A company called Vanno evaluates and ranks companies's reputations. It's not an exact science, of course, but Toyota is ranked number 2, behind Cisco Systems. Honda comes in at 8 and Peugeot at 26. GM is 241, Ford is at 411, and Chrysler at 5792. Just some more self-validation. We know our Prius are great cars from a great company. Patsparks is right.
You can't be serious with that comment. Even as a comment intended to provoke a reaction, it's completely silly. Sales are down because the economy is in the tank. Unless you are selling gold or silver, your sales are down. Tom
Does the Vanno evaluation help you feel better about the $1billion+ a week that Toyota and co are draining out of the US and the hundreds of thousands of jobs that have been transferred from the US to Japan?
Toyota has built a global reputation for building vehicles that wont quit, be they Corolla, world's best selling car or Hilux, the car poor countries use as a tank, Toyota vehicles just keep going. Sure the Land Cruiser is the worlds best 4 wheel drive too and used exclusively by a lot of mining companies. Lets face it, Toyota have a great vehicle in every segment of the market, and they never say die. Malorn, it makes me feel better that I am not driving a POS.
What surprises me is that GM came in at 241. I've adopted a cliche' I often use that goes, "GM Junk." This, of course refers to the company's product reliability - generally spread evently across all its families.
You said it not me. I have driven Toyotas for over 25 years and have had almost no problems at all. Why would I change now? Why did people who once drove Ford and GM product switch to Toyota? Why would they switch back? I might add, my wifes RAV4 is 13 years old, my Camry was 16 years old, my Crown is 41 years old, my Corolla (son's car) is 23 years old, my previous crown was 30 years old when I sold it. I have put 65,000km on my Prius in the last 20 months, so I do drive my cars. Great thinkers them yankie car sales men, I guess.
I agree.... Had GM cars in the past all had problems. Went over to Mercury less problems and better service. 1999 Tried Toyota, No problems Great Service.... Will consider another Ford in the future..... depends if they have something equal to or better than Toyota.
i dont care about GM's past. we all have skeletons. what concerns me is that GM is staring ruin in the face over the past few years and still has not provided a high mileage hybrid
Might be easier if they just build a car I want (other than the EV1 which they crushed). After all, I don't rely directly on GM, so self preservation doesn't come into it. And even by your over-inflated numbers, less than 1% of people in the US do. Build a more efficient car, and I will be there.
It matters when said industry is targeted by industries in foriegn countries and plans are put together in an industrial policy to wipe out that industry and all of the associated jobs. Tell that to former steelworkers in Pennsylvania and indiana, or former textile workers in the northeast, or former electronics workers in the midwest or former autoworkers across the country. Tell them it does not matter, these people all used to have jobs that would ssupport a family comfortably, now they are greeters at Wal-Mart(selling Chinese crap). The social fabric of this country is being torn apart as a result of this.
No matter your size, if you sell cars that people don't want to buy because of poor quality, your business is doomed. When we were considering a hybrid car for my friend, the moment I mentioned the upcoming Ford Fusion as a possible option, my friend's wife immediately interjected. She said her last car was a Ford and that she'd never consider an American car again. Well, since she's the one controlling the money in her household, who are we to object?
This argument would hold a bunch more water when the end result is a quality vehicle. Why should we continue to employ thousands of auto workers who can't turn out a quality product at a fair price? Would I feel a bit better if the 2010 Prius was made in the USA w/ many of it's parts sourced from US vendor? You bet. I suspect, however, that Toyota has found it more economical to manufacture the Prius in Japan and import it to the US, than it would be to source and/or manufacture the parts and assemble them on US soil. Or... the facilities and infrastructure to do so aren't in place yet. Toyota produces quality vehicles that people want to own. If GM produced a REAL hybrid that was truly BETTER than the Prius, and had BETTER quality and longevity (i.e. not a disposable vehicle), all while providing thousands of worth while, fairly paid, US jobs, I'd step right in line. Instead, they're feeding buyers the same bloated V8 SUV crap, and insulting them at the same time w/ a bolt-on electric motor and hybrid badging while bumping the sticker price. This isn't solid engineering, but rather an attempt to capitalize on a buzz-word that some lemming consumers will sadly fall for. Believe me, my wife and I have given the Ford Fusion a second look because it does appear to be a REAL (full) hybrid powertrain with solid engineering. Now if it were produced entirely in the US, that would be an even larger bonus. Sadly, it doesn't fit our needs (our other car needs to be a mini-van at this stage in our life). My reason for continuing to buy the Prius is I feel it's the best car for my daily commute needs, and I solidly believe Toyota will continue to pave the wave into the future of efficient transportation - so much so that I'm willing to "fund" that through my continual purchase of their vehicles. If they're first to market w/ a Hybrid Sienna based on the Camry powertrain (or the Estima for that matter), my wife will be right in line for that car too. However, if Ford is first to market w/ a hybrid type Windstar and the Fusion proves to be just as reliable, we may give them a chance as well.
Reputation is the result of what you do and how people perceive what you do. It isn't what you say you are going to do. It isn't what you say about your competitors. That's why Toyota has a good reputation.
You can thank the criminals in both political parties, and the criminals in the unions, for the loss of their jobs