[Iris7]

"For the life of me I don't know why GM and Ford can't compete against Honda and Toyota."

Well, the biggest reason is that the Japanese of the generation now retiring were extraordinarily hungry. Hungry for the wealth, the manufacturing prowess, and the respect of America. The Japanese are still driven by this desire for respect.

Another reason, in the case of Toyota's Prius, is that the battery and charging system is a major achievement. My own estimate is that Matshusta Electric (Panasonic) spent well over a billion dollars developing this technology. General Motors would have to pay for such an investment out of it's own resources. In Japan things don't work like that.

Toyota is selling the Prius at a very big loss. Tens of thousands of dollars. The development costs were incurred by Panasonic. Who actually loaned the money or bought the stock to supply the cash is unknown. Japanese banks carry an incredible amount of bad loans on the books.

[skeeter]

Who actually loaned the money or bought the stock to supply the cash is unknown.

Used to be that the bank at the top of the manufacturer's keiretsu would underwrite the R&D... isn't Toyota's Mitsui Bank?