http://www.dailynewstribune.com/business/x757259350

 

No doubt Toyota has been doing things right, and GM (and others) sitting on their butts. Time for GM to get more competitive and focus on quality!

 

I hate to sound all anti-American, but Unions are the reason why American car makers can't be competitive in my opinion, and the lack of innovation. They are loosing money because of their workers getting paid more then the import manufacturers that aren't in a unionized. My friend recently quit his job as a production manager for Ford and he had to deal with this all the time. He told me straight out that the union's greed is what's making American car companies fail and is why they are loosing so much money and have to charge more money for less car. I'm not saying I don't think they should get paid what they do, but it's just a fact of the business. It's not going to get any better and nobody is going to take a pay cut. They don't have enough money for R&D like the import car makers do. They have to pay the unionized works more and the engineers less when the import market is paying the engineers big bucks for the good people. At this rate, the ultimate conclusion to this is that something is going to have to give, either the they lay off people, or they go out of business. I don't think this is right, but again, this is a business, and if you can't stay competitive, you will be gone. It's a sad fact but the way the world is so don't snap on me because I say this because I KNOW Mike will have something to say about it

 

Do you think having a factory built in Mexico for the cheaper labour, than have it imported up north would help? or is the labour not cheap enough to pay for importing?

Just a thought.

 

I don't know what the solution would be, because I'm not an expert at anything, but I just know what my friend tells me and what other's in that industry say on the web and in the news. Whether it be right or wrong who knows. They need to figure out something VERY soon though, that's for sure.

 

What a lot of American companies have done that are sucking hind titty with the rest of the same market is/are: They are letting the empoyees become part owners in the company, no share holders, not out side 401K stuff..real decicion making owners in the companiy's way of doing business...ousting the Unions was easy then..Since the empoyees are part owners they have more pride in the product, because it represents them more squarely on their shoulders and they can do less salary, because the profits will go into a company empoyee trust that is doled out evenly amoungst the empoyees, whereas; off setting the salary cuts..in reality they make more money in the long run, than if they were unionized and also have better job security, as long as they continue to make a better product than their competition..

 

And the key factor you say is "to make a better product" which is all in the eye of the consumer. It's very hard to break the stereotype of the imports being "better" then the American automobiles, be it true or not. Most people I know still say or think imports are better cars, and always use the reason being "they don't break down as much." I never really hear "they are more innovative", "they are more stylish" , "they have more value for the money", etc. The American car companies are going to have to work really hard to break that stereotype. I think they have a great start with Hummer, because those little puny-*** import SUV's don't stand a chance off-roading with Hummers and Jeeps. The pick-up truck market is a different story though. Even the FJ cruiser isn't all that great. We have all seen the videos of it. Just look at the ground clearance and wheel size. It's more of a kinda-off-road vehicle.

I think when the newer generation of muscle cars start coming out, ie the Camaro, and some of the other future ones, maybe people will start getting back into that good old American thurst for performance and muscle that drove the car market at one point.

I am not that old, but one thing I have seen over the years is that whereas people used to buy cars for performance, looks and the FUN of driving has now turned into practicality, toys and how many buttons you can put on the dashboard. If people start bringing back the day of making driving FUN and giving people reasons to want to drive because of that, people might start coming back. Who knows.Make a car that gets attention, is fast and doesn't cost an arm and a leg, and people will buy it. Make a car that looks and drives like every other import out there, and you won't get too far. That's the way I see it.

 

It's people like this.

How Verizon Might Avoid Ruckus Over CEO's Pay [/align]By Alan Murray [/align]Word Count: 791 | Companies Featured in This Article: Pfizer, Home Depot, Verizon [/align]
Verizon Chief Executive Ivan Seidenberg has reason to worry. Some of the same shareholder activists who targeted former Pfizer chief Henry McKinnell and former Home Depot chief Robert Nardelli for excessive pay last year now have the telecom boss at the top of their hit list.
Messrs. McKinnell and Nardelli lost their jobs largely as a result. Will Mr. Seidenberg go as well?
In today's tumultuous corporate environment, that's not an easy question to answer. Nor is this one: Who runs the corporation? A decade ago, most chief executives were firmly ensconced at the top of a corporate hierarchy, and ...

http://online.wsj.com/public/page/8_...us_video_promo

click on verizon
[/align]

 

I don't believe that Toyota spectacular growth has anything to do with the cost of labor or the union problem.
First do not forget that TOYOTA is global, meaning that they haves production units everywhere in the world, and that includes the USA, Japan, Europe etc...
Technically speaking Toyota is, today, much more American than Japanese and thus they have to follow the Americans rules and regulations as far unions, salaries productivity is concerned.
The same apply in Europe and elsewhere.
Anyway, Toyota is barely producing cars in 'cheap labors' countries.

Their business model as well as their industrial process is the key.

to make a -very-long story short:

1/ Wherever they are and whatever model they built they have standardized their building process to the max.

2/ The ratio models/parts is very low, meaning that they have a very few platforms/chassis/engines compared to the number of different car models they produce in the world.

3/ They adapt their models to the various market they are dealing with using their engine/platforms portofolio to follow the marketing requirement.

4/ Their design centers are locals allowing them to closely follow the customers needs/requirements

5/ Their quality control is possibly the best in the world thus they have a good image and they reduce dramatically the 'call back' costs.

6/ All the above allow them to maximize their cash flow and their profit thus allowing them to spend more money in R&D.