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Originally Posted by TundraMaxxer
The most interesting line of that article is where Toyota is willing to "share technology with Ford." How interesting.
Meanwhile, Ford is running the TV commercial that starts out by saying "Lately, it's become trendy to say you are built in America" in an ad aimed squarely at Toyota. Then Ford puts out the little video, a la YouTube, where the dweeb goes into a Toyota show and tried to pick apart the new Tundra.
It's also interesting that whenever the domestic automakers run into trouble they always turn to the government to help them out. Note the paragraph that mentions the Big 3's 1993 sit-down meeting with Bill Clinton. And say, didn't the government (taxpayers) bail out Chrysler back in the 80s?
Meanwhile, Toyota has been able to make steady gains in spite of paying higher tariffs/taxes and they've done it in the marketplace - by offering a better product.
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I agree with everything that you said, but I believe that the Japanese do have some critical advantages over the domestics still. Their favorable exchange rate helps with vehicle costs (just because they're built in the USA doesn't mean that a lot of the parts aren't paid for with yen). The biggest benefit the Japanese companies have over the domestics is health-care costs. Japan's government provides health care and that saves Toyota about $1500 a year per Japanese worker when compared to a comparable US worker.
Please understand, I'm not attacking Toyota here. The domestics created this mess all by themselves. But to say that Toyota has made gains in spite of tariffs, etc., seems to be whitewashing a bit. At least as far as I know...