by Lloyd Frazier
It appears that Toyota is about to claim the title for being the number one producer, in units, of automobiles in the world. The General has held that title since 1931. Toyota outproduced GM by several thousand vehicles the first quarter of this year. Now that Toyota has taken the mantle of ‘Numero Uno’, maybe they can appreciate what comes with that. Toyota and Honda have finally come under more scrutiny over issues with quality. Honda has been having ‘fit & finish’ and transmission issues. Toyota has been dodging issues with their engines sludging up by blaming it on customers not performing routine maintenance. Guess what Toyota? You get the responsibility of proving your worth on a daily basis and the wrath of the media when you make one ltty bitty faux pas. General Motors can breathe a sigh of relief for getting that monkey off their back. Let Toyota be the big man on campus. The General has been creeping up in the ‘look who is making a better car’ limelight over the last few years. Chevrolet, Buick and Cadillac run neck-and-neck with Toyota in the initial quality and dependability departments. Ford is making huge strides there, too. The Mercury Milan is the rated right there next to the Toyota Camry in quality. General Motors is consistently in the top 10 ratings and they plan to stay there. Toyota will start to feel the sting of rapid growth and quality issues for years to come. It took General Motors 20 years to re-gain the confidence of their customers after producing questionable product during the late 70’s and throughout the 80’s. Toyota may be winning the hybrid war, but GM is looking to trump them with plug-in hybrid technology. Things are starting to get really interesting in the automotive world. Maybe we should call this the CAR 2.0 era. So, congratulations to Toyota for stepping up to the plate and being the fall guy…and probably for quite some time.
Lloyd, signing out…
