OT Fords new plan

I think we're a ways off before we see cops in a Toyota, but who knows, maybe down the line.

Bloomfield CT had cops in Volvos in the 80's. CT State Police had cops in Mazda MX-6s in the late 80's. They also had Mustangs!

theres always a reason to compete. toyota cant rest on their laurels as long as honda and nissan are around.

Another circle IIRC was RCA teaching the *.JP lot how to build colo(u)r TVs. Guess whose lunch got eaten soon after.

Besides, Ford isn't really competition for Toyota, anymore. The veenerable Taurus is being withdrawn from the market, and is the only offering Ford had that could compete with the Camry. The replacements are not worthy, IMHO, and can be made of all the Volvo parts in the world but will not attract Camry buyers (unless, of course, Ford makes it known that they are Volvos under the skin, but I don't think that's likely...)

The only competition Ford has going now with Toyota is in trucks and SUVs, very few Ford truck buyers will be moving to Tundras and vice-versa; and in the SUV market Toyota has proven it has the goods over Ford, but at a price. The Explorer used to be a bargain; a Mazda 4.0L engine and 5-speed trans was the hot ticket there, but they have moved in price to where they're challenging the Highlander and the 4-Runner. If you're going to spend that much, go a little more and get the 'Yota.

Of course, there are those that will NEVER touch a 'Jap car' no matter how much of it is made in the USA.

Like the guy I saw once that had a bumper sticker that said, "Remember Pearl Harbor: Boycott Japanese Products".

On the back of his Dodge Colt... ;)

LOL! There was a joke I saw on the net, a cartoon I think, about how we reconstruct the people we BEAT THE SNOT OUT OF after THEY start a war, and they turn around and kick OUR ass economically. The Japanese got it, the Germans had it but lost it...

For those of us who have been working on cars for a while, the 1960's isn't ancient history ;-)

Toyota is good a making cars, but what Toyota is even better at is shobai, or doing business - watching expenses, predicting what the car buying public will want, and listening to their dealers.

The NASCAR Camry, like all Nextel Cup cars, is a purpose-built rear wheel drive platform, while the majority of the production cars are front wheel drive.

The problem with a V8 in a front wheel drive vehicle is that the torque developed by the V8 goes to waste.

Georgetown, KY PD has Toyotas.

Isn't the fwd cars a bit more hairy to handle say in chases, high speeds ect.

Really? The Georgetown PD parks its patrol cars in the outlet mall parking lot. I see them all the time, but I never noticed that they were Toyotas! I'll have to look more closely this weekend.

Which model? Camry? V6?

Hi, Ray.

And BOY are they good at it. I've got a 93 Toyota with 230,000 on it, an ICOM 706 MK IIG amateur radio and a Toshiba laptop. Hmmm, when did Japan take over the amateur market? When they started coming out with the new higher tech radios with transistors, IC's and digital frequency counters built in, and the American electronics industry kept producing the same super-annuated designs with TUBES and analog dials and power supplies that weighed more than the operator. Same thing as with TV's. The first really popular Japanese amateur radio was the Yaesu FT-101 series back in the 70's and early 80's. America produces and expects us to be loyal and consume whatever drivel they produce. Sorry, Deming saw the end of that in the 1950's, and the Japanese were smart enough to pick up on it. It's GM's/Ford's/Chrysler's own fault.

Look what happened in the 1980's when you didn't have to lease a phone from ATT anymore. Same thing, we went from the 502 dial desk set, which almost everybody had before then, to cordless touch-tone phones in a matter of a few short years. Given a choice, the average consumer will basically try to spend his dollars for the best bang for the buck. Some consumers buy cars for the long term, these people are usually called Toyota owners.

Charles of Schaumburg

Kenwood makes some EXCELLENT Amateur radios.

Yup. Deming was given an award by the Japanese government back in the

I remember an Aiwa 'mini' cassete recorder from around '68 or '70 that had EXCELLECNT sound quality, at half the price of a US made 'voice-only' recorder. Then there were the Akai stereo components, most notably their venerable Reel recorders, and then Cassette decks.

Well, to be honest, it's been a looong time since I saw the police Camrys, which were donated by Toyota.

It looks like Toyota has been giving more money than vehicles lately.

Why not, Toyota puts undersized engines in their cars now Even loaded tractor trailers blow past 4 cy Camry's on a long grade. LOL

mike

You forgot to mention they build them in state-of- the- art manufacturing facilities built by the US taxpayer, including taxes paid GM, Ford and Chrysler. Much in the same way they assemble them in the US today, by underpaid workers, trained in state schools, with imported parts, in plants build with bonds issued by the state. Vehicles on which they take the profits out of the county federal tax free. ;(

mike

Apparently they are happy and satisfied, they still buy more from GM than they do from any import. ;)

mike

Let see if I understand your reasoning, if GM and Ford have a recall it is because they have a problem that are NOT going to fix for free, but If Toyota has a recall it is because they ARE going to fix it for free, right? I guess you are not aware of how Toyota would not fix their asbestos related head gasket problems past the warranty and GM and Ford extended their asbestos related head gasket problems warranty to 100K LOL

mike