why you shouldn't use a sled deck on a toyota

[Jaynelson]

Just a little note to those who defend Toyota as being "American Made". YOUR foreign automakers only have FINAL assembly plants in this country. Stamping your logo on the front of a vehicle coming down the assembly line in America that's parts were all assembled in China and Korea for 50 cents an hour is not my idea of American made. With a little research you will find out that Toyota is all about Toyota.

As far as the durability debate goes, when it comes right down to it, there is a reason that Toyota's new flagship Tundra plant in Texas is sitting idle.When times are good and those who don't really need a truck are buying just to say they have one, Toyota can sell. But when gas prices reach an all time high, those who don't need a truck for work or hauling quit buying trucks. Simply put, those who buy a truck for work or hauling, buy domestic trucks. Here's to America.

Tundra was designed and built in USA. It is not sold or built in any other market than the North American one, it shares no major parts with any overseas model. I challenge you to show how it has more or less US content than a Ford/GM/Dodge. It think it will be very hard to find stats on that, as ALL automakers are HUGE multi-national companies with thousands of suppliers and subcontracted manufacturers you've never even heard of.

Guess where they design and build many of the switches, gauges and other electronics for GM and Ford? Right down the street in Nelson BC CANADA at a place call Insight Electronics...did you know that?

The truck market in general has had a huge slow down....are you saying that Toyota has experienced MORE of a sales drop in the truck market than the big 3? Do you have stats for this? Or just another 13 year old kiddy who likes daddy's chevy and has never driven/owned/sat in anything else?

What about the guy who works at a Toyota factory....is he less American than the guy who works down the street at the Ford shop? If yes, then how will blind patriotism put food on Ford guy's table when his company goes banko due to mismanagement? At that point, will working for a smart company start looking pretty good? You bet it will.

Nothing different from the rest of our society.....the strong survive, the weak die, and the dumb lazy ones ask for money.

 

[ak ryda]

But when gas prices reach an all time high, those who don't need a truck for work or hauling quit buying trucks. Simply put, those who buy a truck for work or hauling, buy domestic trucks. Here's to America.

Wrong. People who need a truck for work or hauling buy 3/4 and 1 ton trucks. The big 3 are the only ones who make them for the US market. If toyota started making a 3/4 or 1 ton truck you would see them all over the road.

Take your blinders off and do some research on your own, you would be surprised what you find.

 

[TFB]

Jaynelson, here are your statistics for your sales numbers to back my statement.
http://blogs.edmunds.com/greencaradvisor/2008/10/toyota-retreats-from-full-size-pickup-truck-sales-war-tables-diesel-tundra.html[/URL]

I have worked for the big 3 for more than ten years in supplier facilities (not a 13 year old who's dad has a truck), and to say that the parts that make up a truck from a foreign company is anywhere near in line with domestic trucks is crazy. The big 3 have hundreds of plants (that they own) that provide instrument panels, stamping, transmissions, engines, plastics, alternators and many more of the components you have in your truck right here in the USA and Canada. Toyota has most of this work stationed in countries who employees make pennies compared to our wages in the US. But those people that are making pennies in other countries are not buying vehicles at our dealerships, spending money at our snowmobile resorts, buying Ski-Doo (Canada), Polaris (MINN) and Arctic Cat (MINN) snowmobiles and contributing to the growth of not only our economy, but our sport. I know that there are a lot of people in the south that are employed by Toyota, Honda and Nissan, but pressure needs to be put on foreign companies to build an equal amount of their components in this county.

 

[Jaynelson]

^Fair enough, posts like this illustrate your point much better than the ra ra USA rules hoopla from the first one.

The article you referenced is only a snap shot of one month's sales. That said, the key reason Toyota slumped harder in that month than the others is right here:

Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., told Automotive News today that despite its recent zero-percent financing deals, Japan's No. 1 automaker is not going to engage Chevrolet, Ford and Dodge in their full-sized pickup sales war.

Toyota has not engaged in the "fire sale" pricing the others have as of yet. In this price sensitive market, that will hurt sales. That said....is selling a few units and turning profit "better" than selling a lot of units at little or no profit? Depends what your goals are....in general, Toyota's goals are more long-term than the domestics. Time will tell and Toyota is not immune.

As any employee of the big 3, do you honestly not wish that they had the business sense of Toyota in order to better secure their future? The American automakers are their own worst enemy.....everyone who has put them in this position is within the company, not the consumer base.

 

[TFB]

Absolutely. I believe that the majority of the problems facing the big 3 were brought on by themselves. They really dropped the ball by not being more involved with the smaller vehicles that are now in demand. I work in a Ford facility that has not changed its ranger dash panel since 94. With that said I really believe that the big 2 or 3, however it works out in the end, will come back to prominence.

Let be honest, all of the full size trucks on the market do a pretty good job of holding up there end of the bargain. The only thing I ask is that you take a good hard look the next time you buy a truck to see where the majority of its components are made. Hopefully they will be made right here in the US or Canada, feeding the pockets of those who drive our economy and our sport.

 

[Deadwood]

Absolutely. I believe that the majority of the problems facing the big 3 were brought on by themselves. They really dropped the ball by not being more involved with the smaller vehicles that are now in demand. I work in a Ford facility that has not changed its ranger dash panel since 94. With that said I really believe that the big 2 or 3, however it works out in the end, will come back to prominence.

Let be honest, all of the full size trucks on the market do a pretty good job of holding up there end of the bargain. The only thing I ask is that you take a good hard look the next time you buy a truck to see where the majority of its components are made. Hopefully they will be made right here in the US or Canada, feeding the pockets of those who drive our economy and our sport.

I disagree with two things here-
The big 3 coming back-in my experience people who switch to Toyota, Nissan, or Honda typically don't go back-for the reasons below...

In my experience the quality of Big 3 trucks I had or people I know had, did not hold up their end of the bargain, in quality, service, or resale.
They won't get me back. I don't care if a new dmax is 20 G and gets 40 miles per gallon.
I'm done.

 

[ovscrider]

Jaynelson, here are your statistics for your sales numbers to back my statement.
http://blogs.edmunds.com/greencaradvisor/2008/10/toyota-retreats-from-full-size-pickup-truck-sales-war-tables-diesel-tundra.html[/URL]

I have worked for the big 3 for more than ten years in supplier facilities (not a 13 year old who's dad has a truck), and to say that the parts that make up a truck from a foreign company is anywhere near in line with domestic trucks is crazy. The big 3 have hundreds of plants (that they own) that provide instrument panels, stamping, transmissions, engines, plastics, alternators and many more of the components you have in your truck right here in the USA and Canada. Toyota has most of this work stationed in countries who employees make pennies compared to our wages in the US. But those people that are making pennies in other countries are not buying vehicles at our dealerships, spending money at our snowmobile resorts, buying Ski-Doo (Canada), Polaris (MINN) and Arctic Cat (MINN) snowmobiles and contributing to the growth of not only our economy, but our sport. I know that there are a lot of people in the south that are employed by Toyota, Honda and Nissan, but pressure needs to be put on foreign companies to build an equal amount of their components in this county.

a big chunk of the tundras parts come from suppliers who built facilities adjacent to the san antonio plant. Camry is ranked #2 in NA parts content behind the F150 but ahead of the Silverado. Ram doesn't even show up in the top 10.

 

[ruffryder]

a big chunk of the tundras parts come from suppliers who built facilities adjacent to the san antonio plant. Camry is ranked #2 in NA parts content behind the F150 but ahead of the Silverado. Ram doesn't even show up in the top 10.

You mind posting a link to the info? Would be interesting to see more as it is good info to have....

Thanks

 

[Butta]

I heard some stats on the radio the other day concerning the auto industry. GM and Toyota sold roughly the same number of "units" (vehicles) last year, approx 9.3 million each. While GM posted a $34 BILLION loss, Toyota posted a $17 BILLION profit!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now, you tell me which business is set to survive in a recession.

Mismanagement, "fat" manufacturing, "golden parachutes" for it's CEO's, Union i$$ue$, etc, etc, all make the big 3 uncompetitive in a free market. COMPETITION is supposed to improve products and make them as good as they can be for as little money as they can be sold to the consumer. The big 3 have proven they cannot, in their present mode of operation, survive in a free market and need a "bailout" in order to keep from tanking. Why are we going to promote bad management and piss poor "free market" business operations only to have them build a subpar product? I, for one, am glad the $17 Billion bailout money was conditionalized with a survivable restructuring by March '09, or the whole loan becomes immediately due. This is going to put pressure on the union, and on its workers....come to an agreement for a pay/benefits cut, or lose the company.

Ought to make for some GREAT media!!

 

[Butta]

I disagree with two things here-
The big 3 coming back-in my experience people who switch to Toyota, Nissan, or Honda typically don't go back-for the reasons below...

In my experience the quality of Big 3 trucks I had or people I know had, did not hold up their end of the bargain, in quality, service, or resale.
They won't get me back. I don't care if a new dmax is 20 G and gets 40 miles per gallon.
I'm done.

Me too...I used to be a BIG time Ford guy..my dad always had them, my first truck was a Ranger, then I bought a new F150 in 2000.....felt like a tin can. It was a good truck, for what it was meant to do, but it seems they put all their $ into marketing rather than R&D to find out what the people (us) really want. I went looking for my new truck in '04.......sat/drove all the half ton 4 doors. The Ford salesman told me "we've got the biggest cab on the market, and the biggest bed". Comparing the dimensions, I asked where the extra 6" for the cab came from, because it wasn't out of the engine compartment, the wheelbase was the same as the year before, and yet they claim to have the biggest bed, too....he said they took it out of the bed....but they had the biggest bed??? Yeah, they made the bed 2" deeper to claim the largest volume. A bunch of BS marketing. I couldnt' even put my dirtbike in there with the back wheel kicked sideways and close the tailgate. SUX! Also, the vents for the rear seats were only to carry heat, no A/C....this is in Florida, mind you....I wasn't about to put my kids back there without A/C venting in the heat of Florida.

Sorry for the windy post....