Featured Toyota's Newest Production Approach Could Be a Sign of Trouble

Apparently Toyota has no interest in what I want. Another symptom of the toxic MBA schools.

Bob Wilson

 

sign of the times i guess. we've been so spoiled over the years, but we'll get used to it, like anything else.
there was a 14 month wait when i ordered my first prius in 2004, and a 6 month wait for my factory ordered pip.
patience is a virtue

 

We are seeing counter-measures from other automakers too. Toyota is not alone with the struggle to optimize as the market changes.

Dropping features that would normally be considered standard is the trend I have encountered recently.

 

Prices have risen and chips are still in shortage for a while especially for Toyota. So you eliminate some of the things that consume chips. And sell lower priced versions to sell more cars as fewer can afford the expensive ones. Doesn't take an MBA...

 

I'm fine with not having any options, as long as the price stays low for the bare bone model without bells and whistles.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

If any of the stripped down models ditch the “enormous screen in middle of dash”, bring back controls you can adjust, easily, without taking your eyes off the road, that’d be of interest.

 

It sounds like we're heading to doing web only custom sales. If we're going to end up doing custom orders, what is the point of dealers? Wouldn't that relegate them to just doing what Tesla does, except for more places for service, like finalizing sales and customer orientation?

 

I've wondered how automakers will adjust their products in this environment. You gotta give people what they want. In the past, when gas prices bottomed out, vehicles got larger and big, powerful engines (V-8's, Turbos, Hemis) were all the rage. Toyota even dumped their small T-100 pickup for the full-sized Tacoma in 2005 (which, IMHO, was a huge mistake.) The "super sport" and "heavy duty" vehicles flew out the door.
So are we going to see more and more hybrids/EV's and smaller, more fuel efficient, vehicles since lower gas prices seem to be killed by this administration? Will they figure out how to NOT have 30+ computer chips in everything? I'm sure they have some very smart engineers working on it!!

 

Custom orders generally end up with higher costs.

I once looked at a Scion. At the time, the factory had ran out of the base radio, so I could have gotten the upgrade for free. This sounds like that, but more a "if you want the car sooner, you can get it without the radio." If this leads to anything permanent, it'll be true stripper base trims.

 

You say that like it's a bad thing.

 

"You can have any color you want, as long as it's lack." There was a method to Henry's madness.

 

Actually in 2020 when they shut down the country (actually the world), I went all in on energy companies when demand went to 0, Dominion, BP, Exxon-Mobil, etc. (Trump was still in office but is totally irrelevant to this). I watched when the total number of operating wells in the US went from 685 to 67, I knew demand would quickly outstrip supply when the country rebounded. These companies aren't stupid, they aren't going to restart these wells with oil still fetching $20 or $30 per barrel. I was going to dump them at some future date, but then this Ukraine - Russia thing happened. Needless to say I'm getting some healthy earnings.

Haha nope. A typical car has about 1,000 chips and it'll get worse as they add more safety features and make engines and motors more efficient. They certainly don't put fewer electronics into fighter planes or bombers.

 

it doesn't take chips if you have dome lights w/out timers that slowly fade off, or if you have roll up window cranks instead of auto electric that sense whether your arm is in the way etc.

 

OK that's what 5 down, 995 to go? Go team no-chip!

 

i guess if you're desperate, you'll buy whatever is on the lot. i don't think any mfg's have an advantage here, but ev's might get hit particularly hard

 

You know you can do all that and more in one chip. Those are not the features that are pressing prices up.
Multiple chips are needed to run an ice efficiently. Even more chips are needed to handle all the cameras and sonars and on cars like a Tesla.

I have read that tesla's have between 2000-4000 chips versus around 1400 for a regular ice car without many of the features. Its not the number, Tesla controls its software and hardware, and many of these are general purpose chips. It was able to rewrite software and use other chips. Old line automakers were not able to do this. Toyota also has gotten through the chip shortage well as they had kept orders and made a higher percentage of cars. That helped them have record profits despite selling fewer cars.

Unfortunately there are so few car companies that the ones that did badly seem to be increasing prices and profits on those performing better in the shortage.

 

i would buy a stripped down tesla for 30k

 

So would everyone. That's the problem.

 

well, elon just needs to take a cue from toyota