Freep Dumps on Toyota
I caught a Google news alert this AM leading to the Detroit Free Press. The headline took me by surprise: “Toyota Sales in the Toilet.” That’s pretty strong language for the MSM. Was this the same paper that headlined GM’s -32.1 percent post-bailout December sales debacle with “ An Improvement over November“? Did the Freep’s trash talking header indicate a new, darker chapter in the annals of Detroit cheerleading? I clicked over to a Freep page with a clear not-to-say-ginomrous anti-Toyota, pro-union slant. It’s a blog by editorial cartoonist Mike Thompson. “Japan does have its own version of the United Auto Workers, the Confederation of Japanese Automobile Workers’ Unions, so why aren’t these same columnists and bloggers blaming the Japanese auto union for Toyota’s woes? With a membership of 741,000 workers, it eclipses the 513,000 membership claimed by its American counterpart, the UAW.” It’s a good point, if entirely beside the point. But it’s easy enough to see that Motown’s hometown heroes are happy to put the hate on Toyota– the same hate for which they condemn critics outside Fortress Detroit.
More by Robert Farago
Comments
Join the conversation
That idea of America's the best and we can ignore the rest of the world seems to get us into trouble time and time again. We ARE the best in a few categories and very compeitive in others and in some areas we just plain suck. However the idea that we are #1 in all categories is really shooting ourselves in the foot. So is this inward looking cultural self interest ignoring the rest of the world. Having lived overseas courtesy of the DoD and the Navy, I have to say more foreign friends (even the uneducated ones) look at the world and it's events in a much more international way. They seem to know more (interact more with) about their international neighbors than we seem to know about Canada and Mexico. One thing about the import car makers that seem obvious to me is that their product line is a truly international one. They sell many products all around the world. They also build those products for adults around the world. I'm talking about compact cars here. In America our car companies seem to aim the small car at the teens and 20-somethings (while often missing the mark) when if they had a truly international lineup they would have big and small to sell around the world ready all the time. Instead they have a long list of America only products and then start bitching when gas prices go up and they are without a decent small car. What gets me is these same "American" car companies are plenty big enough and international enough that they ought to have a good understanding of what sells everywhere but it is as if the North American divisions ignore the other international divisions. As if the American divisions have some sort of nationalistic objection to the rest of the world. Anyone care to comment? I fear I'm painting with too broad a brush but the indicators have been there for 20 years. It seems America wants to be in the global market without being global. Or perhaps we want to drive or lead the global market i.e. the rest of the world should make, sell, and buy what we do instead of us accepting some of the world's ideas to be better than ours and coying them occasionally. I've long said that Europe has its problems but that they still offer ALOT we can learn from - culturally, in manufacturing (operating with much higher energy costs and taxes for one), and from the consumer side too. Too many of us still saying - "nope, I'm an Americna and I know what's best. Better than any other country in the world."
Two issues regarding electric cars: 1. When you stand hard on the accelerator and acceleragte rapidly, how much can it reduce your "range of" 40 miles? 2. When you have to heat your car on a cold morning, how much does it reduce your range? In both cases, the "range" of the car can easily be reduced from 40 miles to 20 miles. Then what? This range estimation of 40 miles can be a very misleading and potentially dangerous representation... for any manufacturer's electric car.
Where did the questions about electric cars come from??? I think the key is to buy a car with more range than you'll need. Phoenix Motor Cars says their SUTs and SUVs will have a big range. Like 150+ miles. The next generation they say will have 250+ miles. If your commute is 20 miles each way then the low temp effects on your batteries might be a non-issue. It's like any other gadget - the early versions aren't as good as version 5.0. Should we never build anything new b/c somebody might not be able to use it as they desire? No. Leave the early adopters to test, break and improve these EVs. The IMPORTANT thing is that they need to reach the market in larger quanities than we are seeing now. Of course the tin hat version of our current situation is that last year's fuel prices spiked an interest in EVs, alot of investment funding went into the EV industry only to see the cost of gasoline fall to prices we last saw a decade or more ago. Will that fuel price fall be a death blow to the EV industry? Was it intentional so the oil industry monopoly on fueling the modern transportation needs can be held on to? Yeah, if your electric car range and your commute is about the same distance then you are setting up yourself for a disappointment. I think the Volt could be a disappointment b/c while stats say the average person drives less than 30 miles round trip per work day - a range of 40 miles means in certain conditions (days requiring heat or air conditioning) you'll run out of battery. If I spend $40K on an "EV" then I want it to function as an "EV". It's also the reason I would not buy a Volt. I want a pure "EV" - meaning an EV with a 100+ mile range without the maintenance needs of an onboard engine. MY needs have distances that fall well within a 100 miles vehicle. YMMV. I don't know why (except perhaps cost) that GM insists on such a short range but I wouldn't be surprised if Toyota or Honda or XYZ Co. doesn't release a car afterwards with a 100 mile range that instantly renders the GM product as substandard. GM and Toyota have both released vehicles with ranges over 100 miles in the past. There are still examples of the Toyota 2003 Rav4-EV that get over 100 miles per charge on NiMH batteries with over 150K miles on them. It'll be interesting to see what gas prices do over the next few years. Will they spike again? I now despite the recession, most folks close to us are driving the same distances. Can anybody pointed to any real reduction miles driven by the world that justifies the drop in prices. Side note: gas has jumped here 30 cents over the past week.