What If Toyota Teamed Up With GM On More Cars?

What If Toyota Teamed Up With GM On More Cars?
Toyota said Friday that nothing had been decided yet on using its California joint venture plant with General Motors to produce its Prius hybrid -- a move that would mark the first North American plant for the hit "green" car.

Major daily Tokyo Shimbun reported Friday that Toyota Motor Corp. was in talks with General Motors Corp. about producing the Prius, now made in only Japan and China, at a joint venture plant in Fremont, California.

The newspaper, which did not cite sources as is common in Japanese media reports, said that adding another production plant will help boost Toyota hybrid sales.



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WimmerWimmer - 5/30/2008 1:49:07 PM
+7 Boost
Actually the boring designs would come from Toyota, Michael.


Agent63Agent63 - 5/30/2008 8:24:01 PM
+3 Boost
This world revolves around money and finance is key in the automotive industry whether you like to believe it or not. The world isn't black and white like you make it seem. If Toyota and GM can benefit from their partnership then it's a win win situation.

As for quality control, even without blaming GM, Toyota's quality has slumped a little with the company growing substantially in the last few years and in result they can't exactly keep up to pace with the company's ever growing number in sales.


hao420hao420 - 5/30/2008 9:15:06 PM
-3 Boost
Damn,i hate GM. that gonna bring down Toyota build quality....<


ChicaneShooterChicaneShooter - 5/31/2008 2:37:14 AM
-1 Boost

it counts for easing fears of would be gm buyers. toyotas don't NEED no stinkin' overlong warranty.

just about every time a mfgr. has offered overlong warranties, it is to REASSURE customers and counter stories/reputations of SHODDY reliability.




Agent63Agent63 - 5/31/2008 5:46:39 AM
+3 Boost
Actually, Toyota brings down their own company, not GM. As a company grows quality is sacrificed in some way or another. So you can't blame GM if Toyota and GM wants to work together. Like I said it's all about finance and anyone who knows about that knows money helps to create better products. No company will want to sacrifice millions or billions just to make consumers happy. After all it IS a business.


85bmw745i85bmw745i - 5/31/2008 11:27:56 AM
+4 Boost
They partnered before, remember the chevy nova AKA corolla, or the Geo prizm aka corolla, vibe/Matrix?


toolatetoracetoolatetorace - 5/31/2008 8:10:38 PM
+2 Boost
Gee ,, then we will have GM cars with smiley faces ,or should I say smiley grilles like the Toyies grills have . Not a pretty picture on either car


bestofallcadbestofallcad - 6/1/2008 2:57:38 AM
+1 Boost
michaeltaylor your taste must be in your a** since Toyota and Lexus have the most boring Grandma cars out there.

Shoot they did not even have one car in their line up even in the in the running for Motor Trend car of the year or Car and Driver car of the year! Yes the Cadillac CTS WON!!!!!!!!!

Toyota has some of the worst designs and as a car company have gotten very complacent because they are relianing on morons like you!!!

Toyota just might not stay at the richest car company for long. Would that be great to see a American auto maker kick their a**!!!!!!! I know because I am an American I would love to see that!!!!


bestofallcadbestofallcad - 6/1/2008 3:02:06 AM
+1 Boost
hao420 well I HATE TOYOTA!!! if Toyota and GM merged that would be the day that I would by a Ford!!! So I pray that never Happens. Since I Drive a Cadillac.


lexusrox123lexusrox123 - 5/30/2008 1:46:27 PM
-8 Boost
that will NEVER EVER happen. need i say more?


91z4me91z4me - 5/30/2008 3:18:00 PM
+5 Boost
Why not? Toyota and GM has co-built a number of cars over the years.

Personally I don't think it is a wise move to continue the joint venture for either party but that isn't to say it won't happen.


bestofallcadbestofallcad - 6/1/2008 3:10:33 AM
+1 Boost
chicaneShooter I am sorry to tell you Toyota has the shobby quality and they do need that longer warranty.

I drive a Cadillac and have for a long time now I have never used the warrenty hmmm not so shabby infact I just traded my Cadillac Esclade in for the new CTS my Esclade had 87,000 miles on it and all I ever did to it was change the oil 3 times, so I do not need no stickin re assurance of the quality in my Cadillacs.

by the way did I just read the Toyota is recalling the Highlander for faulty seat belts? hmmmm!!


ChicaneShooterChicaneShooter - 5/31/2008 3:03:51 AM
-2 Boost
i guess you've been totally BLIND to the current generation Camry, which is still the best selling sedan. now, even more so.



ChicaneShooterChicaneShooter - 5/31/2008 3:01:09 AM
0 Boost

it makes business sense for toyota to have another plant cranking out Priuses to meet booming demand.

the question is, would they do it at Fremont, or in ANOTHER of their NA plants?

the Fremont NUMMI plant being a joint operation with GM, they'd have to share some of the output with gm, just as there's been a gm version (nova, prizm, vibe) of every corolla made there.

only reason i can think of, for using fremont rather than another toyota plant, is maybe A DEAL with gm. they'd be a gm-badged Prius, and maybe toyota will have access to gm's "dual mode" hybrid system?




bestofallcadbestofallcad - 6/1/2008 3:35:01 AM
+1 Boost
chicaneShooter, What the Hell are you talking about Toytota they have not been building quality for a 1/2 of century, was Toyota even building a car in 1958? ChicaneShooter do you know how long a Century is? well if you do not know I will tell you it is a 100 years, so a half of century is 50 years I have never seen a 1958 Toyota, infact I do not even remember how they looked in 1980. I do know I still see many American cars on the road that are a half a century old, I have never seen a Toyota a half a century old.

I do not know about you I do not even know of a Toyota that was made in 1958? if Toyota has been building a quality car for a half a century I would think it would be a Classic car by now!! I have been to many Classic car shows and I have never seen a 1958 Toyota!!!


deepwaterdeepwater - 5/31/2008 3:37:06 AM
+1 Boost
Toyota will restructure their production. The SUV capacity will decrease (because of declining demand)and they will produce hybrids instead. At the recessive situation (Europe, domestic...) Toyota will concentrate on effectiveness not on the capacity. Anyhow, they have serious quality roblems reason of high volume. I think Toyota will change general policy to be #3, but with the high profit, nothing to spend on quality issues and nothing to loose on wrong product planning. The shareholder would have their money, not the explanations...


ChicaneShooterChicaneShooter - 5/31/2008 6:01:51 AM
-2 Boost

what makes you think toyota will abandon quality? after they spent about HALF A CENTURY to make the highest quality mass market cars on the planet!??

they've already acknowledged the slippage. and no doubt WILL take whatever steps necessary to FIX that.

the gm rebadged TOYOTAs that come out of the NUMMI plant are the HIGHEST QUALITY of ANY of the products in the gm line.

(meaning quality of assembly, and long lasting, defect free parts; caddy may have fancier appointments, but prizms/vibes far exceed even buick and caddy in long term reliability.)


Htay7500Htay7500 - 5/31/2008 8:07:15 AM
+3 Boost
toyota is becoming more of quantity and quality as of late.

"the gm rebadged TOYOTAs that come out of the NUMMI plant are the HIGHEST QUALITY of ANY of the products in the gm line."

because its has a toyota badge? and vibe is of poorer quality? please, you need to get out more, they are both the same damn thing, just different styling. GM is doing better, and last time I checked, lots of camry owners are trading them in for the new malibus. I fail to see why I should get something from toyota over what chevy/gm offers.


sectorsector - 5/31/2008 10:06:33 PM
0 Boost
and you can go straight to your KKK meeting :)


ChicaneShooterChicaneShooter - 6/3/2008 3:03:06 AM
+1 Boost
...


ChicaneShooterChicaneShooter - 6/3/2008 3:07:25 AM
+1 Boost
Htay:
"because its has a toyota badge? and vibe is of poorer quality? please, you need to get out more, they are both the same damn thing, just different styling."

of course. i knew that. DIDN'T you? that's why i said gm's share of the nummi products are re-badged toyotas.

they do not have toyota badges. they ARE TOYOTAs under the skin. the BADGES are gm (vibe, and previously prizm).


ChicaneShooterChicaneShooter - 6/3/2008 3:23:35 AM
+1 Boost
best..cad:

"chicaneShooter, What the Hell are you talking about Toytota they have not been building quality for a 1/2 of century, was Toyota even building a car in 1958?"

toyota has been building cars and trucks since the 1930s.

from the 1950s, they started developing the Toyota Production System, aka as the "just in time" system aka Lean Production. if you want to fill in the YAWNING GAP of ignorance in your automotive knowledge, i recommend you read the book "The Machine that Changed the World," a summary of a 5-year, $5 million study sponsored by M.I.T.

management consultant Tom Peters once stated that the Chevy/Geo Prizm, a REBADGED toyota corolla built at NUMMI, was "the best assembled car in the whole of gm's lineup." meaning it had the fewest defects, and ran the longest before having minor OR major problems.

CR's studies and charts over the past few decades CONFIRM this. any toyota product at 8 years of age still has fewer problems than any other brand's vehicles ONE-HALF as old. and this INCLUDES cadillacs.

while domestic brands HAVE narrowed the gap over recent years, it has not been closed. toyota had such a HUGE LEAD, that even with their recent slippage, they are STILL ahead overall. what few problems they've had were generally due to SUPPLIERS not providing the usual quality toyota demands, and on just relative handfuls of relatively few models.




bestofallcadbestofallcad - 6/3/2008 3:12:50 PM
+1 Boost
You keep driving your Toyota, I will keep driving my Cadillac.


ChicaneShooterChicaneShooter - 6/4/2008 3:39:50 AM
+1 Boost

i will. and with all the MONEY i save while you BLOW yours on 3x the gas, extra "maintenance"/repairs, etc. etc., i'll get me a Lexus. (maybe; i ALREADY have the same reliability. only when i feel a need to IMPRESS others, mite i consider a lexus.)

i actually owned two cadillacs. the first, i re-sold in a few days. the second, the guy who 'sold' it never got it running, so i gave him the title back.




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