Aluminum is “flammable”. Shall the industry stop using that material?

And low cost carbon fiber research is being pursued as part of FreedomCar, along with high volume mass production technologies.

GM has at various times in it’s history been massively profitable and has introduced new technologies without government funding.

The point of Freedom Car and it’s predecessor was to get big fuel efficiency gains into the market. Clinton originally sold the idea that instead of ratcheting up fuel economy requirements (CAFE) the government needed to help improve fuel economy of the fleet by funding a massive industry improvement project and by setting aside normal anti-collusion regulations. The idea sounded good enough, but the simple fact is that it didn’t work. During the 1990s CAFE standards stopped getting tighter and the fleet average fuel economy stopped improving. The big money project which was supposed to have produced a new generation of automobiles by now has as it’s star accomplishment a niche component for a car absolutely nobody needs.

Magnesium is an expensive (and flammable!) metal which has often shown up in niche automotive applications. Honda, for example, makes manual transmission cases from a magnesium alloy for weight reduction purposes. Building the Z06 engine cradle out of magnesium is hardly an earth shattering technological tour de force.

Now if Freedom car had led to the new Malibu being built largely out of carbon fiber and tipping the scales at under 2,000 lbs while still being priced competitively then I would be impressed. But a government funded hundreds of millions of dollars project spitting out a magnesium engine cradle for the Z06 …. you gotta be kidding. The know how to make magnesium alloy parts has been around for a long time.

So how would you get production experience with a brand new technology that enables dramatic mass reduction? Please, inform the group. More taxpayers than you think support such projects.

Yes, you are right there is no unity in the US auto industry, but the US is not a homogeneous society that for the most part blindly listens to authority. Self interest is at the heart of capitalism and in the auto industy it has almost destroyed it. Toyota has for the most part just copied the US model and executed it much better.

So on our side in the US we currently have 0 loyalty on all sides of the equation. Maybe, just maybe it’s worth looking at doing things a different way. Relations between all factions in the current US auto industry are disloyal, distrustful and disingenuous. Somehow executive compensation *must* be tied to performance in a meaningful way and in this case, Toyota seems to be doing it better..

Oh great, taxpayer subsidies that were supposed to lead to world class fuel economy end up enabling the gas guzzling Z06.

How many taxpayers would be happy to know that is what they paid for?

That sounds a lot like their compensation is tied to the success of the company. I don’t see a problem with that manner of compensation at all.

d996 :

What did that comment have to do with the topic at hand?

“We told you Press can change his stripes at the drop of the hat, and now that he’s “Captain America” in his new role at Chrysler it wouldn’t be beyond him to exaggerate to make a point. The Japanese government’s close links with its auto industry, however – particularly with Toyota – are well known, so we’re choosing to believe Press on this one. It may not have been “100 percent,” but it sure as hell wasn’t a passive role either.”

Fairly typical comment from De Lorenzo. he has a burr up his butt about Toyota anyway. Even if the Japanese government did pay for it, so what. The way De Lorenzo and others go on about it you would swear it was a crime or it somehow casts a negative shadow on Toyota. Sounds more like wishful thinking to me. Besides, I think De Lorenzo is lamenting the fact that the USG does not do likewise for his precious GM. So much for the “bare-knuckled,unvarnished high octane truth” he likes to believe his website provides.

$12 million divided by 32 = $375k each. Note: Engage calculator before writing post.

These poor guys only averaged 2.67 MILLION each?

“Just for reference, Toyota doesn’t pay its execs like American auto companies do, nor do they break out individual executive salaries. In the 12 months ending March 2007, Toyota paid its top 32 executives just over $12m in salaries combined.”

And by the way, Toyota deserves a ton of credit for this. In this case, the American Way is dead wrong.

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You are only thinking about dollars (or yen). There is more to compensation than that. And the Japanese pay their executives in more than just money. Just look it up. It’s the only clear way to see what the difference is. By the way does anyone know how much it costs to join an exclusive golf club in Japan?

From the autoextremist web site:
http://www.autoextremist.com/on-the-table1/

“We told you Press can change his stripes at the drop of the hat, and now that he’s “Captain America” in his new role at Chrysler it wouldn’t be beyond him to exaggerate to make a point. The Japanese government’s close links with its auto industry, however – particularly with Toyota – are well known, so we’re choosing to believe Press on this one. It may not have been “100 percent,” but it sure as hell wasn’t a passive role either.”

Rumor has it that Press’ “back end payout” (after Cerberus unwinds its Chrysler deal) is $52 million. True or false, he undoubtedly got a deal along these lines: much higher salary, and a big chunk at the end. That’s American style capitalism at work.

Stein: Silly of Press, this. He must be looking for government funds, eh?

My sentiments exactly. And I agree with you, that I was highly dubious of his assertion yesterday. Should have called it out. The “100%” part was the tip-off. Even if they got some assistance, it certainly wouldn’t have been 100%.

Maybe just being in the same interview with Lutz has a rub-off effect.

It’s an example of Japanese and American cultural norms. Seventeenth-century pirate ships were run with a better sense of community than is found in our corporate boardrooms.

And by the way, Toyota deserves a ton of credit for this. In this case, the American Way is dead wrong.

I was in Japan in late 2003 to check out the 400h hybrid prototype, as well as the prototype for the Gen2 Prius. During those meetings it was made very clear that TMC had set off an enormous R&D fund for the development of what would become the HSD. I’d think it would be very difficult for Toyota to retain proprietary rights to the HSD if it was “100% government funded.”
Silly of Press, this. He must be looking for government funds, eh?

Thank you very much. Its not Toyota’s fault Detroit lacks a (profitable) deliverable from the Project for a New Generation of Vehicles.