Lets see.
Toyota plus Chevrolet = Toylet?
Toyota plus Chevrolet = Toylet?
Toyota and GM to merge?
- Thread starter LTVibe
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It must be lonely, all by itself
I can't see GM & Toyota merging. You'll have Toyota (one of the worlds best run companies) and GM (one of the poorest). This doesn't make sence to me. Both Toyota and GM make good cars/trucks, but the way the companies are operated is entirerly different. GM wants to know "How much money can we make on each model" and Toyota wants to know "How much of the market share can we take over". Toyota is also one of the worlds manufacturing standards by which other manufacturing companies measure themselves. Not only do other automobile manufacturing companies measure themselves against Toyota,... 3M, Eastman Kodak, Johnson & Johnson and many other manufacturing companies producing entirely different products, measure themselves against Toyota. Toyota is a wonderfully operated company form the top management down to the assembly line. Toyota keep tight tabs on the parts that are outsourced as well as the parts made in house. The specs on parts made are much tighter and the failure rate for parts is some of the lowest in the industry. (Buttons, swithchs, motors, relays and on and on). Not that they don't have some issues,(sludging engines and auto tranny failures), it's just that they are quicker to make fixes or to extend warrantys until the problems get fixed. They're not perfect, but, look at the market share they they have grabbed while building a very good product.
There's also a lot of naysayers where the Chrysler / Mercedes merger was concerned, but let's face it....Daimler Chrysler is making far better American cars than Chrysler alone ever did. Moving to larger RWD platforms has catapulted their sales figures and done a lot for their image. SRT is kicking *** as well. Toyota isn't AS likely to make such drastic changes as more RWD cars in the stable, as FWD seems to be as much of a bad habit in Japan as it is at GM. But there's no denying that there is some very forward thinking at Toyota as far as design and engineering. Toyota is already accustomed to helping out GM with quality and content (see Geo Prism and Toyota Corolla twins of yesteryear) and it's a current event at Pontiac...perhaps Toyota has become enough of a world financial powerhouse to take on GMs financial woes and bring them back from near death. What I don't think anyone has to worry about is Toyota coming in and making drastic changes to GMs strong nameplates. No, they won't be messing with the Vette...but GMs midsize sedan lineup needs a helping hand. GM would be crazy not to welcome some ingenuity considering their recent creations such as the Aztek, and minivans that languish on dealership floors while Chrysler and Honda can't make enough of them.
CBD,
Good point! Only time will tell on the DC merger. Chrysler always seems to gain a little ground as a new product line up appear with what could be the best styling in the industry and strong performance in the engine department, then they loose that ground all over again when customers can't seem to keep their Chrysler Autos out of the shop,(warranty work or otherwise). Lets hope for the best for the demeston auto industry. We built some really nice cars/trucks for the way we drive and use our vehicles in this country and there is certainly enough verity of towing/hauling, luxury , performance or both to go around. We need to get down to business and start building the world best. In some cases we already do. Now we must continue!
Good point! Only time will tell on the DC merger. Chrysler always seems to gain a little ground as a new product line up appear with what could be the best styling in the industry and strong performance in the engine department, then they loose that ground all over again when customers can't seem to keep their Chrysler Autos out of the shop,(warranty work or otherwise). Lets hope for the best for the demeston auto industry. We built some really nice cars/trucks for the way we drive and use our vehicles in this country and there is certainly enough verity of towing/hauling, luxury , performance or both to go around. We need to get down to business and start building the world best. In some cases we already do. Now we must continue!
Maybe GM/Toyota have more in common than we thought. Here is a quote from today's CarConnection headlines:
TheCarConnection Headlines
Presumably, before the words "anti-trust" are mentioned.
Some other people on this forum have suggested that GM's problem is that they don't make fuel-efficient vehicles. That really isn't true, but the point is, fuel efficiency is a concern and is more so now than ever with gas at about $3/gallon and no signs of dropping much. I wonder how continued high gasoline prices are going to affect sales of Chrysler's larger RWD vehicles?
GM doesn't need to merge with anyone. Not Toyota, and not Nissan/Renault. GM's problems are caused by managment's philosophy. GM only needs to change management personnel by replacing them with people who have the type of philosophy that Toyota, for example, has. Instead of letting the company be run by number crunching MBA's whose primary focus is on maximizing profit, GM should let the company be run by people with backgrounds in design, engineering, and sales. Then, GM should gear its long term goals towards building high quality, attractive, competitively priced, vehicles and gaining market share.
I thought GM and Toyota have worked extensively in the past? Last model Chevy Nova is one example, and GM Delco radios in the Toyota Matrix (in Canada anywayz) is another, Pontiac Vibe = Matrix, etc... I think their affair has been on and off for a couple of decades now, no?
GM has gotten their feet wet in the pools of Suzuki, Toyota and Isuzu since the late 80's, to some degree of success. Geo was the product of these cooperations, but as you know Geo is no more.
GMs big problem is that they have some old-world thinkers in upper management, and those geezers are telling the accountants how to squeeze every penny out of the cars they produce. What they didn't count on was the design staff screwing them over with the likes of the Aztek, and some recent designs on the Malibu and Malibu Maxx, not to mention the 'angry old lady' nose they put on the Silverado pickups. Lack of public desire has forced them to sell their vehicles at deep discounts, which negates anything saved by the miserly bean counters. At the very least, they're gonna have to clean house in the executive office AND in the design departments and continue down the path that the Saturn Sky / Pontiac Solstice twins are taking them. It's been a LONG LONG time since I had such a burning desire to own an American car, and even more suprising is that I desire a Saturn. Hopefully the old guys upstairs will put on their bi-focals and take note of what's taken place recently in the design studio and realize that's partially where their success lies. They were almost on the right track at Oldsmobile before they ran that division into the ground...they better wake up soon before a company like Toyota makes a hostile takeover.
GMs big problem is that they have some old-world thinkers in upper management, and those geezers are telling the accountants how to squeeze every penny out of the cars they produce. What they didn't count on was the design staff screwing them over with the likes of the Aztek, and some recent designs on the Malibu and Malibu Maxx, not to mention the 'angry old lady' nose they put on the Silverado pickups. Lack of public desire has forced them to sell their vehicles at deep discounts, which negates anything saved by the miserly bean counters. At the very least, they're gonna have to clean house in the executive office AND in the design departments and continue down the path that the Saturn Sky / Pontiac Solstice twins are taking them. It's been a LONG LONG time since I had such a burning desire to own an American car, and even more suprising is that I desire a Saturn. Hopefully the old guys upstairs will put on their bi-focals and take note of what's taken place recently in the design studio and realize that's partially where their success lies. They were almost on the right track at Oldsmobile before they ran that division into the ground...they better wake up soon before a company like Toyota makes a hostile takeover.
I thought Toyota was in the process of buying out GM? If they can make a Japanese Corvette perhaps this is a good thing?
Mil surplus French rifles are the best though. Never fired and only dropped once.
The Japanese build sports cars that have merit all their own, but they don't need to be messing with a classic American sports car with roots extending to the 1950's. I'm usually the last one to put forth a voice against progress, but I personally think GM has done a fine job honing the Vette into a world class car that undercuts all others on price. I'm not sure if the Japanese would be attaining progress by adding their own touch to the Vette, but IMO they'd certainly dilute it's heritage.
Looks like the Japanese are learning well from the Americans.
They certainly learned something about incentives.
I was looking at the local Saturday newspaper, and the local Toyota dealer was advertising large discounts on the whole pickup truck/suv line, and zero per cent to cut rate interest on passenger car models with modest $500 rebates for boot.
They’ve been in bed together for quite a while now. Glad to see someone is finally buying a ring.
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