I thought that some here might find this article interesting. I hope that this is a beginning for Toyota to bring their quality back up.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/...ess/toyota.php

 

I hope Watanabe isn't blowing hot air. Personally I don't think a company that has grown as much as Toyota over the past 10 years will ever be able to keep up to the quality control they once had. More power to them if they do.

If their quality control issues improve, then maybe I'd consider getting one of the new diesel trucks if they ever get to North America.

Cheers

 

I really hope that Toyota steps up their game. But I do not think they will ever be what they once were (like denpacc said)...

I also do not think that they will become the biggest car company in the U.S. Unless the government starts buying 4runners instead of GMC's for governmental vehicles.

I can't believe all the recalls for the newer cars. I guess using cheap materials makes this kind of thing happen more often...
Plastics=

 

I agree with all of you... Everything you see still on the road from the late
70's through the early 90's was bullet proof... Why because it was tested in Japan for many years before it came over seas. All the little buggies had been worked out of them. Toyota needed to build a name for themselves as a reliable and dependable auto company. It would be very hard to get an American out of their "made in USA" car and into a Jap built machine. I think fuel economy in old American cars was a problem when the oil crisis hit the states, low employment rates and recession all played a role in the importing of the Toyota. Now Toyota has plants in the US and unfortunately is unable to design and test most of their products before release.

 

Yeah in one of my classes we discussed how Crysler and Harley were going out of business because of the Toyotas. They said these cars/trucks are really cheap, good on gas, and last forever. We can't compete with them...

So what congress did was impose a higher tax on all vehicles imported.

Smart ass Toyota said, Okay if you are going to tax cars comming from overseas, then we will just build them there. So they made factories over here, and only imported parts, and assembled them here..

Congres couldn't say anything, they were giving American's jobs. So what they did is gave tax breaks on those American companies.

 

I think last year Toyota outsold the big 3 with total vehicles sold in the US.

GM is hurting big time and doing anything and everything to hold off the inevitiablilty of Toyota taking over the #1 spot if they haven't already.

Toyota is making money while GM is trying to circumvent their net income $100+ million losses last year.

 

i sure hope that toyota goes back to there old style of doing things instead of trying to copy chevy. i was reading a car magazine at the doctors office and the headline for the new sequoia was "new competition for the tahoe". why would u want to compete with the tahoe when the old one was selling just fine, and especially when gas prices are as high as they are.