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76 years of domination ends
Topic Started: Apr 25 2007, 09:46 PM (234 Views)
JetBlack3
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I am the tag team champions
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...av=rss_business

Not too surprising
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Ram Jam
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In It 2 Win It
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"The shift to Toyota from GM is as much cultural as economic. For decades, GM makes and models sentimentally filled the American songbook and film canon -- Rocket 88, pink Cadillac, '57 Chevy. Today's car buyers, however, now prefer the names Camry, Lexus and Prius, which have worked their way into the American lexicon as symbols of status and hipness."

That's not true. GM tried to go the bland but efficient sedan route to compete and it lost it's unique look. If Chevy can find it's "smile" it'll go back on top. You have to sell more than Corvette's to stay on top, once they realize this they can get back there. Toyota can claim all sorts of popularity but even as much as I hate to say it Chevrolet is as American as it comes as soon as they realize this Toyota will have a fight on their hands.
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Dewy9
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7X Raceski Cup Champion
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I'm amazed that they held Toyota off for this long. The Camry has been the #1 selling car for some time now.
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radicalstick
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Toyotas and Hondas just rock. They're doing more for middle class America then 'American' cars to be honest.

That said, I am still considering buying a Cobalt. But the Jetta/Rabbit/Civic are all very tempting, so I dunno.
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Orangesmoke20
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Too hot to handle.. too cold to hold... ohhhhhh yeahhhhh!!!
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"The Michigan Dilemma"
An Analogy Using A Canoe Race

A Japanese company (Toyota ) and an American company
(General Motors) decided to have a canoe race on the
Missouri River . Both teams practiced long and hard to
reach their peak performance before the race.

On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.

The Americans, very discouraged and depressed,
decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat.
A management team made up of senior management
was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate
action.

Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people
rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team
had 8 people steering and 1 person rowing.

Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management
hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount
of money for a second opinion. They advised, of course,
that too many people were steering the boat, while not
enough people were rowing.

Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to
prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's
management structure was totally reorganized to 4
steering supervisors, 3 area steering superintendents
and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager.

They also implemented a new performance system that
would give the 1 person rowing the boat greater incentive
to work harder. It was called the "Rowing Team Quality
First Program," with meetings, dinners and free pens
for the rower. There was discussion of getting new
paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation
days for practices and bonuses.

The next year the Japanese won by TWO miles.

Humiliated, the American management laid off the
rower for poor performance, halted development of a
new canoe, sold the paddles, and canceled all capital
investments for new equipment. The money saved was
distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses and the
next year's racing team was out-sourced to India.
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JetBlack3
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I am the tag team champions
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radicalstick
Apr 26 2007, 12:13 AM
Toyotas and Hondas just rock. They're doing more for middle class America then 'American' cars to be honest.

That said, I am still considering buying a Cobalt. But the Jetta/Rabbit/Civic are all very tempting, so I dunno.

Jap cars are just way too bland. American cars got more style and to be honest are just as reliable now, in some cases better.

Only Jap cars that stand out at all are the Nissan 350z, Infinitis, and the Tiburon since they redesigned it.
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Nate
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de3dejr8
Apr 26 2007, 09:02 AM
radicalstick
Apr 26 2007, 12:13 AM
Toyotas and Hondas just rock. They're doing more for middle class America then 'American' cars to be honest.

That said, I am still considering buying a Cobalt. But the Jetta/Rabbit/Civic are all very tempting, so I dunno.

Jap cars are just way too bland. American cars got more style and to be honest are just as reliable now, in some cases better.

Only Jap cars that stand out at all are the Nissan 350z, Infinitis, and the Tiburon since they redesigned it.

I would say Toyota's are probably the most reliable cars on the road but you wont see me driving one I just don't like the way they look.
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Ram Jam
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de3dejr8
Apr 26 2007, 10:02 AM
radicalstick
Apr 26 2007, 12:13 AM
Toyotas and Hondas just rock. They're doing more for middle class America then 'American' cars to be honest.

That said, I am still considering buying a Cobalt. But the Jetta/Rabbit/Civic are all very tempting, so I dunno.

Jap cars are just way too bland. American cars got more style and to be honest are just as reliable now, in some cases better.

Only Jap cars that stand out at all are the Nissan 350z, Infinitis, and the Tiburon since they redesigned it.

See now I think that's their problem. They are too bland. I mean your Dodge's and Pontiac's stand out but all the rest are so generic looking, of course no one wants the ones that do stand out. Ever since Chevy cancelled the Camaro they haven't had anything that distinguishes them from every other car company other than John Mellancamp. I guess you could argue the Monte Carlo, but judging by it's impending cancellation not many really cared for that.
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radicalstick
Raceski Cup Champion
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Dodge, are you kidding me? In general they don't look like anything else, but their cars are starting to look exactly the same. Every single one of them. Who cares if you go for a Charger but get an Avenger, no one can tell the difference...lol
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Ram Jam
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If you can't tell the difference you're an idiot.

But I wasn't talking about looking different within the brand I meant they don't look like Accord's or Impala's or Camry's. Pontiac's look similar with in the brand, Chevy's look the same within the brand, Toyota, Honda the list goes on and on. They all feel the need to have a trademark design within the brand sometimes it's Dodge's crosshair grill which lends itself to similar looking cars. Same way with Chevy and that big chrome bar across the front.
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radicalstick
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Posted Image



Posted Image
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radicalstick
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Same. Damn. Car.

Minus the hood and little 'SRT' on the grill.
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Ram Jam
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:uhoh:

It's about as close as a Impala and a Corvette. But I guess you think they're the same too cause theyre Chevy.
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radicalstick
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No, I don't. I specificly pointed out Dodge because I think it's true for them. The Charger looks like a special edition of the Avenger and nothing more...

"In my opinion"
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Dewy9
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7X Raceski Cup Champion
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And for that matter all Chevy cars and GMC SUVs look the same.

I love my Civic. It's funny because there's so many people at my school who also drive the same exact version of my car that I often go to their car instead of mine.

Posted Image

I put a #48 decal on the back and it looks pretty sharp. I would put a #9, but it would probably take me 10 minutes longer to get somewhere if I didn't wreck it.

Hopefully if/when Toyota starts to run well, Honda will be forced to come in since that's their rival. If they do come in, it wouldn't surprise me if Hendrick joined them since he owns more Honda dealerships that anyone else in the country.

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num1hendrickfan
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The Contrarian.
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I believe an article in the Wednesday business section of the New York times summed up this best. In it, they alluded to the idea that the Japanese manufacturer Toyota was better than GM at marketing their cars to the consumer. Let's face we're not in the 80's and 90's here, what works then doesn't work now and Toyota has been great and playing all the right angles(fuel efficiency, luxury sedans, pickup trucks ect....). A look at GM's advertising seems to fuel that notion, they don't advertise their cars anymore. Instead they advertise themselves as the patriotic America company and unfortunately for GM and John Mellencamp(nothing against him) that doesn't sell automobiles.

Of course it's up for debate just how much General Motors has lagged in the marketing department and that's probably the lease of their woes. GM has lost it's identity as a company and much like the rest of the big 3 focus on emulation of models. You can hardly tell a difference between what is what when you zoom past the dealerships now and that in itself poses a problem when you're trying to build brand identity. Brand identity is something that GM and the rest of the big 3 need to work on recapturing, they need to produce cars that are sytlish yet stand out amongst each other.

GM however is restructuring themselves as a company, so hopefully they can fix that brand identity problem. They've largely scaled back bulk sales to rental car companies an unprofitable venture that often drove car values down(also part of the reason why Toyota was able to squeeze into the #1 spot). However just like Toyota GM is in the game to make a profit, I'd rather a leaner more profitable GM if it meant making a profit. Besides you can't regain #1 if you don't turn a profit.


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Jr8Smoke20fan
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BUY AMERICAN!!!!!!!!! NOT CARS THAT ARE JUST MANUFATURED IN THE USA, CARS THAT ARE NATIVE AMERICAN CARS
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radicalstick
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Jr8Smoke20fan
Apr 27 2007, 12:00 AM
BUY AMERICAN!!!!!!!!! NOT CARS THAT ARE JUST MANUFATURED IN THE USA, CARS THAT ARE NATIVE AMERICAN CARS

What is an American car? A car produced in Mexico by an American owned company? Or a car produced a few miles down the road here in Indiana that's owned by someone in Japan?

...

I said it before and I'll say it again. Toyota and the like are doing more for America then 'American' cars. Giving us jobs, fair prices, good quality and good gas mileage= Win.
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JetBlack3
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Yea my Pontiacs are more Canadian then American. :lol:

If ya want to buy "american" then your gonna need to buy a car made here....Toy/Nissan/etc
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JetBlack3
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I am the tag team champions
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radicalstick
Apr 26 2007, 11:08 PM
No, I don't. I specificly pointed out Dodge because I think it's true for them. The Charger looks like a special edition of the Avenger and nothing more...

"In my opinion"

In person they are very different lookin. Only thing similar is the rear fender flare thingy
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Ram Jam
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In It 2 Win It
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Radical, go to a Dodge dealership and you will see they are almost nothing alike. The crosshair grill is the only similarity. The front of the Avenger slopes more, it is smaller and shares none of the body architecture with the Charger. It shares everything with the new Chrysler Sebring though.
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Ram Jam
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de3dejr8
Apr 27 2007, 02:01 PM
Yea my Pontiacs are more Canadian then American. :lol:

If ya want to buy "american" then your gonna need to buy a car made here....Toy/Nissan/etc

The Avenger is assembled in America as are most of it's parts. Not sure about the tranny, but I think the rest of it is though.
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JetBlack3
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I am the tag team champions
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Ugh so all cars made in America are ugly :lol:
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Ram Jam
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Whatever, that little Avenger rocks. Although Sirius has ruined me, I can't stand to be in a car without it or XM and my mom didn't get that for some reason. :uhoh:
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Nate
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you could get 99 avengers and 1 charger and put them in the same parking lot and you could see the charger from a mile away. :lol:
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