GM Taunts Toyota

[CaddyXLR-V]

GM says Toyota quality is down


I think GM has Toyota in its crosshairs, and after seeing some future cars GM is coming out with, it looks like GM is finally getting its act together, and forgetting about Ford and Chrysler and going after Toyota. Could this be the start of the next big rivalry?

[sciguy_0504]

I read about this at Autoblog earlier today. While recalls of Toyota vehicles have risen during the past few years, they don't even come close to GM or Ford. His statements are just as stupid as the "we need to raise our car prices to help American auto companies" one from Toyota executives. 1) People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. 2) Pick your battles wisely.

[capriceman]

reallly the bigg three only rivial is in its trucks so why not go after toyota?

[CaddyXLR-V]

I read about this at Autoblog earlier today.  While recalls of Toyota vehicles have risen during the past few years, they don't even come close to GM or Ford.  His statements are just as stupid as the "we need to raise our car prices to help American auto companies" one from Toyota executives.

1) People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
2) Pick your battles wisely.

[post="19283"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

But I think GM is finally seeing that its not Ford and Chrysler that GM should be battling. I think GM is picking its battles wisely, and I wouldnt start placing my bets on Toyota just yet. For a long time GM has been backing down and letting Toyota say whatever they want. But to me it seems GM is ready to fight back. Toyota has been indirectly taking shots at GM for a while now. With their planned goal of growth just happening to be slightly larger than GM, and their comments about raising prices to help the helpless American companies. Toyota thinks they're invincible, and as GM knows, no one is invincible. Competition can only make them better.

[Flybrian]

I just wish someone from GM wouldn't fall into the Number-of-Recalls-Equals-Quality trap, because its a huge misnomer.

[Dsuupr]

I for one, think it's great that the brass at GM are starting feel strong about the quality and their new products. They deserve it.

[Sixty8panther]

Hooray. Let the battle begin. The sleeping giant awakens. :)

[regfootball]

man you ought to read this blog on autoblog.com. a LOT of GM haters that apparently would prefer all our American brands to go out of business.......

[CaddyXLR-V]

man you ought to read this blog on autoblog.com.  a LOT of GM haters that apparently would prefer all our American brands to go out of business.......

[post="19370"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

By reading that, one would think they are all part of the American media. I guess thats where all the journalists go after they have written their own GM's doom articles.

[thegriffon]

I read about this at Autoblog earlier today.  While recalls of Toyota vehicles have risen during the past few years, they don't even come close to GM or Ford.  His statements are just as stupid as the "we need to raise our car prices to help American auto companies" one from Toyota executives.

1) People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
2) Pick your battles wisely.

[post="19283"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

Well, now, are you talking volume of vehicles (an indicator of how many GM sells, not how many problems there are) or number of recalls per model? And are you including only rrecent vehicles, or pickups built 10-20 years ago? Edited September 24, 2005 by thegriffon

[Matt276]

Then stop putting crappy material in your cars like all the hard plastic in the nice Impala, HHR, Cobalt, G6... Better products are the answer, stop focusing on value pricing and start putting value into your vehicles.

[balthazar]

While recalls of Toyota vehicles have risen during the past few years, they don't even come close to GM or Ford.  His statements are just as stupid as the "we need to raise our car prices to help American auto companies" one from Toyota executives.
1) People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
2) Pick your battles wisely.

I agree with others here: this IS a wisely-chosen battle. And the point is moreso that toyota quality is falling and GM's as a whole is rising (some divisions such as Cadillac and Buick have had long runs at the top).
Look at hyundai: they get all sorts of mad credit from many 'journalists' because their quality has risen a bunch, tho the fact that it's still unquestionably poor is glossed right over.

[caddycruiser]

-- Edited September 24, 2005 by caddycruiser

[Newbiewar]

Smith expressed confidence, however, that GM would retain the top spot as far out as 2015

I think that is awesome, although people expect toyota to unseat GM, its good that someone expects GM to get right back to it...

as a question of competition, when was the last time someone was remoltely close to GM as far as sales, I mean like Ford during the 40's or something?

[daves87rs]

I read about this at Autoblog earlier today.  While recalls of Toyota vehicles have risen during the past few years, they don't even come close to GM or Ford.  His statements are just as stupid as the "we need to raise our car prices to help American auto companies" one from Toyota executives.

1) People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
2) Pick your battles wisely.

[post="19283"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

True...

But you could either lay there and die, or go down fighting, in GM's case....

Maybe if Gm does get some fight in them, it might help...

[Newbiewar]

True...

But you could either lay there and die, or go down fighting, in GM's case....

Maybe if Gm does get some fight in them, it might help...

[post="19407"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

Yea, and perception is reality, and GM must do something about it...

if people second guess Toyota's quality GM is in the winners ciricle again.

[CARBIZ]

Exactly. Perception versus reality. VW has been crap for a while, but if you ask the general public, the perception is they build quality, fine engineered automobiles. Ditto for Mercedes, who has also been sliding in the quality rankings. GM needs to fight Toyota on the beaches, in the streets and in the hills. I have always maintained that it isn't hard to juggle 3 or 4 balls (which is how many models Toyota was juggling in the '80s), but now that Toyota has a dozen or so models, it ain't so easy, is it? They will become a victim of their own success.

[andy82471]

I was reading the latest Consumer Reports Magazine and I saw all the Toyotas and Lexuses with red circle next to their reliability rankings. GM is up too but mostly average and some above average rankings. I personally dont know if a mid level employee bad mouthing Toyota is going to have much of an effect. As far as GM remaining No.1 until 2015, I wish I could share is optimism. Toyota just has too much money they can put to use to sustain their growth. I think 2010 sounds more likely.

[sciguy_0504]

But I think GM is finally seeing that its not Ford and Chrysler that GM should be battling. I think GM is picking its battles wisely, and I wouldnt start placing my bets on Toyota just yet. For a long time GM has been backing down and letting Toyota say whatever they want. But to me it seems GM is ready to fight back. Toyota has been indirectly taking shots at GM for a while now. With their planned goal of growth just happening to be slightly larger than GM, and their comments about raising prices to help the helpless American companies. Toyota thinks they're invincible, and as GM knows, no one is invincible. Competition can only make them better.

[post="19310"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

I totally agree with you. GM should have moved away from seeing Ford and Chrysler as huge threats a long time ago. Toyota and the Koreans should be their focus now, with an eye still monitoring Ford and DCX.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

GM, which has consistently lagged Japan's top automakers in key quality studies.

And three paragraphs in this "journalist" reveals his REAL feelings.

GM leads the industry in product recalls, having called in 2 million vehicles in April, and another 804,000 units last month.

Toyota has also had its share, recalling 978,000 pickups and sport utility vehicles this month.

A BS statistic given the number of models GM sales with the same mechanicals and GM's sales numbers compared to Toyota in general...

Of course, the way the author spins it, you'd never know that (Go figure-a biased journalist)

Not to count GM's numbers are skewed because of the massive truck recall.

You know, it's funny that I never READ anything about Toyota recalling almost 1 million vehicles this year..... That's funny.... I guess the press is still protecting that image for them.

"We seem to attract more attention when we do things of that type ... I'll be interested to see whether they get the same kind of coverage that we used to get," he added, referring to the latest Toyota recall.

I think we all know the answer to that......

In fact, I haven't heard one thing about a new Toyota recall. No one cares unless it's a domestic recall.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

I read about this at Autoblog earlier today.  While recalls of Toyota vehicles have risen during the past few years, they don't even come close to GM or Ford.  His statements are just as stupid as the "we need to raise our car prices to help American auto companies" one from Toyota executives.

1) People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
2) Pick your battles wisely.

[post="19283"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

I think his comments were spot on.

I love that GM is coming at Toyota swinging, and I think it helped to get Toyota's otherwise hidden number of recalls (which is a substantial number) more exposure.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

But I think GM is finally seeing that its not Ford and Chrysler that GM should be battling. I think GM is picking its battles wisely, and I wouldnt start placing my bets on Toyota just yet. For a long time GM has been backing down and letting Toyota say whatever they want. But to me it seems GM is ready to fight back. Toyota has been indirectly taking shots at GM for a while now. With their planned goal of growth just happening to be slightly larger than GM, and their comments about raising prices to help the helpless American companies. Toyota thinks they're invincible, and as GM knows, no one is invincible. Competition can only make them better.

[post="19310"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

I agree....

And I'm glad GM isn't taking indirect shots at Toyota either. I think GM should go at their throat with a big shiny knife and get the job done real good.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

man you ought to read this blog on autoblog.com.  a LOT of GM haters that apparently would prefer all our American brands to go out of business.......

[post="19370"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

Welcome to America.

You have the 40 years of biased press to thank for that.