Toyota Extends Olive Branch to Detroit? Should They Accept?

Do I sense a little fear of retribution? Maybe being number one may not produce the resulting PR they are hoping for.

You know if it were GM stomping Toyota, The song and dance would be different. But since it is an outsider stomping GM, it is interesting to see all of the negative press out there on them.

I only report a fraction of what I see about Toyota due to all of the bad press and I catch holy heck for it!

What do you expect, in any country a foriegner is a foriegner. Toyota is Japanese and will always be Japanese, no one can change that. I mean people still call Chrysler American right?

Why do Asian, Japanese, companies get such bad raps when they are doing well? That is just my perception. Does it happen the other way around? I guess the grass is always greener on the other side

Because they do too well? After all Aren't the Americans supposed to be the best at everything? (sarcastic)

Because American has an open society and Japans is closed to foreigners.

hmmmm.

Just look at all this hate and envy.

Its no fictions that the U.S. has been very sensitive about Asian firms who are dominating industry segments. From Lenovo in China, Infosys in India to Toyota in Japan, if an asian firm is a heavy lifter that is beating an american company, it is the target of a lot of bad press.
In defense of edmunds, the did post a long time ago that teh rise of Toyota would bring realms of negative press. Especially since they caught the domestic and European car industry with their pants down with the introduction of the Prius. While teh naysayers here will point to Diesel sales in Europe, lcoal governments in Europe are pushing for the super low emissions that the prius/hybrids give.
Its no fiction that F1 too is trying to make the future of the car into that of an hybrid.

Here here!

Poor Ford... they're in the worst of it.

Definitely!

So, Toyota’s motivations are dubious at best and probably conniving. They want to make sure they’re not excluded from the competition by a surprise American technology, and probably aiming to be the Microsoft Windows of cars. Ya think?! The only one missing the point here seems to be the author of the article.

Sincerity of their speech is irrelevant, and Mr. Mulally is not "buying" anything. He’s playing their game like they do, and it’s about time. Toyota isn’t just better at the PR politics game than us, they’re playing in a different league. This author’s reaction is a showcase example on why. They’re planning ahead, forging alliances on every level from suppliers to government to competition... and they’re doing it with a smile and a greeting every time. Meanwhile, people on the American side are flipping everyone the bird and calling out their "insincerity" and selfish motivations... because that, apparently, is how you convince everyone how confident, established and caring you are. We could learn a few things from Toyota, one of them is in between the lines of that speech… I’m glad Mr. Mulally seems to realize that.

GM - Ford - Chrysler Vs Toyota - Honda - Nissan

That would stir up some patriotism!

Scooter I was just kidding there buddy, I am a generation Y buyer, I buy whats hot, not where the damn car is made.

Putting your ear to the ground the beginning of something is brewing here in the US and the Toyota spinsters know it. They are becoming the 'Toyota Empire'. As we all know Empires fight against the forces of good - it appears throughout history and mythologies both ancient and corporate. Remember when Roger & Me was slamming The General, well Toyota is now poised to take the heat for their streamrolling success...they have a history of managing economics very well but they have always had QDR and goodwill on their side. Keep those ears open.

This is all just PR.

Jim Press is a dirtbag just like every other American who works for or buys a Toyota.

Ive owned American and Japanese cars, and for the looks, performance, and value for the money, I will always buy a Japanese car from now on. No, I don't feel patriotic about it, but Im not gonna get screwed over again wasting my $ on a sub par vehicle that's worth crap at resale and it sure isn't Japan's fault for making a better car!

Whose shortsighted vision kept building low tech high profit SUVs expecting our foreign policy and military to keep cheap oil flowing instead of freakin trying to make better cars? As an American, I don't want to see the detroit three and big chunk of our economy go down the toilet and I can tell you that Toyota will look like the villan if that happens. Guess what? America is the largest car market in the world and a big part of Toyota's rise to the top. They can't afford the bad PR.... Besides, protectionism and import tariffs will shoot up if detroit really goes down...