Toyota Putting The Brakes On Further Capacity In America

@petezeiss I have to agree that while Toyota is known for their reputation for reliability, that reputation tends to come from cars that are 15-25 years old. It's just like the opposite of Chrysler, some people won't touch one now based on what they have heard or had experienced 15-20 years ago, specifically the 2.7 engine issue and various transmission problems in their lineup in the 1990s. That doesn't mean the cars Chrysler produces now still have these problems as those drivetrains are long gone. A 1990 Toyota Camry, and the related stories of these cars hitting 300,000 miles, is NOT in *any way* related to a 2014 Camry. For all we know, the 2014 Camry (or any given model from the past couple years, for that matter) could all have problems that cause them to grenade at, say, 80,000 miles. Maintenance and care have a lot to do with reliability. The probability of mechanical issues will fall greatly if things are done by the book, on time and every time. Some cars will hold up to abuse better than others, but if a person cannot take care of their vehicle, they probably shouldn't own one to begin with.

I would love to see Toyota's internal studies of American demographics and their conclusions drawn from them. They have to know that they largely live and die here by having captured baby boomers and their older children. Most customers won in the 1970s and '80s by Japanese makers (like me for Honda) will likely go to the nursing home refusing to seriously consider any other brand unless it were one of their premium lines. The conversion experience in our youth from gas swilling/leaking, crudely cobbled domestic cars was that powerful. But obviously even though there is some generational hand-off of this loyalty it can't last forever. And intellectually I realize that the Koreans and some domestics have closed the reliability and refinement gap with their Japanese QA sensei. Maybe the long-viewed Japanese leadership is ready for some pull-back from the American market and an amped-up run at the Chinese whose own domestic efforts are predictably doomed by corruption and impatience.

"a bitter hatred of the Japanese" Well, that's the History Channel level of understanding the situation and is no doubt still a reality for millions of elderly Chinese. But if Tokyo became serious about bribing the right Central Committee members and making a few public gestures of remorse (PM to stay the hell out of Yasukuni for a while) in no time at all it would be: "Let a Billion Camrys Roll!" Especially so if those Toyotas were rebadged for Great Wall, Chery, Dongfeng...whomever. I mean, Japan Inc. needs to find another gargantuan middle class *somewhere* to sell to after ours disintegrates. And Beijing can simply order up any popular sentiment they want along with the mobs to enforce it.