Why does Japan not allow US autos to be imported to their country?

They do allow it, and a several years ago Toyota and GM made a big fuss about exporting one of the Chevrolet models (I forget which one) in right hand drive format from the US to Japan ... the big problem was that almost nobody bought it.

The project died quietly.

John

"Allow"? I'll bet it has more to do with demand. We want their cars, but they don't want ours. Why would they?

Because everything we have that's built in any other country is better built ? I bought my last US car in 1977, Olds Cutlass, I loved that car; rusted out, became junk in 10 years; next up, Corolla. I know they're built in Canada and California, but by Toyota standards, not US automaker standards. Big difference.

Exactly

This was like when Motorola was bitching about this same thing, saying they wouldn't buy our products. Then someone there pointed out how crappy the Motorola cell phones they were talking about really were and FINALLY someone at Motorola got off their butt and started making high quality ones and they actually started selling them outside the US.

Imagine that, quality sells?

Two reasons;

First, Japanese cars do not have to meet the crash safety requirements that US cars must meet. Because of the extra safety features, American cars are very heavy and not very fuel efficient.

In addition, the cost of an American made vehicle is disproportionately high in Japan. Why would they buy an American Car when they can get a similar Japanese model at much less cost?

Also, Japan does not require the use of Unleaded gas, so the Catalytic Converter and ECU are again an unnecessary expense, and unleaded gas is harder to find in Japan.

Having said that, it is common to see European cars in most large Japanese cities.

Bobby

You might as well ask why the Japanese don't import clothes made in the US, why they restrict imports of US fruits, US beef, just about anything. The Japanese have always maintained non-tariff barriers to imports. They used these barrier to foster a Japanese domestic car industry.

Of course in most cases American cars are not suited to the Japanese market. American manufacters don't attempt to tailor models to Japanese markets. The Japanese on the other hand do tailor models to the US market. In the past US automakers have generally set-up foreign sbusiduaries to assemble and sell vehicles in foreign markets. The Japanese government discouraged this in Japan.

Even today realtively few foreign built cars are imported in Japan. Less than 300,000 in recent years. In recent years these have mostly been high end European cars, but some US cars are still imported into Japan. At the peak in 1996, around 439,000 cars were imported into Japan - over half of these were US brands.

Regards,

Ed White

Yeh Americans make such crappy products now, the whole country is going down hill and Bush is just making it go faster. By the way its the middle of December and many of the Katrina victims are living in unheated tents. Looks like Bush gave his spiel about how he was going to help in front of the cameras then turned and walked away as ussual.

You're doin' a heck of job, Bushy!

Damn straight! And a kick to the arse of all YOU cowardly surrender monkeys!!

Unlike TV shows where things are taken care of in an hour real life takes longer to work.

--

Happy Holidays, Dale aka Nightspirit

Now that GM is at the end of its life cycle it is very interesting to watch

It is like seing an elephant falling down in slow motion

Maybe it is more like seing a big tree being eaten alive by figs

Question is who or what are the figs The autoworkers unions or other car competitors

It will be interesting to see how long the figs will live after the host dies

Strangler Fig: Ficus destruens Many species of fruit-eating birds eat the succulent fruits of strangler figs. The indigestible seeds are then voided by the birds and will germinate in a tree crevice or hole. The young fig starts its life as an epiphyte in the canopy unlike other tree seedlings that have to start their struggle for survival on the forest floor. It grows slowly at first, for there is little water or food for it, but its leathery leaves reduce water loss. The plant puts out long cable-like roots that descend down the host tree trunk to the forest floor and root into the soil beneath. It can then readily absorb nutrients and water and the young fig tree flourishes. The thin roots become thicker and interlace their way tightly around the supporting tree trunk. The expanding leafy crown of the strangler starts to shade the crown of the support tree and its roots start to strangle its host. The host tree slowly rots away leaving a totally independent strangler fig which may live for several hundred years or more. The most famous of all individual fig trees in the Wet Tropics are the 'Curtain' and 'Cathedral' figs, on the Atherton Tablelands.

Life Cycle of the Strangler Fig: A bird, possum, tree kangaroo or rat drops a strangler fig seed in the top of a tree. The seed gets covered with leaf mould and grows. The roots of the seed grow down the side of the host tree until they reach the ground. The initial roots take root in the ground, while more and more grow down the sides of the tree to the ground. The roots eventually totally enclose the host tree and the host dies. The tree that remains is totally the strangler fig.

In the early '90's Porsche was losing so much money it was on the brink of going out of business. Now they are the most profitable car company on earth and recently bought a 20% share in struggling VW. We all know how Chrysler has had two near death experiences, one with the U.S. government bailing them out and one with Daimler. Today, they are the healthiest of the U.S. car makers (I know, faint praise). A few years back Nissan was in the toilet, Renault bought a large stake in them and sent over a French executive to do some plant closing and ass-kicking and today Nissan is very successful.

You think it will be any different with GM?

Hah. They just need the near-death experience to make them do what should have been done long ago.

According to this article,

Porsche AG's profit for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2005 was $1.44 billion.

According to this article,

Toyota Motor Corp's profit for 1 quarter was $2.85 billion. Round down to $2.5 billion times 4 quarters is annualized profit of $10 billion. I believe that Toyota is the most profitable car company in the world at this time.

I dont think its at the end of its life cycle, it is still the biggest car maker

it might shrink but it has a long way till it dies and along the way it prolly can and will shift its management and production method. and still be okay.

The lifecycle of companies can vary in length just like for animals and trees Company grow and some can become very big They eventually reach their top and after a while they start to decline If GM had taken right steps many years ago they could have remained big longer Their problems have infested for so long and so deep that if they are to survive at all they will become a lot smaller They will have to sell and close down a lot of its holdings and assets In that process they will likely be overtaken by other companies GM as an invincible colossus is no more The decline has already started and there is no turning back

There biggest problem right now is styling.

The biggest problem right now is image

GM had a very good image and everyone assosicated GM with quality Unfortunately for GM they did not manage to keep that image Others have come along with better quality Others have shown to have better customer relation and support

You can not keep on selling on a reputation from the past

Good image is hard to get

Bad image comes very quickly

To create a good image costs a lot of time and a lot of effort

You can not use money and adverticing instead of customer support

One happy customer comes again and tells his friend and slowly a good reputation builds up

One unhappy customer tells everyone and bad reputation spreads like cancer