Moving Backwards
James Burton
Issue date: 3/4/10 Section: Opinion
The other day, during a low moment in my life, I found myself watching C-SPAN. They just so happened to be covering the congressional hearings regarding the mass recalls coming out of the Toyota camp. I found myself both intrigued, amused and terrified all at once. What happened to this once great car corporation?
There were multiple people being questioned, but the two that stuck out in my mind were James Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. and Akio Toyoda, president and CEO of Toyota. Lentz reminded me greatly of a politician. Multiple congressmen questioned him in regards to the faulty gas pedal/computer/floor mat issue (something they still can't figure out.) and each time Lentz did not provide a yes or no answer. More often than not the questions asked could have been solved with a yes or no answer. Seeing Toyoda up there, however, absolutely made my day. The way he prepared his statement and answered the inquiries was just like the Chinpokomon episode of "South Park." If there had been any more ass kissing to our Congress, I would've expected Toyoda to start making the penis comparisons (Really, you've got to watch the episode to know what I'm talking about.)
What happened to Toyota? It's simple, really. They got Americanized. Japanese car manufacturers have a knack for being reliable, simple to repair and affordable. Once Toyota (and Honda for that matter) started building plants into the United States, American jobs came into play. With American auto workers comes unions. With unions comes generally ridiculous demands. Floor sweepers at GM plants get around $79 an hour thanks to groups like the UAW. With unions comes higher prices and thus cheaper products are made to compensate for the higher prices. Why do you think the Big Three started building plants outside of the US? Because they didn't want to have to deal with the unions.
Secondly, with the American executives comes the "politician" attitude. I challenge you to find a time in history where The Big Three ever straight up took responsibility for a major foul-up. The closest example would be the infamous memo from Ford in the seventies when they determined that paying the families of people killed by the Ford Pinto was actually CHEAPER than fixing the problem itself. Remember, folks. Chevy never would have discontinued the Corvair had it not been for Ralph Nader pushing the subject relentlessly.
There were multiple people being questioned, but the two that stuck out in my mind were James Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. and Akio Toyoda, president and CEO of Toyota. Lentz reminded me greatly of a politician. Multiple congressmen questioned him in regards to the faulty gas pedal/computer/floor mat issue (something they still can't figure out.) and each time Lentz did not provide a yes or no answer. More often than not the questions asked could have been solved with a yes or no answer. Seeing Toyoda up there, however, absolutely made my day. The way he prepared his statement and answered the inquiries was just like the Chinpokomon episode of "South Park." If there had been any more ass kissing to our Congress, I would've expected Toyoda to start making the penis comparisons (Really, you've got to watch the episode to know what I'm talking about.)
What happened to Toyota? It's simple, really. They got Americanized. Japanese car manufacturers have a knack for being reliable, simple to repair and affordable. Once Toyota (and Honda for that matter) started building plants into the United States, American jobs came into play. With American auto workers comes unions. With unions comes generally ridiculous demands. Floor sweepers at GM plants get around $79 an hour thanks to groups like the UAW. With unions comes higher prices and thus cheaper products are made to compensate for the higher prices. Why do you think the Big Three started building plants outside of the US? Because they didn't want to have to deal with the unions.
Secondly, with the American executives comes the "politician" attitude. I challenge you to find a time in history where The Big Three ever straight up took responsibility for a major foul-up. The closest example would be the infamous memo from Ford in the seventies when they determined that paying the families of people killed by the Ford Pinto was actually CHEAPER than fixing the problem itself. Remember, folks. Chevy never would have discontinued the Corvair had it not been for Ralph Nader pushing the subject relentlessly.
Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 9
67AC140
posted 3/05/10 @ 4:28 PM CST
Mr. Burton,
Before writing an article like this you should really do some research and get your facts straight.
First, no one at GM gets paid $79 an hour to sweep floors. (Continued…)
Thor
posted 3/08/10 @ 11:12 PM CST
You watch C-SPAN...what a loser
Philip Fox
posted 3/10/10 @ 8:19 AM CST
James
You really should get your facts straight before writing something that makes you look ignorant and narrow minded. The Japaneses brought there plants here and located them outside Detroit to avoid dealing with unions. (Continued…)
Tiberius
posted 3/18/10 @ 10:34 PM CST
I don't write about stuff that I don't know about. I'm not Karl Rove. Nothing I said up there wasn't true or at least an educated guess. Think you can do better? Write a letter to the editor. (Continued…)
Post a Comment