Toyota Nation

[Saabaru]

With Japanese car company's taking over the U.S. market, and now leading the NASCAR Nationwide series. Is there any hope for the big three? :confused:

[Jonesi]

First, participation or winning in racing has never made the difference between success or failure in the showroom. The quality has to be in the street cars or it won't matter.
GM has been losing 1% of their market for over 40 years, and under 20% now and still falling. Just about every management decission, ad campaign or new car, tells me they really deserve to be out of business. They don't sell a single car I would be interested in buying, their seating ergonomics is off for me. I'm 6'4" but would be comfortable in most Japanese sports cars, sport coupes or mid size sedans. even some of the econoboxes too. I have a friend who's involved with Saturn PR, he's said from the beginning the rest of GM has tried to destroy everything that was new/different/better with Saturn and make it just like the old GM. The problems aren't with their labor force or unions (although I don't think the ever went on strike to build a better car;-) it's management. Unless they replace almost all of management and change their hiring practices, GM is doomed.

Over the last 30 years, Ford sometimes seems to get it and is improving and then they revert back business as usual. If any US car company survives 20-30 years from now they have the best chance.

Chrysler/Dodge, Lee Iacocca did a near impossible turn around, but it wasn't enough. Didn't get the quality up enough, and some of the dealer crap wasn't cleaned out.
I don't know about their current management. Thought their deal with Mercedes was an equal parnership. Current owners probably don't have the $, knowledge or the time to fix it right.

[Alexamateo]

A friend of mine is in the auto business, working on the dealership side in the parts/repair business. He worked for years for GM/Chevrolet, but went over to Toyota 3-4 years ago. He says the mentality between the two companies is completely different.

At GM for example, when they're dealing with a vendor, they'll say, "We need 500,000 alternators this year, we know that 10% are going to fail in the warrantee period, If you replace those for free, you've got our business."

At Toyota, they say, "We don't want our alternators to ever fail." Now, It's an imperfect world of course, and some alternators do fail, but the attitude and goals are completely different.

[Lee Roy]

I bought my first Japanese car last fall, an Infiniti, after a lifetime of Ford's, Buicks, and Chrysler products.

Oh man, I love this Infiniti.

[harvick#1]

I went with a Mitsubishi after driving Chevy's, and man that Mitsu is an awesome machine, plus its the Evo's little sister and handles like a Rally car :D

[Hoss Ghoul]

Domestic manufacturers did/have fallen behind in several key areas, but on the whole(aka: as things stand now), they get a bad rap. Check the JD Power Associates ratings, customer satisfaction, etc...they rate much higher than their general perception would indicate.

As far as it relates to NASCAR though....well, Toyota is still far from dominant. Did you see what GM did last year? Or over the last couple of decades for that matter? Check back in at least 5-10 years. Then tell me they own Cup racing.

In my opinion Gibbs would be just as dominant with a Dodge, Chevy, or Ford. They are just a good team, period. Outside of Gibbs, Toyota is no better than woeful Dodge. Given, they have improved, notably Red Bull, but they are far from dominant. Kyle Busch could well be this year-or two's-Ryan Newman....Remember him? He won every pole and a ton of races for a stretch there....where is he now?

Keep it in mind is all I'm saying.

For what its worth, I drive an LS1 Camaro(beast engine around a mediocre car, albeit with tons of grip)...and an old Porsche 924S(slow, but a beautiful handling machine). Most car companies make a couple of really great vehicles, you just have to know your stuff.

[Rollo]

In terms of merchandise sales, GM, Ford and Chrysler don't really have to worry a lot. Ford and GM could very easily switch product lines in the short terms with grey and parallel imports (note what GM do with Saturn), and Chrysler could re-tool their lines to develop new product.
Car makers have survived oil crises before, this new one is a blip.

Where Ford and especially GM hurt is through pension plans that they have to honour. GM in particular never bothered to save the money but had hoped to pay out pensions on the back of future sales. That "future" is now today and sales are generally falling.

That's more of a structural problem more than a direct market failure and has very little to do with the production of motor cars.

[oldhippie]

With Japanese car company's taking over the U.S. market, and now leading the NASCAR Nationwide series. Is there any hope for the big three? :confused:
toyota builds a good product and the big 3 need to do better
i would not be alarmed cause nascar will be making changes soon imo

[Haulin'AssAndTurnin Left]

I have always thought Jap cars were very soulless design wise. Which is why ive not had one.

Im a muscle car guy, im restoring a 65 mustang and my father has an '06 Mustang GT. As far as my dads concerned its the best car you can buy for the money. not perfect by anymeans. but it handles our roads here in the UK very well. with a few mods we have about 330hp. Its fun, looks great and no doubt will last a long time. As for Smiles per Miles its way up there. And for long trips your looking at inbetween 25-30MPG, thats better that a Mini Cooper S.

[Saabaru]

I went with a Mitsubishi after driving Chevy's, and man that Mitsu is an awesome machine, plus its the Evo's little sister and handles like a Rally car :D

I got the pleasure of driving an EVO 8 with over 400Whp. Very Nice!!! :eek:

[RaceFanStan]

With Japanese car company's taking over the U.S. market, and now leading the NASCAR Nationwide series.
Is there any hope for the big three? :confused:
The best car I ever owned was a Toyota Camry.
One day I caught the "new car fever" & traded my Camry in for a new Chevrolet Cavalier ...
the dealer gave me a great trade-in for my Camry but what a giant step back that was. :s