Toyota suspends sale of 8 models.

[HarryPotter]

Sofas on wheels.

That really doesn't sound all that bad to be honest.

[87e30]

Ummmmm....

I used to work with Toyota and I can tell you they're not going under. They're not doing as well as the Koreans or VAG, but they're certainly not down with GM & Chrysler.

This was from an article I read from the CEO. He was telling people that they were falling quickly and needed to make more interesting and fewer cars ASAP. I think it was a bit of a shock to many of the upper positions with in the company.

[bmwsone01]

They are pretty messed up.

I thought 5 word posts were not allowed???

[xwill112x]

like 7 is much better??^^

[Iain]

This was from an article I read from the CEO. He was telling people that they were falling quickly and needed to make more interesting and fewer cars ASAP. I think it was a bit of a shock to many of the upper positions with in the company.

With all the politics going on in the company at the moment, I can tell you what was written in that story has been taken out of context. They are losing shitloads of cash and selling a fraction of the cars they wanted to be selling compared to their projections for these last couple of years. Building those plants in the US is to blame for this - they weren't expecting the sub-prime shit to hit the fan and got fucked to the tune of a few billion dollars.

One of their big problems is their staff and their introspective, narrow views. The company are generally staffed by packs of drooling, incompetent anus-fingerers. They have these Toyota mantras and sayings (Kaisan, Nemawashi, etc) that everyone follows like some kind of demented religion (more like a cult). Problem is that everyone follows it so narrowly that they end up believing their own press releases, getting hugely insular/incestuous and generally missing the giant fucking elephant in the room.

It came as a shock to many in TMCA that their over-priced, dynamically lacklustre and completely unappealing TRD-branded cars weren't selling. You could have a body-kitted supercharged V6 Camry for the same coin as an HSV ClubSport R8 (RWD, 6.3L V8, 430hp, 6-speed), but the TRD had three-quarters of the power, couldn't stop or handle as well as the HSV, was far more expensive to service and was twice as slow as the HSV in the acceleration tests. For the same coin. And senior managers at TMCA marketing & sales seriously couldn't work out why it failed...

While Toyota's short-term debts are huge, their long-term viability is still good. The top dogs are now realising that their Kaisans, Nemawashis and the like don't suit a modern car company - they are running the company pretty much exactly how Chrysler and GM were being run in the 60s, just with more soy mocha chino half-tofu lattes and buzz words. One thing Toyota doesn't do well is change and it's completely mind-fucking a lot of the powerbrokers in the company in Japan, leading to a lot of hoo-ha in the media and starting rumours that there is malcontent among senior Toyota officials and that the company is doomed. It's not, really, they're just going through the shock of realising their founding principles need to change for them to survive the next 20 years.

Another problem is that Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) is internally known as the Toyota Meeting Company due to tying its staff up with 8 hours of meetings per day, before they even get the chance to go back to their desks and do their fucking job. It's fucking retarded and the top brass are now finally starting to see this and see how wasteful of company money it is. This is more fuel to their fire to change the corporate policies and structures.

I'm lucky I was on the agency side and didn't have to actually work at the HQ because i probably would have gone postal. I'm going to stop now because I'm about to start ranting about the company and the shit-eating ballsacks that work there...

[87e30]

With all the politics going on in the company at the moment, I can tell you what was written in that story has been taken out of context. They are losing shitloads of cash and selling a fraction of the cars they wanted to be selling compared to their projections for these last couple of years. Building those plants in the US is to blame for this - they weren't expecting the sub-prime shit to hit the fan and got fucked to the tune of a few billion dollars.

One of their big problems is their staff and their introspective, narrow views. The company are generally staffed by packs of drooling, incompetent anus-fingerers. They have these Toyota mantras and sayings (Kaisan, Nemawashi, etc) that everyone follows like some kind of demented religion (more like a cult). Problem is that everyone follows it so narrowly that they end up believing their own press releases, getting hugely insular/incestuous and generally missing the giant fucking elephant in the room.

It came as a shock to many in TMCA that their over-priced, dynamically lacklustre and completely unappealing TRD-branded cars weren't selling. You could have a body-kitted supercharged V6 Camry for the same coin as an HSV ClubSport R8 (RWD, 6.3L V8, 430hp, 6-speed), but the TRD had three-quarters of the power, couldn't stop or handle as well as the HSV, was far more expensive to service and was twice as slow as the HSV in the acceleration tests. For the same coin. And senior managers at TMCA marketing & sales seriously couldn't work out why it failed...

While Toyota's short-term debts are huge, their long-term viability is still good. The top dogs are now realising that their Kaisans, Nemawashis and the like don't suit a modern car company - they are running the company pretty much exactly how Chrysler and GM were being run in the 60s, just with more soy mocha chino half-tofu lattes and buzz words. One thing Toyota doesn't do well is change and it's completely mind-fucking a lot of the powerbrokers in the company in Japan, leading to a lot of hoo-ha in the media and starting rumours that there is malcontent among senior Toyota officials and that the company is doomed. It's not, really, they're just going through the shock of realising their founding principles need to change for them to survive the next 20 years.

Another problem is that Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) is internally known as the Toyota Meeting Company due to tying its staff up with 8 hours of meetings per day, before they even get the chance to go back to their desks and do their fucking job. It's fucking retarded and the top brass are now finally starting to see this and see how wasteful of company money it is. This is more fuel to their fire to change the corporate policies and structures.

I'm lucky I was on the agency side and didn't have to actually work at the HQ because i probably would have gone postal. I'm going to stop now because I'm about to start ranting about the company and the shit-eating ballsacks that work there...

Interesting. Hopefully they churn out some cool cars from it all!

[Iain]

If the political bullshit stops they have half a chance.

[drift]

Lol, because most Toyota here are now .... Made in USA.
Yea, as bad as GM , Ford, etc.

[TimKninja]

Anybody whom doesn't have the fucking common sense to shift their car into neutral when the car is "out of control" shouldn't be driving in the first place .

That lady whom had enough time to call police to tell her her fucking Lexus was out of control shouldn't have been driving in the first place...you have enough time to call the cops, but can't think to turn of the ignition or put the car in neutral, or even L?

Give me a fucking break. Take out your floor mats and DEAL WITH IT.

I'm stuck in a 03 Corolla til I find an E30 Shell. I'm 6 foot 3 inches and the seat doesn't properly adjust to fit me. 0-60 in 10+ seconds.....

I need an E30.

[Brinkley]

Now is the time for a company to step up and show Toyota the meaning of the word "bland".

[tjts1]

I'm still looking forward to this one.

[ethree]

Give me a fucking break. Take out your floor mats and DEAL WITH IT.

This has nothing to do with floormats. It might be a fault with the sensors in the throttle by wire? or something else mechanical.

[Holland]

Toyota's are for non car people, they drive it, put gas in it, and occasionally take it to the dealer for a mystical "service". I imagine 90 percent of people don't even have the common sense to put it in neutral or low, or even kill it. They just panic for a while until they hit something. The way I see it Darwinism is taking it's effect.

[quickervicar]

Iain, that is perhaps the most accurate & well-worded analysis of the company that I've read to date. Toyota is in trouble, but they now realize it. They are very Japanese in their corporate outlook. They are not dead, just very sick.

I will share with you my experience with Toyota:

-My company needed a new forklift & was tight on cash. We went with a factory-rebuilt 2,500-lb. Toyota machine that was supposed to be the end-all in reliability (according to the salesman--that is his job). Within 50 hours of use we noticed it taking oil. Then a lot more, along with huge amounts of smoke. We had the dealer take a look at it & they basically told us that we were abusing it, but that a new engine would be installed under warranty. We were happy. But we still couldn't lift anything for 2 weeks. We got the new engine in. Same story, only this time it started smoking from pretty much the get-go. Dealer & Toyota rep told us we were abusing the machine & ignoring maintenance. On a product that was 100 hours-old, kept indoors & was serviced under contract by the Toyota dealer. We traded the POS on a Komatsu (Nissan engine) and have been satisfied for over 10 years. (those new Lindes are pretty sweet though...)

-My company manufactures light construction equipment. Toyota brought their all-singing, all-dancing SDK skidloader lineup into the North American market back in the mid-'80s. They were heralded as the toughest, best-built machines available (according to the marketing team--that's their job). We put in a bid to supply the buckets for all their loaders. We lost the bid, but our biggest competitor won. Or lost. You see, there was a problem: the male portion of the quick attach plate on the skidloader wouldn't engage into the female portion welded onto the buckets (supplied by our competitor). Upon arrival on our shores, each Toyota skidloader would have to be hand-fit to their appropriate bucket. Toyota blamed our competitor & so did we (albeit nearly silently, from the back of the classroom with stifled laughter). Then we got some machines in to try to fit up ourselves. We found that the Toyota machines (built in the Toyota factory, in Japan) would vary up to an inch in their pin tolerances. I repeat: AN INCH TOLERANCE. To this day Toyota construction products are the only brand that we cannot guarantee perfect fitment from our factory. Every time I hear the term "Toyota quality" I shake my head.

-I was on vacation a year ago & was given a brand-new Corolla as a rental. Honestly, I was impressed with the handling & smoothness of it. While it was no A4 Golf, it did surprisingly well. But it had a strange "designed-by-committee" feel to it. Under the hood, the hard brakelines would travel from a distribution block near the master cylinder on the firewall, around the engine, under the airbox, & then to the ABS pump located just behind the passenger-side headlight. Then reverse their path to continue out to the wheels. From what I could observe it would require dropping the entire engine/trans just to service one of those lines (not unlike an E30 clutch :(). Also, the windshield wipers were smooth, quiet, and quick to respond. They just couldn't wipe. It wasn't a blade issue, but more of a tip speed problem. Lots of little things on that car that made you wonder.

Anybody whom doesn't have the fucking common sense to shift their car into neutral when the car is "out of control" shouldn't be driving in the first place.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but those transmissions are drive-by-wire too. So by throwing it into Neutral you are just requesting Neutral to be selected by the car. There is no guarantee that it will grant your request.

[gazellebeigem3]

i <3 my toyota. all you naysayers need to put your cocks in your asses and smash your heads through your windshields