it is sad when america hates america........ted kennedy bill clinton types have created the give up attitude by so many americans........stick ur hand out and big brother fills it.........if u vote for us...........my chevy's still drivin gforever ieven the 85 Jimmy.........and the 89 pickup......runs like new.......day after day........i wouldn't be caught dead in a foreign pickup.......they can't deliver like the big boys.......
Yeah, I tell myself, truly, when I make the big coin trading I will reward myself with a Vette or Mustang, both fun cars. I will keep driving my Toyota or a Hyundai as a daily driver.
If you choose a Vette or Mustang, make sure you know a good mechanic. Also it will help if you happen to have the urgent need to put another man's children through college. I think that about covers it. Steve
Lamborghini for me, or perhaps a Ferrari... there´s nothing like driving a work of art...the italians are in a league of their own when it comes to cars.
CacheLanding wrote: Just so you know, Toyota is extremely pissed about everyone attributing all of their succes to some 6sigma bs. It's becoming almost an urban legend. I work at a company which uses this methadology extensively, and it seems eerily cultish. One of my friends who is a "6sigma blackbelt" didn't know that sigma was standard deviation. A huge part of Toyota's success, IMHO, is attributable to the management/promotional style which straight-up rewards individual employee ideas and innovation. BTW: My father worked for Ford. Never drove one outside of a '68 beater pickup for hauling crap.
The reality of making cars or manufacturing anything complex, is that you need cheap labour to do it well. Wealthy countries like america would do better designing and specing the vehicles and getting them made in china. If the quality is not up to scratch, they don't make it on the boat. You'd be surprised how much of your Japenese \ or American car is already made there now. Runningbear
I also work for a company that is "eerily focused on 6sigma, and you know what... It has made a huge difference. I realize that toyota would like to claim that there are many other reasons for their success, and there really are some other reasons that contributed. They really did have a better incentive plan than the US companies and they were more logicl in their approach to job descriptions. But... the majority of the success came from one piece flow, interchangeable parts, low inventory, and cross trained employees. These concepts, all piled into one, have been dubbed "lean manufacturing". They should be embracing the fact that this is what created their success.
Reading the last posts: do you know what that really means? It means that Toyota management respects engineers and the way engineers think. There is an anti-intellectual and anti-science bias pervading much of US culture---why else are management executives who don't know engineering paid so much more, and degrade them as gear-heads, a burden liable to be laid-off at any time? Sure, a few *racing* engineers may be celebrated---as long as it's about *sports* with massive petroleum consumption. I have a suggestion to the remaining "big" (and shrinking) two. Hire some new mechanical engineering graduates from the elite schools, starting at MIT, Stanford, etc. Give them a legally binding <b>twenty year</b> contract with decent pay. Then, start them off twisting bolts in the factories right along the UAW, and going from place to place, including the factories and labs of the suppliers. Then listen to them and do what they say, and hire them as CEO in a few years. PS: every single member of the Chinese Central Committee has a degree in science or engineering.
trying to defend US automakers is comical. now renault is the supposed saviour for GM - LMAO! i had a toyota cressida that ran 345,000 miles - it was really comfortable - had power sun-roof that NEVER broke. - i did put a used engine (from japan) in at 260,000 miles... the trannie finally went, so i scrapped it, but the engine was still strong! cressida is a great car, good power, really comfortable and believe me i spent many 16-hr days in that car. i replaced it with a ford taurus - what a collosal POS. they used steel freeze plugs and after i had a flush done, they all starting blowing - one was locatde in an area impossible to access, so they had to put an expansion plug in it... the seats were horrible, which ive noticed when renting other ford sedans. i had the trannie replaced at ??,??? miles, but i think it was 73,000 mi or so? the #1 cylinder was going, i replaced the radiator twice, blah, blahj, blah... i now drive a honda accord - great car, comfortable, good trade-off for size/gas mileage. good buy detroit - NEVER AGAIN!