A Car Salesman

Getting Tired of Toyota and Toyoda

It is horrible, it really is.  This multinational company makes a decision on a recall based on money instead of lives.


It is the old way of doing business.  I thought these stories would stop long ago, but they do not.  Greed will win out. 


Certainly the struggle for the dollar is what we are all about.  I am a greedy individual as well.  However, I would not sell my soul, or put someone at risk, so I could make a buck.  I am a car salesman so according to everyone in the world, I lack a moral backbone, and I would not do this.

So today everyone get out your protractor and your compass so we can measure the angle of the bow in front of our lawmakers.  The real problem is that once again the real people with no morals, our representatives that took money to forget what they knew, will not be apologizing.  At least Toyota and Toyoda have the balls to step forward and say:

"WE GOT TOO GREEDY FOR OUR OWN GOOD"

Toyoda Testimony Tomorrow

It is being reported by Autoweek.com that Akio Toyoda is going to admit that they let quality suffer in order to attain sales growth. 


I am sure that  he is going to tell them that this is going to change, but can it change.  What about the cars that are on the road that are still dangerous?

What about the customers faith in the product? 

What about the future, can you guarantee the safety of the cars that are on the road?

All very interesting topics for discussion tomorrow!

Toyota Brand Index Crashing

With the revelation in the past couple of months that Toyota's quality is not what they have claimed.




 And, the more recent information that they knew of the issues and have been hiding information. 


 Along with the new information that they have been buying complacency and oversight in our Government the Toyota brand is taking a huge hit.

Yougov's Brandindex.com is reporting that the Toyota brand is sinking fast and will take years to recover. The article Toyota set to suffer long term brand damage following vehicle recalls is shocking in the information and the immediate effect that the recalls have had.  It is also very telling and other manufacturers had better pay attention to how Toyota has handled this. This is a clear case of how not to handle a recall.

Toyota to Buy More Government Reps

So the Washington Post is reporting that Toyota is headed to Capital Hill with Lobbyists in tow.  So what is the purpose of the attack on the Hill.  Apparently, they are trying to buy a few more politicians so they can get through this safety mess also.

From the Washington Post today


Toyota heads to Capitol Hill with team of lobbyists, history of political giving

By Kimberly Kindy, Peter Whoriskey and Madonna Lebling
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 22, 2010

"Toyota already has an advantage built over a decade of targeted political giving. More than 40 percent of the 125 members of Congress serving on the three committees investigating Toyota have received campaign donations over the past 10 years, a total of $135,673 from the Toyota dealers' PAC, from dealership owners and employees, and from staff at Toyota's U.S. operation, a Washington Post analysis shows. Members of Congress received an additional $1 million for their campaigns through giving to state parties and PACs"

It is funny that the politicians wonder why "We the People" do not trust them!  They get some money and then things start to slip by unnoticed?  Whoops!

Toyota What is The Price of Safety

So the AP is reporting today that Toyota has internal documents from 2007 that discuss the successful negotiation with our government, limiting the recall of the faulty floor mats.  Toyota's documents then discuss other negotiations successfully avoiding recalls, suppressing regulation changes and delaying other actions.  Wow, so it is not safety that is #1 at Toyota, is it purchasing diplomats or buying safety reports?

So this brings me back to the government hearings for the bailouts. I wonder if those government officials that were sitting on the panels are the same government officials that were bought and paid for by a foreign company?  I wonder if the governmentofficials that keep putting on regulations that apply to the big 3 and not the Asian based car companies, are the same bought and paid for politicians.

Here is the other question - Who is guiltier for the deaths that have resulted from the failure of oversight?  Our government and the company knew of the problems and neither did anything.  One thing is certain, the dead customers are not the ones at fault.

Step on Their Throat

There are lots of sayings in the world of sports and in the military:

When you have them down don't let them back up!

When you have them on the ground step on their throat!

Only losers let up!

They will only live to fight another day, if you let them live!

These are all very old and very cold sayings.  They are also very true!

How are these pertinent to the car business you ask?  Here is how; for most of the last 2 decades  the foreign car companies have slowly and methodically pushed into the car market in the United States.  They established their base and took the cheap car market over.  The Big 3 didn't care, because those cars didn't make the company any money.  What they forgot was brand loyalty, and they didn't worry about it.  Then the foreign car companies crept into the rest of the car market, the bigger cars, small SUV's.  So when the big 3 started to fumble and Toyota had their cauffers full of money, they charged.  We (the American car industry) were wounded and they took advantage, they charged from the #4 company in the US to the #1, and we were helpless to do anything. 

So now they are wounded and we are sitting quietly on the side. We are being good sports class acts.

Screw that!!!

We have them on the ground, we need to take the lead back.  
We need to keep them on the ground, if they start to get up, knock them back down.
We need to step on their throats!
They will only live to fight another day, if we let them!  

A Great Sun Tzu quote:
 
He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious.

We have waited now is the time.

Steady as She Goes

So here we go I am going to say it.  You can quote me on this too.  The beginnings of the rebound are starting to show.  I do not want to be premature, as I have hoped in the past two years that we were beginning to see the rebound.

I am basing my assumption on one thing.  Steady business.  A couple of years ago it was unheard of us as a dealership to not sell a car in a given day.  A normal Tuesday or Wednesday was 10-12 cars.  Over last winter and the course of this year, we have had days that we did not sell a car, this has been terrifying at times.  But it has now been since November that we have sold less than 2 cars on any given day.  That includes 12" of snow and an 1" of ice.

As a matter of fact since the beginning of the year we have not had a day that we sold less than 3 in a given day.  Several of my fellow salespeople run the risk of having their best month in 6+ months.

 Wahoo!

I do not think that this is a full recovery, but it is the beginning and if we can establish the base: "Steady as She Goes" then the rest will come.

Toyota Recalls

So this morning Toyota is considering recalling more cars.  Specifically, they are gong to be recalling the Toyota Corolla, the number one selling car, for a power steering problem.

The stupidity of big companies never ceases to amaze me.  It has become abundantly clear that Toyota knew about the problems they are currently having.  They were aware of them and they ignored them.  As far as I am concerned that makes them culpable in the deaths of those people driving their cars.

Everyone keeps talking about other big recalls.  The one with Mitsubishi was horrible.  And there is of course the Ford Firestone recall.  And this is the recall that Toyota should have been looking at.  I was working for Ford during that recall, and here is the primary difference.  As publicity grew around that problem, Firestone repeatedly refused to release failure rates of the tires, even to Ford.  Certainly Ford should have gotten those numbers sooner, but Firestone a big company and a partner of Ford's kept saying "Oh yeah, we'll get that for you".  These companies had worked together for forever, and William Clay Ford is married to a Firestone, why would Ford doubt them?

   

Time Magazine on the Ford Firestone Recall

CNN Article

Then there was the famous meeting, where Ford got the numbers.  Ford came out of the meeting and immediately recalled all the ATX tires. They found the proof of the problem and they acted.  But, what was abundantly clear to anyone looking at the charts was that Firestone had a problem.  They had a problem, fixed it under the radar and never told anyone about it, including Ford, until people started crashing, and they were forced to.  
 

 

Ford took the brunt of the blame for the problem, but nobody calls it the Ford recall, it is the Firestone Ford recall.  And, Ford's sales after the recall was issued quickly leveled back off, the consumers didn't want Firestone's and if you fixed that they were willing to buy.  Ford's blame was lack of oversight of a product they bought from someone else.  Firestone lost their biggest customer Ford, and has been struggling since to bring the company reputation back.

So what should have been learned from watching that struggle?  People (the consumers) in America, don't mind if you stand up and take the blame.  What they despise are the companies that try to get one over on you.  That will take a long time to repair.

Remember the Tylenol recall?  They stood up and said we will make it right, as soon as they found that there was a problem!

Toyota Probing Corolla Power-Steering Problems - Auto - FOXNews.com

Toyota Probing Corolla Power-Steering Problems - Auto - FOXNews.com

Posted using ShareThis

When It's Cold Outside

You know it is cold when you can't get a salesman to help a customer.  We don't make any money unless we sell a car, and by default we are all fairly greedy.  Everyone ususally wants the next up, unless it is 5 minutes before close or it is really cold!

Chilly is one thing, cold is okay, but when it is freezing it is hard to motivate yourself.  Yesterday, I had  customer drop in, a referral and a very nice young lady.   She is not sure what she wants, but she needs a car and she is going to buy one this week.  So first she wanted to drive a new 2010 Ford Focus. 

So I bundle up get the key and walk to the far end of the lot.  By the time I get there, I am cold, and then of course the car will not start. So now I have to walk all the way back to the building, get the jump box and make my way back.  Now I am freezing, but I am smarter this time, I brought an extra set of keys, in case I cannot get the car started.  But I do get the car started, pull it back to the building, and let the customer take it for a spin. While she is driving, I put the jump box back and get the keys to a...

2010 Ford Fusion.  Remember I said I was smarter from my first walk out on the lot, well not so much.  I walk out to the other end of the lot and of course it will not start either.  So back I go,  my bones ache, and my hands are just in pain.  I get the car the customer drives and we have a winner.

We get dad on the phone and finish up the details.  Thank God it was not just for the fun of it.

When does spring start?
 

Is It Time for a New Truck?

How do you know when it is time for a new truck?

When the load you are carrying smashes your trailer into oblivion because you run into a bridge, then it is time for a new truck.  It might be time for a new bridge also.

This is the 4 year Anniversary!



Four years ago out in the prairie's of Kansas this actually happened.  When do you think the driver decided to put on the brakes.  I think he did shortly after he woke up!



I couldn't believe these pictures when a friend of mine showed them to me, but yes they are real.  He almost made it all the way through the bridge.




Snopes verified

Hall Street Bridge

Local newspaper Lawrence Journal-World