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http://www.autonews.com/news.cms?newsId=11124

General Motors Vice Chairman Robert Lutz admits it may be impossible
from preventing Toyota from becoming the No. 1 automaker in the world.

"Obviously, our goal is to stop that," Lutz said. "It may be impossible
to stop even if we gain market share in every one of our markets
because Toyota is so huge and expanding so fast in the Asian markets.

"If they only grow with the market in those rapidly growing Asian
markets, they risk knocking us off."

Lutz said GM is determined to do what it takes to remain the No. 1
automaker in the world "but we've got to run our own race."

GM cannot react like a race car driver who is in the lead position and
is being gained on by a competitor, Lutz said.

"He is so obsessed with that competitor's car growing larger in the
rear-view mirror that he finally spends all of his time on the
rear-view mirror and not enough on his own driving and winds up going
off the road," Lutz said.

Speaking of Toyota Motor Corp., Lutz said that automaker stated it
wants to be No 1.

"We think we have the right strategy to remain No. 1, and after this
initial surge by Toyota I am confident that we are headed for a surge.

"As Rick Wagoner pointed out, we gained a lot of market share in a lot
of areas of the world" this past year, Lutz said, "But time will tell"
how long GM can remain No. 1.

[Al Bundy]

Yea, yea ,yea. Lutz the putz that forgot to put his landing gear down
out here at the local airport.
Lutz who said on major media that the manufacturers have to tell
customers what they want. He fits right into the current mold at GM.
Confidence abounds as they rearrange the deck chairs on the ship. How
about another retro vehicle like the SSR? That will bring the
competition to their knees as they have a stomach hernia laughing. Lutz
it cramming for his finals now anyway and they will find someone
equally suited to carry on.

[Guest]

There are several reasons Toyota amy overtake GM in the next ten
years. The most obvious is GM does not produce the micro cars
and trucks to compete in some markets. The US is the largest
market in the world for car and trucks. Toyota with its lower
production costs has an advantage that GM does not. Toyota is a
global producer in that it makes parts is low cost countries then
assembles those parts into bodies made in higher cost countries,
as they do in the US and do so federal corporate tax free. One
advantage in the US is Toyota can assemble the same cars in lower
cost countries as well. A prime example is the Tacoma truck
which will soon move production from the higher cost GM/Toyota
plant in California to Mexico. Currently 75% of the parts for
the Tacoma must be made in the US to meet the demands of the
plants union contract. The GM/Toyota plant is the only Toyota
assemble plant in the US that offer decent union wages and
benefits. Another example is the Camry. At one point the Camry
was assembled of more than 75% American parts and was assigned a
'1' as the first number of the VIN. Once Toyota had American
buyers convinced the cars were 'Made in America" they dropped the
content to less than 75% but more than 40% which eared the Camry
a '4' assemble in the US of less than 75% part but more than
40%. Current Camrys are only assemble in the US of less than 40%
American parts and have a '5' as the first number of the VIN.
Toyota is building a plant in China as we speak, to take
advantage of Chinas low wages and low electricity cost to
assemble cars for export to the US within five years. The
biggest thing Toyota has going for it in the US is its PERCEPTION
of superior quality. Toyota does indeed built good vehicle but
it is not remarkably superior, just about every other manufacture
builds good vehicles today. The difference from brand to brand
in build quality and longevity todays is minuscule. We service
thousands of vehicle, of nearly all brands sold in the US, and
the only real difference we see between them is in style and
price. No one brand is superior to others in the same price
range. One of the auto buff magazines recently did a comparison
test of six mid size car brands. They rated the Camry number SIX
based on it extra cost compared to the others. EVERY manufacture
builds some that are not op to snuff, that is why they all have a
warranty and Toyota is no exception. Now that Toyota is selling
millions of vehicles in the US, rather than hundreds of thousands
more, of their not so good ones are coming to the fore. Toyotas
'number of things gone wrong per hundreds of vehicles' figures
are actually going up, while those of GM, Ford and DerMopar are
going down to the point there is statistically no difference.
When one considers that Toyota vehicles cost 20% to 30% more to
drive home the difference become even more insignificant.


mike hunt



mark575757@mailcity.com wrote:

[tango]

MikeHunt2@mailcity.com wrote in news:41E3FDA6.E2B572DE@mailcity.com:

[James C. Reeves]

"Al Bundy" <MSfortune@mcpmail.com> wrote in message
news:1105448428.282156.206530@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...

[Al Bundy]

James C. Reeves wrote:

[James C. Reeves]

You could be on to something.

The sports announcer you were speaking of that was fired was "Jimmy The
Greek".

[Dennis Smith]

In article <1105412665.943249.241550@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>,
mark575757@mailcity.com says...

[Guest]

You are free to believe what you wish and spend your money as you
please but contrary to your personal opinion Toyota dealerships,
in the US, are on the top of the list for poor customer service.
As to sales figures the three domestic brands produced in the US
by GM, Ford and Chrysler outsell ALL of the import brands
combined, how can one suggest those facts are insignificant? The
fact is more trucks than cars are sold in the US. The fact is
both GM and Ford individually sell more trucks alone than Toyota
sells car and trucks combined. Your assumption that import
brands never make bad cars is not supported by the facts. The
domestics have been producing better light trucks than the import
brands in the US where sales have been growing of the past ten
years. The declining car market was left to imports and the
imports are now way behind in trucks. Currently domestics have
now turned to redoing their cars and are doing as good or better
than the imports in the quality of their cars. Toyota made a big
deal when they outsold Chrysler by a few hundred vehicles in
2003. Not a word now that Chrysler, with it hot selling new cars
and truck, has outsold Toyota by over 100,000 vehicles in 2004.


mike hunt


tango wrote:

[Harry Face]

Dennis Smith said something really funny about firing all the guys at GM
and hiring back the guys that worked there in the 60's & 70's.



You gonna have to dig them up out of the grave yard & wheel them out of
the nursing homes.

=========
Harryface
=========

1991 Pontiac Bonneville LE
3800 V6 ( C ), Black/Slate Grey
_~_~_~297,626 miles_~_~_

~_~_~_~_U.S.A._~_~_~_~_~_

~~~The Former Fleet ~~~
89 Cavalier Z 24 convertible
78 Holiday 88 coupe
68 LeSabre convertible
73 Impala sedan

[Guest]

You have that right. I worked as a design engineer for
GM back then and I'll be 79 in March. I was one of the new guys,
most of those I work with are long gone ;)


mike hunt



Harry Face wrote:

[James C. Reeves]

<BigJohnson@mailcity.com> wrote in message
news:41E7E6BD.9BBE7620@mailcity.com...