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AUTOS' COMMENTS * USA - Toyota’s Troubles
Money, Metal and MemogateUSA -The Truth About Cars, by Frank Williams -Feb 9th, 2007: -- For decades, Toyota has balanced superb management, impeccable quality, exemplary financial discipline and flawless product planning. As other manufacturers chased market trends and neglected core models, Toyota made incremental improvements to existing models and introduced new models slowly and carefully. Their perseverance has paid off; they’ve elbowed Ford aside and are nipping at GM’s heels... But as Toyota prepares to replace The General as the world’s largest automaker, they’re finding out that getting to the top is one thing; staying there is something else altogether. No doubt about it: Toyota’s on a roll... They posted a record $3.6b third quarter corporate earnings and hope to exceed $13b profits for this fiscal year. In spite of growing profits worldwide, the picture isn’t so rosy on this side of the globe. Although their revenues in North America were up 17.3 percent, their North American operating profits were down 22.4 percent in the third quarter. Part of Toyota’s American problem relates to federal contract-sized cost overruns on their new truck plant in Texas... These issues pale in comparison to one problem that could make or break Toyota’s North American operations: their relationship with their hourly workers. In a confidential memo that accidentally ended up in workers’ hands, Seiichi Sudo, president of Engineering and Manufacturing in North America, discussed the cost of American labor and the steps they need to take to control those costs... The memo, which was inadvertently stored on a shared computer drive, states the US auto industry pays some of the highest manufacturing wages in the world. It compares American wages to those in France and Japan (50 percent higher) and Mexico (500 percent higher). They project their American labor costs will increase by $900m over the next four years... This memo could do more to damage Toyota’s future than any other factor. Toyota got a lot of press when the (non-union) workers at their Kentucky plant made more than union workers on average last year. Now they want the same workers to take a pay and benefit cut. Is that the UAW I hear knocking at the back door?... Ironically enough, Toyota is in the roughly the same position (re: its labor relations) as GM during the ‘70’s. Of course, GM basically rolled over and played dead for the UAW, burdening itself with an unwieldy labor force and an unsustainable cost structure. Will Toyota make the same mistake? It’s not likely. But it is possible... (Photo: Tundra factory's Texas-sized cost overrun)
* USA - What would a car-free city look like? J.H. Crawford thinks he knows
USA -AutoblogGreen, by Sebastian Blanco -8 Feb 2007: -- ... J.H. Crawford, though, has another idea: why not think of a future without any cars whatsoever, at least inside of cities. His book and website, both titled Carfree Cities, offer a detailed look at what's possible for people living in an urban area without individual transportation (public transportation and things like that would still exist). Crawford doesn't hide what he thinks about what cars have done to our world. From his introduction: "The industrialized nations made a terrible mistake when they turned to the automobile as an instrument of improved urban mobility. The car brought with it major unanticipated consequences for urban life and has become a serious cause of environmental, social, and aesthetic problems in cities. The urban automobile: * Kills street life * Damages the social fabric of communities * Isolates people * Fosters suburban sprawl * Endangers other street users * Blots the city's beauty * Disturbs people with its noise * Causes air pollution * Slaughters thousands every year * Exacerbates global warming * Wastes energy and natural resources * Impoverishes nations... The challenge is to remove cars and trucks from cities while at the same time improving mobility and reducing its total costs"... Whether or not you agree that cities should be carfree (I'd give living there a try, sure), the site is full of specific how-to plans and reasons why we should ditch our cars. It's well worth some of your time...
USA -AutoblogGreen, by Sebastian Blanco -8 Feb 2007: -- ... J.H. Crawford, though, has another idea: why not think of a future without any cars whatsoever, at least inside of cities. His book and website, both titled Carfree Cities, offer a detailed look at what's possible for people living in an urban area without individual transportation (public transportation and things like that would still exist). Crawford doesn't hide what he thinks about what cars have done to our world. From his introduction: "The industrialized nations made a terrible mistake when they turned to the automobile as an instrument of improved urban mobility. The car brought with it major unanticipated consequences for urban life and has become a serious cause of environmental, social, and aesthetic problems in cities. The urban automobile: * Kills street life * Damages the social fabric of communities * Isolates people * Fosters suburban sprawl * Endangers other street users * Blots the city's beauty * Disturbs people with its noise * Causes air pollution * Slaughters thousands every year * Exacerbates global warming * Wastes energy and natural resources * Impoverishes nations... The challenge is to remove cars and trucks from cities while at the same time improving mobility and reducing its total costs"... Whether or not you agree that cities should be carfree (I'd give living there a try, sure), the site is full of specific how-to plans and reasons why we should ditch our cars. It's well worth some of your time...
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