Toyota's Problems, Commentary

     For the past four months or so I've been having this conversation with my Grandson about his idea of a good quality car. In his opinion,Toyota makes the best cars, both in reliability and craftsmanship. He also feels that all American car companies make junk, especially Ford, he and his friends are saying, buy a Ford, drive it a mile and it will break down. With this, he sent me on a campaign to prove him wrong. First off, he's only 17, just received his drivers license, so any opinion he has comes from someone else, not of his own experience.

    My response to all of his pronouncements is this, if man designed it, manufactured it, built it, then it will fail at some point in time. Sometimes the failure is designed in, not intentional, just that men make mistakes. Other times there is a hidden flaw in the process. Just that no matter what, failure is inevitable at some point in time.

     I've not spoken to him since Toyota's recall, I'm waiting for all the news to digest in before we have our conversation. I will only be looking for his feelings on the subject. Like some Toyota owners, this recall will not make a difference, unless it effects them personally.

     My grandson is the reason for this Blog, in fact it was his suggestion that I do this, since I spoke so passionately about the American Car Industry. The fact that Japan didn't just suddenly know how to make cars, but that it was American's that taught them and help build their automotive industry. Schools today fail to teach the history of Japan after the wars end. How the US was actually spending money to rebuild the country, with even a US Army General as acting Governor of Japan. Instead of Japan thanking us, they snub their noses and flood our automotive market with cheap automobiles. The main reason Japan has out sold American Car Companies, is in the beginning they sold at a loss to gain market share, once that was accomplished they began to flood the US market, while their government restricted the import of US cars into Japan, and it is till that way today. It is a rare sight to see an American car on the roads of Japan.

    The time has come for Americans to support American Automobile Manufacturing by buying American, as I've told my grandson, for every Asian car out there, there is an American equivalent, or even better for the money. To say that American cars are not as good as Asian cars  is no longer a good argument, never has been. Today American car companies are making the same category of cars as the Asian manufacturers, with an exception, you can still buy that big American car that the Asian's do not offer, you know the ones made just for the American market, the Lincoln Town car, or the Mercury Grand Marque are two examples.

    Let me talk about the Cash for Clunkers debacle, it would appear that those of you who traded in so called clunkers, if you traded for a Toyota, you traded in for a clunker, now what do you do? It was my feeling all along that the Cash for Clunkers program should have had a stipulation that they trade in for American cars only. After all it was American tax payer dollars being handed out, then there would've been a less likely hood for the bailout of both GM and Chrysler. Now there is talk about doing it all over again, I only hope that it is handled differently, that more support be given to American Car Companies, where the dollars should go.

     I will step down from my soap box for now, tomorrow I will give my grand son a call and let him know that I now have this blog up, maybe he will give me some positive feed back, one can only hope.

Chil's Ride's

Just a Question

     I've had this recurring question in my thoughts once I saw the factories of Honda, Hyundai, and Toyota either being constructed or up and running in the Mid-West. Here is the question, how is it possible for these companies to be building and opening plants here in America, while the US Automakers are closing plants? In my view we are now the third world country when it comes to the auto industry. Think about it; for over fifty years the auto industry here was the it, the then big five dominated the would of cars, now there are only three.  struggling for  market share. Of Course there are a myriad number of opinions has to how and the why. Here's my take on it, we have to go back to the year 1974, OPEC was formed, they immediately froze the sale of oil to the US, the result was long lines at the gas pumps, odd and even days for buying fuel. Now the big American cars were not looking so good, Asian cars were smaller and cheaper, gradually Americans began to purchase them, now in a big way.

     The real reason is the Detroit Automakers themselves, when I studied business we were taught we should have a one year, two year, five year, ten year, and if you are large enough a 25 year plan. Be aware of market trends, be flexible enough to respond in a timely manner. Some of you out there may remember this car from the 1960's, here is what Chevy had to say about it;

"The 1960 model year Chevrolet Corvair featured GM’s first air-cooled engine since the ill-fated "copper-cooled" model of the 1920s and was its first car with the engine placed in the rear. Often maligned and somewhat controversial in its day, it also marked the beginning of new lineups of smaller cars among all GM’s U.S. brands.
(source: GM)"

     What went wrong here, simple, they did not listen to the people who were saying "don't change it, just fix it". Instead GM changed it, made it bigger, moved the engine to the front, put a water cooled v8 in some models. I think this one is a good choice as a retro brand with today's new technology. I'll just mention a few more failures then we can move on to better days. You tell me what you think of these, the Chevy Vega, Pontiac Sunbird, similar to the Vega, Ford Pinto, Ford Falcon, and one iteration of the Mustang that made no sense at all for 1974.

    I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts as to what is happening with the US Automakers

    Thank you for your reading;

    Chill's Rides