Re: Toyota Works to Restrain Labor Costs

"Ed White" <ce.white3@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1171477680.963695.179020@l53g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
[color=blue]
>
> - Would you rather have the profits for selling cars be spent in Japan
> by Japanese buying Japanese products, or by Americans in the US buying
> at least some American products?
>
> - When the only jobs left in the US are service jobs, who will be able
> to afford the cars?
>[/color]


These two questions remind me of one my brother in law used to ask me. He
loved his American cars, and I'd just bought my first Toyota. His question:
Don't you realize you're putting American workers out of jobs by buying cars
like that?

Problem: My last two American cars broke down so often that I couldn't make
it to work a few times. These were not old junkers, either. Result: My boss
said that although he could sympathize, my presence was crucial to his
business, and if I couldn't solve the problem once and for all, I'd be out
of a job. By the way, the cars had stupid bullshit problems, not issues
related to bad maintenance.

Reality: My brother-in-law's Buick, with 42k miles on it, broke down so
often that he lost his job due to late arrival, or non-arrival.

When American manufacturers make cars which fit Toyota's definition, they'll
have something to whine about with regard to unfair monetary advantages.
Until they, they can shut up and keep trying.

That may be your opinion but if what you believe to be true was actually
true, Hyundai and KIA would be number one and two in sales in the US. The
fact is GM and Ford are number one and two in sales in the US..

If Toyotas are the superior vehicle you seem to think they are, why are so
many buyers that bought Toyotas trading their
Toyotas in on GM and Ford vehicles? ;)


mike







"DH" <dh@stargate.com> wrote in message
news:45d369f0$0$16370$88260bb3@free.teranews.com...[color=blue]
> "JoeSpareBedroom" <dishborealis@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:SiJAh.2836$ya1.760@news02.roc.ny...[color=green]
>> Not how many and how often. What sales methods? Clue: For about 2 months
>> per year, Toyota runs heavy price promotions. GM needs to do this for 6
>> months, on average. It breaks down differently for car vs trucks, but not
>> by much. Same with Ford. Do you understand what this means?[/color]
>
> GM does this for 6 months? Hah! It's more like continuously now... At
> the nearby Chevy dealer, everything's on fire sale all the time (except
> maybe the 'Vette).
>
> GM's selling cars on the Wal*Mart principle: if it's cheap enough, at
> least some people will buy it without stopping to ask questions about the
> quality, reliability and durability.
>
> Unfortunately, GM doesn't have Wal*Mart's low cost of labor production
> (i.e., Chinese labor). But they intend to.
>
> Of course, there's two ways to get low labor costs:
> Low productivity at rock-bottom labor rates (the
> Chinese/Indian/Bangladeshi model).
> High productivity at reasonable labor rates (Toyota/Honda in the US).
>
> However, the Toyota/Honda model requires an unending commitment to doing
> things better and can be capital-intensive. GM's best bet is to ship
> manufacturing jobs to China or get the Congress to make slavery legal
> again.[/color]