Posted on 06/04/2009 5:30:27 AM PDT by CSM
It might be a bad day for GM but it’s a much worse one for Toyota. Really. The days (decades, really) of weak domestic manufacturers shooting themselves in the foot with bad design, poor assembly, and non-existent customer satisfaction in passenger cars are coming to an end. Toyota didn’t have to outrun the bear, it just had to stay ahead of GM, Ford, and Chrysler. Years of producing huge profits in North America hit the wall for Toyota in 2009, and they’re likely not to return. Ever. The game has now changed—and it’s not good for Toyota.
Thanks to US and Canadian taxpayer support, GM and Chrysler are about to get a new start. They’ll enjoy fresh balance sheets, with minimized legacy liabilities and serious money earmarked for new products. (The taxpayers are paying for Fiat to develop cars for North America; you didn’t really think that the Italians would take this risk on their own did you?) Ford, by dint of luck or smart management, borrowed what it needed years ago to make the transformation outside of court oversight.
By the end of this year, all three Detroit automakers will be restructured, resized to match production with demand, and re-energized. They will reenter the market as the lowest cost producers inside the U.S. market, with slimmer, trimmer product lines. These automakers are getting ever-closer to 100 percent capacity utilization.
Looking at product, Ford’s passenger car line up just keeps getting better. The 2010 Taurus looks hot, the Fiesta test drive campaign is generating good press with the Twitter/Facebook crowd, and a new Euro Focus will be here in a two years. Slowly but surely, more Americans are considering a Ford passenger vehicle. Its trucks still lead the category and will continue to do so. Better products, increasing quality, and slowly increasing market share is building FoMoCo momentum.
GM’s go forward brands—Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac—still have some vehicles that don’t cut the mustard with consumers. But the balance is starting to tip back towards the positive. The Malibu and Camaro represent some better efforts. The gorgeous new Buick Lacrosse might give the new Taurus a run for the money. Cadillac will extend the CTS line and bring a new SRX to the market shortly. The Corvette still leads the pack in dollar performance value. And maybe, just maybe, the Cruze and Viva will live up to GM hype machine.
GM’s perhaps two to three years behind Ford with its product development cycle. But it can now concentrate on fewer models. Recent successful launches suggest that GM just needs time to plug the holes for the weak sisters. It now has the money to do so and you can bet (if you’re taxpayer, you already have) that the efforts on fuel efficient passenger cars will receive the bulk of the dollar spend. GM won’t abandon trucks (no matter what Nancy Pelosi thinks) and volume wise, GM leads.
Chrysler can’t do anything under their new pasta-fed management until the re-tooled imports arrive here for production two years hence. Its cars still (mostly) suck, except for the higher-performance versions of its LX cars. But it isn’t going away and will still find some buyers for its products at the pace of the recent past. So this company will just hang on . . . and on . . . and on.
Now, stop and think about this. What has Toyota done for you lately? Is there one single passenger car from Toyota that excites you?
Let’s keep the new Prius out of this discussion for the moment; it’s not a car for drivers but techno-geeks and greens mostly with excitement provided by the fuel gauge, not vehicle dynamics. The Camry might lead the C/D class in sales for now, but will this continue? What happens when Americans actually consider a Malibu or Fusion-based product instead? In terms of design appeal, the Camry looks dowdy or boring (take your pick) and its reliability isn’t any better than the Fusion. Put a four-cylinder EcoBoost engine in that Fusion and Ford wins.
Go through the rest of Toyota’s passenger car line up and compare each vehicle to the current and near future offerings from GM and Ford. The question is: will Toyota customers do the same?
Toyota (or Honda) products have been the default choice. That “Easy Button” is starting to get harder to press for buyers. Yep, Americans will begin to come back to consider Detroit products (at least GM and Ford), and that’s not good for Toyota. And we’ve really never left Detroit for our big pickups and SUVs, whle the Japanese are still mostly playing catch up.
Yep, it’s a bad day for Toyota and a great day for America. You can look forward to a new Detroit that will be competitive, if not lead, in cars and trucks for mass market Americans. Count on it.
I don’t agree with this analysis. I’ll consider buying a Ford, but I will never buy another GM car, out of principle.
Toyota (and Honda) have a lot of good will built up, for the good quality cars they have been producing. It will not be an easy matter for GM to take their customers away.
Jeannine
There’s zero change I’ll buy a GM or Chrysler car in the next ten years, and probably ever.
who are they kidding.... Toyota, BMW, Honda, KIA, and others are celebrating. They know the US governments adventure will fail.
Toyota and Honda have been totally QUIET on the issue, but I imagine that they are NOT afraid of a company run by the UAW and the US Government.
What they ARE afraid of is the Gov’ts next logical steps to help GM/Chrysler - limits on imports, forced unionization of Toyota/Honda US plants, political interference of all kinds.
ROTFLMAO! How much did GM pay this public school graduate lackey to crank out this piece of excrement? LOL!
—you have hit the nail on its “card-check” head-—
That Fusion is one ugly car. Boring beats ugly.
UAW crap!
Dead on. Fox news interviewed the head sales guy for Toyota/Lexus on tv a couple of weeks ago. This guy was about to pee in his pants he was so excited on the current goings on.
The government mandate for immediate higher fuel efficiency may mean that many popular US models and especially pick-up trucks will quickly become extinct and replaced with costly glorified golf carts that lack both practicality and market appeal. Bureaucrats and committees that now run GM and Chrysler may also be very insensitive to customer service and quality. I can't imagine union workers in a government run auto business will have any more concern about quality than do union workers in the US postal service.
For these reasons I see GM and Chrysler will not survive and US auto buyers will flock to buy more affordable, practical and better built cars from makers like Toyota and Hyundai.
This article is laughable. People won’t buy ANY new cars if they are unemployed or fear they may soon be. It doesn’t matter how good the new model cars look or drive.
I have my Ford 98 F-150 and as long as I own a truck it will be a Ford. I also have a 02 Taurus and a 07 Camry Hybrid. Love the Hybrid. Drove it to Dover (NASCAR) and back and got 40+ MPG round trip. The Fusion Hybrid looks like a better choice than the Camry right now because they set the all electric at 47 vs 45 in the Camry. All things being equal, it all comes down to service. My Toyota dealer wins that hands down. No contest. In fact, I take my Fords to the Toyota dealer for service now.
Yep, it’s a bad day for Toyota and a great day for America. You can look forward to a new Detroit that will be competitive, if not lead, in cars and trucks for mass market Americans. Count on it.
ROFLMAO!!!!!!
Oh yeah, Toyota is quaking in their boots....NOT
I understand a lot of car enthusiasts get excited about styling, horse power, etc. Perhaps Toyota has boring designs but in my opinion most Americans, especially families, want a reliable car to get from point A to point B with reasonable comfort. The styling and other superficial traits is icing on the cake. Toyota and Honda deliver that type of car while GM and Chrysler cannot even get that first step right and never will now they are part of Obama-UAW Inc.
I’ve had nothing against Japanese cars — but this conservative family has bought new American cars for the last few years (Jeep, Cadillac and Chevrolet Suburban.) They have just fit our need for space, comfort and safety, and we have been satisfied overall with quality. Every liberal I know drives foreign, and I agree with you that this move to nationalize GM and Chrysler will not entice them to change their ways.
To quote Scarlett O’Hara, “as God as my witness, I’ll never buy GM or Chrysler again!” I’ll be curious as to who will actually trust these ventures (and the government). The author of this article is nuts if he thinks GM and Chrysler are now more attractive! To whom?
My brother-in-law has a 2006 Malibu. I have a 2003 Toyota.
OH MY GOSH. The fender guard strips as peeling off the Malibu, the doors creak when opening/closing.
Toyota still in tip top condition.
My Toyota Sienna minivan is a wonderful car. It has style, it has all the minivan features, and it handles better than any other car I’ve driven.
I don’t think I’ll ever buy another GM car.
By the end of this year, all three Detroit automakers will be restructured, resized to match production with demand, and re-energized. They will reenter the market as the lowest cost producers inside the U.S. market, with slimmer, trimmer product lines. These automakers are getting ever-closer to 100 percent capacity utilization.
This may or may not come about in reality but if it does it will surely give them a head start. When as an example GM with debt of $172 billion and assest of $82.5 billion and closes or dismantles 14 plants and gets a fresh start then the ability to meet customer demands/requirements in vehicle design, etc is at their door step. Can they do it is the big question to be answered in some 2-3 years out in the future.
Would I buy a car from the Chicoms? You bet I would if it were well-made.
The “Chicoms” are to the right of the U.S. now.
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