Toyota managers pitch in by buying Toyota cars

m35mt....i thought i was the only one with this problem...i check the site once in a while and i log on about a week ago and im like WTF....this is all screwed up and i hate it...i wondered if it was my computer...guess not! HELP SOMEONE!!! I HATE THE NEW LAYOUT!!!

— skippee (View Profile)

Posted on 1/16/2009 3:34:40 PM | | Votes: 1   

If the foreign cars would be cheaper in Japan than they would maybe buy more foreign cars: "The Golf has been Japan’s number one import for aeons, but the 3-Series is now coming up in second place ... but imports of course come at a price: a Golf for less than £12K sounds amazing until you discover you can buy an Auris here for £7688…" http://www.autocar.co.uk/blogs/autocarconfidential/archive/2008/7/24/big-in-japan.aspx ----------------- "In Japan the new GT-R costs 7.7 million Yen (£31,000), while the new M3 costs around 12 million Yen (£48,000) and a Porsche 911 Turbo just under 20 million Yen (£80,000). Even the Corvette Z06 – previously the cheapest so-called supercar on sale in Japan – costs more than the new GT-R at a whisker under 9 million Yen (£36,000)." http://www.autocar.co.uk/blogs/autocarconfidential/archive/2007/12/05/nissan-gt-r-cheap-at-twice-the-price.aspx

— abcd (View Profile)

Posted on 1/15/2009 2:59:45 PM | | Votes: 1   

Isn't that what the Germans do too? (waiting for long list of data to be supplied by Turbospyder)

— _43LE (View Profile)

Posted on 1/15/2009 5:23:04 PM | | Votes: -2   

Nokia and Samsung do well selling their (I got it right this time BSBB) electronics around the world but they both had to pull out of Japan in the last year or so because the Japanese weren't buying their products.

— TurboSpyder (View Profile)

Posted on 1/15/2009 7:13:41 PM | | Votes: 2   

"because the Japanese weren't buying their products" Why?

— abcd (View Profile)

Posted on 1/16/2009 1:22:19 PM | | Votes: 1   

For the same reason Koreans don't buy many foreign products that compete against their homegrown ones. ---- Prospects for Globalization
Kim Yong-Hak
Professor of Sociology
Yonsei University
"About a century ago, Koreans waged a nationwide campaign to use domestic products in the face of an economic onslaught by foreign powers. This campaign has repeatedly been recalled by the local news media as a means of restoring the domestic economy whenever the country has suffered from economic recession, a drive that inevitably relies on nationalistic sentiment. Against this backdrop, a couple of years ago some newspapers carried a provocative advertisement of a foreign apparel manufacturer just when Koreans were experiencing a serious financial crisis and lining up to donate their gold to help boost the nation's foreign exchange reserves. The ad for FILA asked which of two companies contributed more to the Korean economy - a Korean firm that sets up a factory in a foreign country, employs foreign workers, and deposits its earnings in a foreign bank - or a foreign company that builds a factory in Korea, employs Korean workers, and deposits its earnings in a Korean bank? This thought-provoking ad, squarely defying an environment in which the purchase of a foreign item is often regarded as unpatriotic, underlined a marked decline in the traditional notion of national boundaries and its diminishing relevance to a nation's economic interests."

— TurboSpyder (View Profile)

Posted on 1/16/2009 2:08:24 PM | | Votes: 2   

Koreans aren't Japanese. Do Japanese have any tax barriers on foreign cars like Europeans have.

— abcd (View Profile)

Posted on 1/16/2009 3:09:40 PM | | Votes: 1   

"an environment in which the purchase of a foreign item is often regarded as unpatriotic"

— TurboSpyder (View Profile)

Posted on 1/16/2009 6:14:04 PM | | Votes: 2   

In Korea, not Japan. What about European import barriers on Japan made cars?

— abcd (View Profile)

Posted on 1/17/2009 10:47:12 AM | | Votes: -1   

I am aware of only two car markets in the world where the domestic manufacturers have 95%+ market share - South Korea and Japan. Do you know of any others? Can you list them?

— TurboSpyder (View Profile)

Posted on 1/18/2009 12:13:26 PM | | Votes: 1   

Are there any tax barriers on import cars in Japan? Like for example in Germany where they have tax barriers - 10%.

— abcd (View Profile)

Posted on 1/21/2009 12:18:54 PM | | Votes: 1   

Their too diverse to think that way. A mixed up America gives every group something to hate about the country.

— TurboSpyder (View Profile)

Posted on 1/15/2009 2:32:56 PM | | Votes: 0   

Turbo...."they're", not "their". And, anybody who hates the USA can get the hell out!

— BSBB (View Profile)

Posted on 1/15/2009 2:39:00 PM | | Votes: 2   

BSBB GM is selling worldwide very similar number of cars as Toyota so we can conclude that number of sales isn't main reason of GM financial problems. The same about Ford.

— abcd (View Profile)

Posted on 1/15/2009 2:52:04 PM | | Votes: 3   

ABCD...I am thinking more in terms of units manufactured and sold here in the USA. I am not crazy about GM autos being manufactured in Mexico and elsewhere outside of the US, and then imported into the US for sale. At the end of the day, I would like to see the UAW eliminated and auto worker wages/benefits commensurate with job responsibilities, which I believe will provide more incentive for GM (and Ford) to bring manufacturing jobs back to the US. More jobs means more prospective car buyers. And, it would help if GM and Ford vehicles improved in quality and style.

— BSBB (View Profile)

Posted on 1/15/2009 3:24:58 PM | | Votes: 2   

BSBB, you're of course correct.

— TurboSpyder (View Profile)

Posted on 1/15/2009 7:09:19 PM | | Votes: 1   

BimmerMike...Why don't you hold onto your cars for longer than 3 years? if you trade them in after 2 or 3 years, then you probably did not make an intelligent buying decision in the first place.

— BSBB (View Profile)

Posted on 1/16/2009 2:19:51 PM | | Votes: 1   

These are midlevel managers, management isn't a part of the UAW.

— 91z4me (View Profile)

Posted on 1/15/2009 10:19:24 PM | | Votes: 2   

good question.

toyota actually employs UAW folk in their fremont, calif. plant. maybe the quality of worker output is related to MANAGEMENT style?

— XYZZ (View Profile)

Posted on 1/16/2009 6:54:26 AM | | Votes: 1   

"... they probably all owned Toyotas before and could've held onto them for another year or two."

actually, more like they could've held on to them for another 5 - 10 years. most mfgrs' vehicles reach a rate of 100 problems/100 vehicles after 5 years. fords, not until 7 years. toyotas, all of 17 years. a HUGE POOL of toyota owners remain untapped new car buyers, just because the cars LAST so long.

— XYZZ (View Profile)

Posted on 1/16/2009 7:17:14 AM | | Votes: 0