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Can Toyota handle being number 1? - READ ONLY

161 messages,  Last post on Nov 16, 2007 at 7:39 AM

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What is this discussion about? Toyota

Messages Page 17 of 17

#152 of 161 Re: Are Toyota's recent quality problems just a glitch? [imidazol97] by rockylee

Oct 28, 2007 (2:54 pm)

Replying to: imidazol97 (Oct 28, 2007 8:31 am)
I hear ya. I hope to be in the market for a quality, inexpensive used vehicle soon but lots of variables in my life will affect that outcome.
 
It will indeed be interesting to see how all this turns out for Toyota.
 
-Rocky

#153 of 161 Re: carguy58... [iluvmysephia1] by tlong

Oct 28, 2007 (6:28 pm)

Replying to: iluvmysephia1 (Oct 28, 2007 10:36 am)
It[Daihatsu] does not appear to be a new car option any more though here in these United States.
 
Perhaps that's due to the brilliant marketing that caused them to name their main vehicle the "Charade". Something that means circus. Not a good connotation for a car.
 
"I drive a Charade..."

#154 of 161 Daihatsu may sound like they're a charade of by iluvmysephia1

Oct 28, 2007 (6:42 pm)

a car manufacturer, but, and it's not that big of a butt, their reputation is not at all that bad. My workmate's 3-door hatch looked light and is a perfect candidate to have a 5-speed manual installed straight-from-the-factory for maximum fun and enjoyment.
 
That car looked so small and light that it's mpg would have had to be 40+ mpg. It looks smaller than nippon's Echo, which nets him 42 mpg at least IIRC. To me that is a rig worth considering, taking in to account the fact that the ghas-to-leeny futures traders have dug lining their pockets with our money in an artificial manner for years. And when you read that the oil companies are reaping profits in to the billions of dollars then you're paying probably $2.00/gallon more than you should be for ghast-o-leee-nnnyy.
 
In that respect Diahatsu is not a Charade. Now, there's probably about as much a chance I'll buy a Charade as there is that Britney Spears won't do something horribly stupid in the last two months of 2007. So I will most definitely never experience the joys of Diahatsu in my car life.

#155 of 161 Re: carguy58... [iluvmysephia1] by carguy58

Oct 29, 2007 (3:23 pm)

Replying to: iluvmysephia1 (Oct 28, 2007 10:36 am)
"I'm not in the new car market now at all but I'd look at a GM product or Ford or Saturn or Chrysler(with the great new Lifetime Powertrain Warranty)and their new Dodge Hornet possibly out by the end of '08 now(built by Chery of China) before I looked at a new Toyota."
 
Chrysler has nothing that interests me really right now and I would not be intersted in a car like the Hornet. I have owned a 1998 Mazda 626 LX 4 cyl auto, a 2002 Acura CL(Base), and now a 2007 Mazda 6i sport value edition, I just don;t like compact cars. I rented a Chevy Cobalt after I totaled the Acura and before I got the Mazda 6 and it just not the cars(the Cobalt I am referring too) that I am used to driving. A car like the Hornet is a class/segment below of what I usually look at when I am buying a car.
 
Gm is starting to builds some good cars though I'll agree with you Gm warrants a look these days if they have the car that you are looking for that is. Ford is alot more miss for me than hit these days as far as product goes to me.

#156 of 161 the Charade by nippononly

Oct 29, 2007 (8:49 pm)

was a dumb name for the U.S. market, but the car itself was a real bargain for basic transport. Cheap to buy and ultra-reliable, not to mention pulling 40s for mpg.
 
I wonder if they still make them for the JDM. I should check that out some time. And yes, Daihatsu is a subsidiary of Toyota. They would hav made it here if they had had other models, I think.
 
Look at the Charade's contemporaries: the Festiva and the Metro. Kia still sells cars here but never the model the Festiva was based on. Likewise, Suzuki still sells cars here, but not the Swift the Metro was based on. There was a time for cars like that, but then the market demanded more from ALL the cars sold here, including the lower-end, no-frills models.
 
Speculation is surfacing here and there that Press and Farley were facing heat from above for the dilution of product quality that occured in the '00s when they worked so hard to rapidly expand market share. And having to spill $3000-4000 on every new Tundra sold all year just to launch the new model (which was supposed to compete on its own merits) probably wasn't all that popular either...
 
Just a few years after the launch of the Scion brand, the company already finds itself in the position of having to find its way back to the brand's roots. I fear that exploration will not find its target now that Press and Farley are gone.
 
Toyota's struggles right now demonstrate amply just how difficult it is to shine or stand out in such a saturated market.

#157 of 161 BTW I was reading Road and Track by iluvmysephia1

Oct 29, 2007 (10:21 pm)

and they had an article about a new subcompact Toyota is working on that is FWD and a 2-door. They are billing it as a simple, sporty little car that will be built well and give good gas mileage. It is about 3 years off still. But this new car under development is being built to attract young people to the Toyota brand. No mention of Scion in this small article I read!
 
The picture shows what looked to me to be a small Supra, with that same overall design, sporty and solid looking. Really a fairly attractive car. But I found it interesting that it was not being called a Scion but a Toyota.

#158 of 161 Targeting gets to be a headache by steve_ HOST

Nov 15, 2007 (11:41 am)

"After the Sequoia was introduced Wednesday, an environmental activist with a video camera approached Toyota's general manager for U.S. sales, Bob Carter, and asked why the company won't withdraw from a lawsuit against California, which has sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to establish tougher fuel economy rules.
 
Carter refused to answer and knocked the camera out of Brent Olson's hands. Olson, of San Francisco-based Rainforest Action Network, was eventually led away by two policemen."
 
Toyota targeted by environmentalists at car show (CNN Money)
 
The citizens of Fresno aren't too thrilled with Toyota's recent ad campaign either.

#159 of 161 Re: Targeting gets to be a headache [steve_] by gagrice

Nov 15, 2007 (5:14 pm)

Replying to: steve_ (Nov 15, 2007 11:41 am)
San Francisco-based Rainforest Action Network
 
Is this another ELF type group of wackos? Someone posted a website of theirs here. They are acting like they want to build their own plug-in hybrid. Why don't they do it instead of harassing the automakers.
 
I see a real civil war brewing between the people and these far left extremist groups. They go around destroying property and would like to take away what many have worked hard to attain.

#160 of 161 Re: Targeting gets to be a headache [gagrice] by lemko

Nov 16, 2007 (7:15 am)

Replying to: gagrice (Nov 15, 2007 5:14 pm)
Yeah, like burning Hummers on car lots. Burning those Hummers probably produced more air pollution than those vehicles would've produced had they run 20+ years.

#161 of 161 Re: Targeting gets to be a headache [lemko] by gagrice

Nov 16, 2007 (7:39 am)

Replying to: lemko (Nov 16, 2007 7:15 am)
ELF burned a $20 million dollar condominium complex here in San Diego. I thought the environmentalist groups wanted us to be jammed together in the cities. I am sure the pollution from burning one tire is more than the average vehicle puts out in a lifetime.
 
I am no Toyota fan, and believe their so called green image is phony. However they do have a right to build and sell whatever is legal in the USA. It is the EPA & CARB these wacko groups should target. They add so many restrictions that it makes it difficult for the automakers to keep up with the changes. Our lack of fuel efficient vehicles lies squarely on the back of the EPA and CARB.

Messages Page 17 of 17

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