Been there. Seen that. Best of luck to them.
Posted on 01/21/2007 6:57:00 PM PST by Lunatic Fringe
TOKYO (XFN-ASIA) - Toyota Motor Co is developing a radically different carmaking process that will drastically cut costs across the entire chain of production, President Katsuaki Watanabe said in an interview with the Financial Times.
'The focus is on low-cost technology,' Watanabe said. 'Everything from design to production methods will be radically changed and we are thinking of a really ultra-low-cost way of designing, using ultra-low-cost materials, even developing new materials if necessary.'
Watanabe said the company will review each step in the production process to lower costs for a new model and then to apply the lessons across its line-up.
Asked about the price of a car produced via the new process Watanabe said the company has a rough target of being 'at least' cheaper than the Renault Logan (currently $9,300).
Watanabe also denied media speculation that Toyota (nyse: TM - news - people ) is poised to strike a cooperation agreement with Ford, saying no specifics have been discussed.
Mexicans?
Well it sure won't involve union labor.
I'm sorry, I was wrong... the Renault Logan runs about $6100.
Cars Americans won't build?
More likely a mix of low-cost materials and automation.
Bring it on, I often think that new cars (especially low-end ones) are pretty grossly overpriced.
Been there. Seen that. Best of luck to them.
I might be able to afford a new car yet...
Better ... Wal-Mart.
" the company will review each step '
IOW, nothing's been done yet. My grandpa used to tell me I could stop reading newspaper articles when they started talking in the future tense. I think we have a case of that here, too.
Are they the hybrid partners? I thought it was another company.
Moving production to China?
The cheapest new Maruti 800 is about $4,000
...and Scott Adams pulls his punch again with a final panel that goes for the capillary. I sure miss his early sharpness.
This Toyota model:
Toyota Aygo
...Did very well in EuroNCAP new car crash testing and could easily do very well with the NHTSA crash tests. It could sell surprisingly well in the USA.
Umpa Lumpa's. They take payment in coco beans.
Maybe they will come in kits. Fun and educational for the whole family...
You buy a big crate and a 1000-page assembly manual.
In every industrial revolution, automation has beaten "cheap labor."
The printing press compared to hand-writing a book.
Look at the automated mill compared to hand-grinding corn. Then consider the cotton gin versus hand-picking out debris.
The assembly-line versus hand-building a car.
The Coke machine versus paying a guy to sell drinks on street corners.
The newspaper vending machine compared to paying a kid to sell papers on the sidewalk.
The PCB compared to hand-wiring a circuit board.
At each stage the quality improves, the speed increases, and the costs go down...yet at every instance the same Luddites lament that somehow unemployment will go up and that salaries and entire economies will go down.
It's a tiring pattern from that angle...yet exciting when correctly viewed as another instance of technology raising our living standards globally.
We are due for a vw of the new century...I'd love to see a no frills low dollar high mileage car.. with toyotas record of running 20 years. I don't car if it has air,a radio,just as long as it runs along time for a little money..
The big news from Toyota is that someday this will be big news?
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