Oh, What a Feeling

Toyota became America's top-selling import-car brand in 1975 and has mostly remained so ever since.  After the January 6 insurrection, Toyota signed a pledge not to give money to Republican politicians who backed Donald Trump and the Big Lie about the "stolen" 2020 presidential election.  But, according to the Lincoln Project, a group of Republicans trying to take back the party from Trump, Toyota's commitment to democracy and the rule of law - which we had to break our backs to establish in Toyota's home country of Japan - didn't last very long.  It's once again giving donations to Republican U.S. House members who voted not to certify the 2020 presidential election in favor of Joe Biden.    

"Toyota broke its promise and rejoined the sedition caucus," Lincoln Project co-founder Reed Galen said back in April.  "Companies like Toyota benefit from the free markets that are protected by our democratic institutions, but they're endorsing and supporting Big Lie politicians who backed the violent attack on the Capitol."

Galen added that it was important for Toyota's customers, suppliers, and employees to know that the company is "turning its back on America's most fundamental principles."

The obvious solution is for prospective car buyers to boycott Toyota until the company changes its ways.  There are plenty of other automakers - especially Japanese brands - that sell cars similar to what Toyota offers.  The Big T can't get away with supporting Big Lie believers.

Oh yeah, Toyota is now the bestselling auto brand in America period, foreign or domestic . . . but that's another post.  

Mr. Toyoda Goes to Washington

I didn't learn much about or get any meaningful insight in the continuing story of Toyota's quality control problems after watching part of Akio Toyoda's testimony to the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on the matter. Toyoda, the company president and grandson of the company's founder, apologized profusely for the malfunctioning breaks and accelerators that have caused many troubles - some of them serious - but I would have been happier if he'd sweated just as profusely. He actually took the time to say that Toyota remains a car company of good values whose quality control lapses are inconsistent with their business philosophy (why wouldn't they be?) and insist that electronics had nothing to do with the sudden acceleration problems. This latter statement contradicted that of James Lentz, Toyota's highest ranking U.S. sales executive, who said such a problem could not be ruled out.

Toyoda's statement, for all of its contrition, seemed to be divorced from reality, as he declared that his "personal confidence level is 100%" that there is no defect exists in his company's electronic throttles. Toyota wasn't always like this. Back in the seventies and eighties, they would be all over a car on the first report of a problem, but now they've waited for the problems to pile up before even acknowledging that something might be wrong.

I feel sorry for Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who has been diligently investigating this matter based on patterns of complaints regarding the cars but has come under fire for not moving aggressively enough, despite all the evidence that he's done the best possible job. I don't feel particularly sorry for Toyoda, who says he takes this matter personally because his name is on every car his company sells.

Well, a variation of it anyway.

Meanwhile, good riddance to Hummer, which GM has announced will be discontinued after a deal to sell the brand fell through. Like anyone really needs an oversized SUV with military capabilities.

You Call This Moving Forward?

Toyota has finally gotten around to doing something about the sticky accelerators in eight of their models, now that the company has been forced to admit that the problem was far greater than a case of bad floor mats. Toyota has recalled 2.3 million cars in the U.S. to replace a plastic piece in their gas pedal setup in cars dating as far back as 2005 to avoid unintended acceleration in the future, just as the company has stopped their assembly lines to make sure the same thing doesn't happen again.

Then the previously unaffected Prius turned out to have faulty brakes.

This is the biggest disaster involving a foreign car company since Volkswagen was sued by the federal Trade Commission in the early 1980s for failing to warn customers of high oil consumption in the original Rabbit, the car that began the long malaise for VW in the United States. Toyota's quality issue is similarly damaging, and now their popular hybrid model has a separate issue entirely. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, easily one of the most diligent and thorough Secretaries of Transportation in his agency's 44-year history, even went so far as to suggest that Toyota owners should stop driving their cars. He meant that Toyota owners should get their cars fixed as soon as possible, and he apologized for his poor choice of words, but damage was still done - Toyota stock plummeted on Wall Street today.

Oh yeah, and the National Highway and Traffic Satety Administration had to send someone to Japan to get Toyota to take this case seriously.

The big winners in this sorry affair, of course, are General Motors and Ford, whose quality is improving and who suddenly have an advantage of Asia's - and possibly the world's - biggest automaker. Europe's biggest automaker may come out ahead as a result as well; Volkswagen has been emboldened in the European market, where Toyota has become a serious competitor, and VW is also on track to increase its U.S. sales to 800,000 by the end of coming decade with several new models, including their Camry-style intermediate sedan which will be made in their new plant in Tennessee starting next year. Several other auto fans must be looking at Toyota with some schadenfreude. After all, Toyota's executives had a sense of smugness about them, while the company expanded relentlessly even as so many of their competitors were struggling. In fact, this gas pedal problem began with the 2005 models, even as Toyota was acting as if nothing was going to stop its long, steady rise.

Indeed, it seemed preposterous back in thirty years ago that Toyota would ever have quality problems . . . just as it seemed improbable sixty years ago that Detroit would ever be seriously threatened by foreign competition.

Nothing is forever.

Modesty In Motown

The North American International Auto Show in Detroit kicked off with much less glitz and glitter in a much more subdued fashion. Good ol' American showmanship remained in high gear (no pun intended) on the auto show circuit during the last great recession of 1981 and 1982, when General Motors was so full of itself it boasted it could build a small car just as good as anything from the Japanese . . . and demonstrated their inability to do so with the Chevrolet Cavalier. Even the start of Persian Gulf War in 1991 didn't dampen the enthusiasm at that year's Detroit show. Now GM and Chrysler, humbled by the bad decisions and inferior product, don't talk so loud, especially after they needed government bailouts to stay in business. GM's Pontiac and Saturn brands are down to one car or two each in their last year, and they're not represented at the show. (Even Oldsmobile had a display on the auto show circuit in 2004, its last year.) GMC Truck offers an SUV concept that's about the size of a traditional station wagon. And Chrysler's most exciting products are the Fiat-based Chryslers and Dodges that aren't on sale yet.

Ford is much better off, winning the 2010 Motor Trend Car of the Year award for its Fusion sedan and getting good press for two smaller vehicles due in showrooms soon, the next-generation Focus and the new Fiesta, the latter car set to return to America following a thirty-year hiatus.

The Japanese continue to demonstrate their affinity for hybrids, Toyota displaying a FT-Ch concept hybrid compact and Honda showing a new CR-Z gas/electric sport coupe. Meanwhile, Volkswagen, to quote an old VW tagline, does it again. The German automaker, Europe's largest, unveiled a new concept car - a compact two-door coupe obviously based on the new, upcoming sixth-generation Jetta sedan. This will likely be a two-door Jetta, the first since 1991. This coupe is quite stylish, offering impressive fuel economy and a seven-speed DSG transmission mated to Volkswagen's TSI gasoline engine with a supplementary electric motor. And the company is on track to continue expanding in the United States, as Consumer Reports recommends eight VW models and the new Tennessee factory is on schedule. Learn more - a whole lot more - by watching the video here.

I'm a little embarrassed by the dancers at the end of the presentation. Volkswagen is notoriously famous for avoiding the showbiz razzmatazz at auto shows favored by GM or Chrysler. But they have less reason for such showmanship, which is why they have none this year (no pickups dropping from the ceiling), and VW is bucking the trends of the recession, so I'll give VW a pass.

Cruisin' For a Bruisin'

In what has to be the biggest recall in automotive history, Toyota - yes, Toyota - has had to recall 3.8 million vehicles to install a new accelerator pedal and install a new brake system after several Toyota and Lexus cars have caused in the United States twelve deaths and over a hundred complaints to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration. The cars accelerated without warning, even with cruise control in use.

This is a much more serious case than the infamous Audi incident in 1987, when Audi's 5000 model was believed to be unexpectedly accelerating when drivers attempted to use the brake pedal. What actually happened in that case was that American drivers, unfamiliar with the accelerator and brake pedals on German cars being so close together, unintentionally pressed on the gas when they attempted to slow the car down. The Toyota case was apparently due to a flaw in the interior design; the pedal was simply too close to the floor, and the floor mats have to be reconfigured as well to provide more clearance. Temporary gas pedals will be installed by January, with permanent replacements installed by April. A new system that brings the car to a stop when both the accelerator and brake pedals are applied will be added.

The cars affected are the 2005-10 Toyota Avalon, and the 2007-10 Toyota Camry and Lexus ES350, along with some IS Class models. If you own a different Toyota product, relax; you're off the hook. Toyota, though, will be hooked to the tune of exorbitant costs to set straight something that should have been taken care of in the original design.

Recalls in the automotive industry are nothing new, but Toyota has rarely had to deal with any recalls, and certainly nothing of this magnitude. The gas pedal snafu comes on the heels of the Japanese automaker having to recall 110,000 Tundra pickup trucks made from 2000 to 2003 to correct a problem with rust that could loosen spare tires mounted below the truck underbodies. Perhaps what happened to General Motors and Volkswagen in the seventies - a dramatic drop in quality due to unproven products and corporate gigantism - may finally be happening to Toyota, riding high in the United States after over three decades and now the world's largest automaker. Toyota would be wise to correct these problems and put a stop to such quality lapses lest they're in danger in losing market share. As other automakers have demonstrated, a loss in market share can't be regained for decades.

For more information, owners can call Toyota at 800-331-4331 or the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration at 888-327-4236.

Just Move On Up!

I'm watching Volkswagen of America with great concern. Not because of their 18 percent sales drop last month; that's part and parcel of the recession. I'm more concerned about the possibility of the German character of its cars being compromised.

While VW will continue to sell its volume model, the Golf, in the U.S. market, and will even produce a second-generation New Beetle, the American division is going more in the direction of aping the Japanese strategy to increase its presence in the American market. That is, offer cars designed more for comfort than for driving. It turns out VW's new mid-size sedan, or NMS - I'll call it the Dasher, after Volkswagen's family car from the seventies, from now on - will be bigger than the Passat, not smaller, and it will compete directly with the Toyota Camry. The Dasher, to be built in Tennessee, will be just as well-appointed as the Camry and will likely perform and handle as well as the Camry.

Dude, if you want a Camry, get a Camry. Some American car buyers prefer the more refined and more finely engineered ride of a Passat.

Then there's Volkswagen's small up! car.

The up!, originally displayed at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2007, was originally designed as a rear-engined, rear-drive small car in the spirit of the original Beetle. (No aircooling, though.) But because of concerns about the possible tail-happy behavior of a rear-engine car, and also to cut costs, the engine was moved to the front for the production version, driving the front wheels. Some wags have even suggested that VW erred on the side of conservatism in deference to the American market. The up! had been designed with the possibility of offering it in the U.S. in mind but Volkswagen hasn't committed to such an idea completely out of fear that it might be too small for American tastes.

If Volkswagen had had the same attitude toward the American market in the fifties that it has now, the Beetle might never had been sold here. Volkswagen didn't just change people's minds in the United States about foreign cars; the German company changed people's minds here about small cars, and it got Americans to appreciate the economy and frugality of a small, basic car like the Beetle. Plus, the taut suspension and stiff shocks the Beetle had and most of its watercooled, front-engine successors have had changed many American attitudes about how a car should ride.

The cheap gasoline of the past thirty years, alas, re-established American preferences for bigger and softer cars, and Toyota and Honda have been all too happy to follow suit with their ever bigger and softer Camry and Accord models, respectively. To be fair, their small Corolla and Civic models continue to be perennial favorites in America, though they're rather unexciting. That said, American-style engineering and Japanese banality are not what Volkswagen customers demand from their cars. VW became a part of the American landscape by letting the market come to them. I understand the need for car companies to respond to market demands, but there's a reason I'm a Volkswagen owner and chose a Golf over the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic. I like driver's cars. If you just want a car to get from one place to another, you buy a Japanese or domestic car. If you want to enjoy the trip, you buy a Volkswagen. Will we still enjoy the trip once Volkswagen tries to Americanize or Nipponize its U.S. product? Volkswagen of America president Stefan Jacoby insists that the Dasher and the smaller subcompact positioned below the Golf - to be called the Polo but having little in common with the European model of the same name - will be Volkswagens in every sense of the brand name, but I'm skeptical.

I still have bad feelings about the Americanized Rabbit built in Pennsylvania in the early eighties.

As for the up!, which may actually get here in 2012, there should be a market for it here once gas prices go up again. (Oh, they will, man , they will!) And as far as I'm concerned . . .

Heck, I'd buy one! :-)