Spy Shots: Toyota Prius facelift

[Vooduguru]

Originally Posted by BeachbumXD

I recieved the same information from an insider at my local dealership after thier monthly meeting.

The idea is to:

-Reduce production cost
-Increase production rate
-Lessen the wait time to the consumer
-Eliminate shipping costs (minimized to truck rates for point to point).

Didn't say "where" this was to take place other than one of the southern states IIRC?

If I recall correctly (probably not) but the NUMMI plant in Cali is split in two sections. One is UAW workers, and the other is not. The shared platforms with the Matrix & Vibe, Toyota workers assemble the engines, trans, and chasis, then send them to the GM side where they make the Vibe. Well, take a wild guess where the vibe has its problems? In the UAW side. I also read an article in money magazine I think, where the cost per hour of UAW workers vs. Toyota workers is something along the lines of 80/hour for UAW, and 42/hr for Toyota... Can anyone verify this? Because if it's true, then wouldn't it be a better idea for the big three to follow Toyotas business model? Get the UAW to get their heads out of their asses, and realize that maybe a little less pay/benefits, is better than no job at all. Sorry, if the imports can make it work and still be profitable, you can't demand yourself and your value into making your employer go out of business, which is in effect what's going on in the big three, SPECIFICALLY GM.

[93vert]

I've actually owned a NUMMI Geo Prizm. If you have owned a US market corolla built 1984-2002 or a US-market Matrix, then you have owned a NUMMI too.

There were very few things about my '94 Prizm LSi that were substandard in any way. I bought it with 20k miles on it and drove it for 190k more before it got totaled. I was grateful that it had the $75 Delco alternator instead of the $250 Nippondenso alternator, because it ate one at about 120k. It's worth mentioning that the Corollas were more expensive than the Prizms in those days, and both sold at a premium relative to the Civics and particularly the Sentras.

The only thing I could definitely point my finger at that was a GM defect was the radio power/volume knob, which broke off after being hit by one too many big cup in the cup holder. Everything else was pretty good. I can't say that my two Japanese-built Toyotas have been significantly better in the breaking-plastic-crap category.

As long as they follow TQM and hit the numbers, it really doesn't matter if GM or Toyota employees build anything. The problem is that the US automakers have been letting quality slide because they can't afford the UAW benefit packages. That's an accounting and cost problem, not an engineering or technology problem. I've toured the GM Powertrain Tonowanda engine plant recently, and I strongly doubt that there's an engine plant anywhere else in the world turning out better products. Their processes and QC were to world standard. The problem is the little stuff, not the big stuff.

Unfortunately, if the little stuff is a $0.10 connector that breaks stranding the car at 50,000 miles, then you have a big problem caused by little stuff, and a pissed-off consumer, who then buys a Honda.

It looks like GM will escape going bankrupt, which is sad, because chapter 11 would probably fix most of their problems.