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Toyota pays there workers similar if not better then there UAW counterparts. Toyota likes to reduce there imports to the US because they want to protect themselves from currency fluctations. If you look at the amount of cars they import into the US, its been going down since 2000. They try to produce as high volume cars in NA as much as possible. The UAW thing is a excuse, they didn't complain about the UAW when they making money off those trucks and SUVS.

The simple fact is that they ignored there cars. Thats why there's a significant difference in build quality between a GM truck and a GM car. Even the CEO GM said they ignored the car market in the US. GM is successful in all its markets except for its home market. They need to focus on making cars people want and not cars people can afford. Even if they were let out of there UAW contracts they would still be losing money, granted not in the billions. GM still does have money even with there UAW contracts. Rick Wagoner even mentioned that GM has 19billion in reserve cash at the stock holder meeting to reassume investors.

Toyota makes cars that look ok, gets good gas mileage and hold good resale value. The people on this site probably only represent maybe 5% of the car buying population, for everyone else Toyota makes great cars for what they want.

If you study Toyota, they have a lot of vertical intergrationg in there business structure that difficult for other car manufacturers to imitate, even for honda. Similar to Dell in the computer industry. For example Toyota is the only car manufacturer who can produce most of there parts at a higher quality and cheaper cost then out sourcing it. Thats also part of the reason there so successful. People predict that Toyota is going to over take GM by 2007.

 
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I agree that toyota will overtake GM in the US within the next 5 to 10 years. But as you cited GM is doing very well in its overseas markets, especially china. GM is the number one automanufacturer in china right now which is the fastest growing car market in the world with india right by it. It is no surprise that analysts expect china to overtake the US as the worlds largest market for cars within the next 10-15 years.

Toyota is having difficulty entering the chinese market right now. This is mostly due to the history between japan and china. The chinese are apparently very bitter still about WWII and the rape of nanking and do not like the japanese or their products.

This being said it is still possible for GM to hold their stranglehold as the worlds largest auto manufacturer.

is this a good thing? probably not, but as long as we have healthy competition in the US we will still have good cars here.

The other point I have about Toyota and GM, is that GM has much more invested in hydrogen powered cars. Again the major increase in demand for gasoline is causing a shift to alternative fuels sooner than originally estimated, recent estimates say 20-50 years worth left. Since none of the autoamnufacturers are working together to build new fuel cell cars its going to go to the ones that can capatalize on the market first. Since GM has the lead right now it is possible they will control the market for awhile.

either way I don't care who controls the market since most of my favorite cars are built by companies that don't control much of any markets.

 
Rep Power: 317

Thats a nice looking Camry. I've always liked Camry's, though they were dull and seemed to attract older buyers.
This one looks like other cars already out there, sure, but how is that bad? The cars that it looks similar to are nice looking cars. But now, instead me saying "Do I want the Mazda6 or the Accord" I can now honestly say I would like to buy a Camry based on the look and the fact that it has a pretty powerful V6.
And from what I take, that first link shows pictures of the Hybrid Camry, maybe thats why they have that wierd Aqua green trim in it, I'm sure the sporty Camry version will have some brushed aluminum in it.

 
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Good points. Yeah the chinese still hold a grudge, same with the koreans. Thats why playstation and nintendo is successful all over the world except in korea..lol.

i think the indians are gonna beat us to hydrogen as the mainstream though. The indian government annouced they were going to build a hydrogen fueling infrastructure by 2015. I don't think there even plans to build a infarstructure yet in the US. GM just has to wake up and get there act together. Doing poorly in the market where 50% of the world GDP is created is very poor business. If not, i'm sure the government is going to bail them out anyways. GM isn't as big in the America economy as it was in the 1980's or early 90's, but they still provide a pivotal role in the economy, especially in the mid-west where most of there plants are located.

 
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the same could be said about ford, the only place Ford is not making profit is north america. everywhere else, they are profitable. ford transits, mondeos and foucs are really popular in europe. at the same time, japanese car companies have trouble penetrating the european market. for every honda i saw in europe, there would be like 3 fords.

in 4 weeks of traveling in europe (uk, belgium, holland and france) i saw 1 camry and it was a cab in amsterdam.

 
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pretty sweet

 
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camrys are ehh, my parents own 2 oldschool one. this would be a goood upgrade. nice.

 
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its because Fords in Europe are built way better and offer more features. The new focus offers a i5 from a volvo and offers leather, climate control and hids. The focus'es here are made like crap.

 
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of course, i was simply paralleling ford and gm. they both make better cars outside of US. ford and gm were both able to penetrate some non us markets where japanese have trouble with.

 
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not only does ford make better cars for markets outside of the US, they make better cars for their brands like volvo and mazda in the US than they do for ford/lincoln/mercury. I mean look at the focus, it sucks here and the mazda3 is a far superior car for about the same price.

 
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My parents are big Toyota fans and they looked at the camry, I don't mind them and I might get a Toyota when I'm older but for now Hondas fit my age better.

Toyotas are nice beefy cars and have the reliability as are cars do. My dad has a 1985 camry that has about 250K on it and it still runs nice, minus the appearance.

 
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actually I see more of the new IS and GS in the styling...not a honda...oh and those pics are not from the hybrid as there is nothing on the gauge cluster to signify that it is a hybrid.....

 
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^^^^
the bottom looks like a 04 aero kit front and the headlight look similar to a 04 if you took all the curvy parts of the headlight and made them all into straight edges.

 
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exterior is nice.

Interior...yawn.