry for about 10yrs now, and the D3's falling is something that they have done to themselves.

Yes, the Japanese (and Korean) are doing well. Its because these companys work hard to create good product. (And Toyota is based in Toyota City, just outside of Nagoya. Tokyo has nothing to do with Toyota.)

I work with the D3 on a daily basis. All they want to do is slash our prices... by 10-15%. How are we supposed to turn a profit?! I can understand them asking for a cost reduction through cost cutting measures. But just telling us that we must reduce prices, or we will not be able to bid on any new business!...

Oops. sorry, ranting again...

ugh... its been a rough week (and its only wed!!)

tdk.

American automotive manufacturers must produce a reliable, dependable, and affordable product, in order to stay in the market.

American automotive manufacturers must produce a reliable, dependable, and affordable product, in order to stay in the market.

Yeah, but you can't produce a reliable, dependable car when you go to your parts manufacturers every other year and tell them to cut 10% off the cost of the part. It isn't like the profit margin on those parts is high to begin with and you are just trimming off fat. Every time a supplier has to reduce their cost, you get poorer quality parts. Poorer quality parts mean less reliable and dependable cars. Trimming parts cost isn't the answer to keep the costs down, neither is removing feature content from the cars. The answer is to not pay your labor their weight in gold.

The Japanese had it right when they said, "Quality is number one priority, build quality and people will pay for it."

The difference in cost is partially due to the fact that foreign labor is less expensive than in the U.S.

 

We have a higher standard of living here and that means people have to make more money to afford to live.

I agree with contour,

IMO, "foriegn labor cost" is not the issue.

According to Automotive News (Jan8, 07), 16.5million new vehicles were sold inthe US in 2006. 12.9million were made in North America. Just over 2million were made in Japan.

However, only 8.9million were made by the D3, while 5.8million were Japanese brands.

So, approx 3.8million (or 2/3) Toyotas, Nissans, Hondas, etc. were made in North America and sold in the US.

The majority of Japanese vehicles sold here are made here. The remaining 1/3 are built by Japanese plant workers, who make a decent living and are able to survive in Japan, which has one of the highest cost of living.

As for the "cheap foreign labor",

Our D3 customers will not even let us produce our parts for them in the US. They have told us that we MUST produce in China, or we will not be awarded the business. They have agreed to let us produce certain parts in Mexico, but not all.

When we moved to China, we were able to come up with a big one time cost savings due to the labor. In total, possibly over 10% (cheaper labor, but also had to invest a lot). But the D3 insist on the same kind of cost reduction every year. Its just not possible!

tdk.

Why GM does not file bankruptcy so that they can stop paying the retirees' benefit.

Why not? GM just lost $20 billion last year. They obviously can use some bankruptcy protection. Besides, GM has a army of lawyers and lobbyists orbiting lawmakers at all times that can convince 'em to do whatever GM wants.