$1,800 profit-per-car over GM

The build cost in Japan and Canada is less than in the US. Assembling vehicles in the US, in lower wage states of what Toyotas calls 'world sourced parts' cost less to build as well. Why then does it cost so much more to drive home a comparable size and equipped Toyota is my point?

mike

Better reliability than FURD products, for starters.

Cause you get a better car that will last longer.

Some of us find that a plus.

I also don't miss all the local automotive craftsmen I had to become aquatinted with when I drove American Junk...

You have decided to waste money buying new cars every two years or so. I would rather waste money on fine lenses for my Canon digital SLR....

Final assemble of assorted imported parts, in the US or Canada to meet the NA parts label standard, does not make them US parts. Start with the steel, electronics, tires, lighting and DENSO parts etc, that all comes from Japan or other Asian companies, that is one reason Toyotas ads now say assemble in the US of world sourced parts. ;)

mike

Who cares how much it cost Toyota or Ford to build a car? What is important is the value of the car.

Apparently, people think Accords and Camries have more value than Ford Fusion.

Jeff

You're talking like the value of a car is determined only by its size. It isn't.

Jeff

Were does Toyota call its parts "world sourced [sic] parts?" The reason why is that the buyers of Toyotae think that Toyotas offer more value than Fords and GMs.

Jeff

Can you please back your claim that Toyota says "world sourced[sic] parts?"

And can you please back your claim that the steel and electronics come from Japan? Where do you think the electronics come from for the US-brand cars?

Jeff

Whoa... How pathetic is that... Ford builds a full-size car and can't get the price of a mid-size car for it. Maybe they should just give up, file Chapter 11 and start over.

I'll bet GM wishes they had the "problem" of low-cost build.

Get a clue; if Toyotas sell at premium prices compared to similarly optioned domestics, the judgement of the market is that Toyotas are "better" than the domestics. Detroit better get its collective act together.

Toyota manufactured (as in starting with aluminum ingots and doing casting, forging, etc) 1.4 million engines here last year. By way of comparison, my '82 Cavalier engine was made in Brazil (you needed two complete toolsets to work the car; the engine parts were all metric and the body parts were all SAE).

I bought that car - and paid more for it than I would have for similar K-car, because I felt it was a good value because it was a class leader. It felt delightfully solid and the interior looked both good and rugged. The K-car was a tinny piece of crap with a cheesy interior made out of crappy thin vinyls and thin plastic that looked like it would crack if you looked at it cross-eyed. The K-car seat adjustment felt like crap, compared to the Cavalier (and Monza). The mirrors wobbled. The K-car paint looked like it might last a week in the sun.

Fast-forward 20 years and I'm buying Toyotas and passing over GMs for the same reason I bought GM and passed over the K-car (although, even today, the worst GM product ever built is still superior to the '82 K-car).

GM does not presently provide what I want; a high-quality small car with good interior room and superior fuel economy. And it's not clear that, by buying GM, I'd be buying a car built here, all your blather to the contrary. The Chevy CrApveo is entirely Korean. GM and Ford are moving operations out of the US and Toyota is ramping up. One of Ford's "Bold Moves" promotional videos focuses on the new Fusion (nice car) and how it is being beautifully manufactured in Hermosillo (sp?) Mexico. Is Mexico the latest "high-wage country" in a World Atlas that resides only in your head?

So, it's a bad thing to have manufacturing in the South? It's a bad thing to buy from Canada (our largest trading partner, last time I checked)?

Canada is not a "low wage" country. South Korea, home of the Chevy crApveo IS a low-wage country. And, as it moves up the wage ladder, I'm quite sure we'll see GM shift sourcing operations to Bangladesh.

It should be noted that GM, Ford and DamnYourCrapsler have cut jobs at their Canadian assembly lines in recent years to stay afloat. Meanwhile, Toyota is going to add a second assembly line in Canada soon, and I thought I heard sometime ago that Honda may do the same.

Mikey Hunt(er) is just a troll. So is Ed White. Please don't feed them.

If you believe who is 'better' is based on the number sold than you obviously must conclude GM is 'better' not Toyota. GM sells more cars and more trucks in the US than Toyota LOL

mike

Ya' right. I traded my Toyotas every two years as well. My dealer is a Ford/ Lincoln Mercury and Toyota dealer. Same techs work on all brands but the dealership must charge $15 an hour more, when they work on Toyotas because of Toyotas higher shop rates. LOL

mike

How would you know what is available in new cars today? You claim you have not purchased a new car in 15 years. You qualify as an antique collector in my book ;)

Wanna bet the Ernst Leitz- Wetzler, Elmar, and Summnaron lenses I use on the

mike

They won't auto focus on my 5D....so it's moot point.

The lens argument rages. I just take pictures....LOL

They won't work on my Canon Rebel EOS, either. One of these days they're going to make a digital back for this thing and then I will have a proper DSLR.

Charles of Schaumburg

I didn't, but people who buy Toyotas do average more education and income than those who buy Chevys and Fords. On the other hand the typical buyers of German cars have even more income and education but wind up with the least reliable cars of them all.