Toyota Deals the Final Blow to GM and Ford with New Engine...

Cut engine cost by $1000?

I doubt that! Unless they've found a way to start with seeds.

I have not researched this new proclamation, but it doesn't meet the initial BS test. I don't think there's $1,000 in machining cost there to be saved.

Slave labor?

and

The new engine technology is now in use not only at Bodine, which Toyota bought in 1990, but also at foundries in Japan and China.

*****Partly as a result,**** the cost of building an engine for the redesigned Camry that was scheduled to go on sale in March will be about $1,000, half the cost of an engine for the previous generation of Camrys, says Gary Convis, executive vice president for North American manufacturing.

I'm still a sceptic...

Engineering excellence at work. Now if GM could only get off their ass..... . Read the links and weep.

Care to cite a reference? Could it be

?This is a ridiculous article, apparently written by the Toyota PR firm. The total manufacturing cost for many engines is under $1000, so this seems like a total BS story. I can only assume that the old Camry engine is horrendously expensive, since saving $1000 only reduces the cost by 50%. At $1000 the "new" Camry V-6 still costs more to build than a Buick 3.8L or a Ford 4.6L. So instead of highlighting Toyota's efficiency, it point out how inefficient the company actually is.

You might want to look at this old Wall Street Journal Story from 1996 -

. Back then Toyota was going toreduce the cost to produce an engine from $600 to $400. Seem like they musthave really gone down hill if they are now going to save $1000 tomanufacture an engine, when they claimed they could build them for $400 in1996.

You need to watch Toyota, they cut corners in subtle ways that end up cost the Customer many extra dollars down the road. As incredible as it seems, many Toyota engines don't use hydraulic valve lifters and require very expensive routine valve clearance adjustments. This probably saves Toyota $50 when they build the engine and costs the Customer hundreds when they have the valve clearances inspected and adjusted (if they have it checked at all).

Ed

We will have to waitand see what shaving $1000 off the cost of the engine has in store for the customer 40,000 miles down the road. GM shaaved some cost & weight off the 3800 by installing a plastic intake manifold's and the results were not well received by car owners.

Time Will Tell.

Harryface

05 Park Avenue 34,255 91 Bonneville LE 306,010

Do you read the links you post? This is certainly apples and oranges. That was the engine for a "dirt-cheap" car to be introduced in Asia. Not very likely to be the same thing as the motor for a Camry.

The proof's in the pudding. Toyota is selling a very nice car at prices competitive with GM and Ford offerings and MAKING MONEY doing it.

*** Free account sponsored by SecureIX.com *** *** Encrypt your Internet usage with a free VPN account from ***

So the current Camry engine cost FOUR times as much as a 1994 four cylinder? It is inconceivable that that the third rate Camry V-6 costs $2000 to build. This whole "saving $1000" claim is some sort of silly Toyota PR campaigned designed to polish the Toyota image. What they should have reported is something along the lines of "Toyota finally get a grip on excessive engine costs." It reminds me of managers who inflate their departmental budgets and then, when pushed, announce significant cost savings so that they can look like heros.

If you think third rate designs are "very nice vehicles" then I Toyota is your brand. Toyota charges thousands more for comparable vehicles while paying far less in salray and benefits to their workforce. As far as I can tell the whole Toyota sucess story is based on convincing people that they should pay more for less.

Ed

Better engineering and better designs, on the whole, than GM can manage. Toyota is making money and selling a lot of vehicles and keeps gaining market share while GM keeps on its downhill slide because of ongoing poor decisions and engineering. It did not have to be that way but GM took the cheap and greedy short term grab road.

Doesn't really say what this new "technique" is. Aluminum blocks are not new.Neither is magnesium, ever been to a VW block burning party at the Bonneville salt flats???:-) IMO the "new" technique _could_ be the same GM has used for the last several years on their new in-lines, namely lost foam investment casting.............

Toyota Deals the Final Blow to GM and Ford with New Engine block

just out of curiousity, how hard is it to get them to flame up?

883 degrees F

?

Yeh Americans are stupid and will buy anything especially if its somebody elses stuff just because other people have colder ice.

***

a standard cigarette lighter (an old BIC) will turn a roll of magnesium into a really bright fire...

Yes it's amazing how many still buy crap vehicles, consuming too much fuel and which they think are American, yet many are imported. See GM's bottom end junk cars imported from Korea.

Perhaps but Toyota is still is in a distant forth place in sales in the US, the world largest market. ;)

mike hunt

Try a respectable second.

your info is apparently out of date.

nate

Mike Hunter wrote: