CARBIZ

I find it sadly ironic that the savior of General Motors will very likely be it's Chinese and Korean connections. It surprises me to no end how much the Japanese corporate sycophants and those rabidly opposed to the 'bail out' of Detroit smugly point to all the factories GM owns overseas - like that is something to be ashamed of. The fact that Japan builds 10 million vehicles a year, while only buying 1.5 million themselves and ranks DEAD LAST in the OECD's recent survey of 28 industrialized nations with respect to foreign vehicle market penetration, is totally lost on these truly delusional

The ashes of Taliban insurgents.

You guys cannot afford to be the world's cop anymore. Your total debt and current account deficits are unsustainable. As a taxed-to-death-Canadian (we pay until sometime in July before we hit 'tax freedom day'), it seems strange that every election Americans strike DOWN tax hikes (like, who in their right mind is every going to vote FOR a tax hike?), but somebody has to tell you that the cupboards are bare! I have an ugly feeling the fat lady has not sung yet. I know the real estate market around here is hanging by threads; held together only by the myth of globialization and the additio

No list would be complete without Micheline Maynard Steve Rattner Kirk Kerkorian Roger Smith Emma Lowenstramm (perhaps a little too obscure for most) Arthur Chamberlain Tammy Fay Baker... ... wait a minute, sorry, I think I misread the list. Never mind....

Well, setting aside $56B to 're-value' the yen probably doesn't help. Or the cozy relationship MITI (and its successors) have had with Japanese corporations for decades. Or the banks loaning money to Toyota and others at 0% to finance their overseas conquests, while the hapless Japanese consumers tolerated moribund returns on their investments. A negative birthrate doesn't bode well, either. (Although they could import a ton of cheap laborers from West Africa for giggles - see how that's working for Germany, France and others.) Not gonna get a lot of sympathy from the Carbiz corner. Ja

Although many good points have been mentioned in this thread, one major one has been overlooked: that is that Toyota's boring cars mainly appeal to the (large) minority of people who can't think for themselves and believe everything that they read. That type of consumer is VERY susceptible to media 'piling on.' What is happening to Toyota now is nothing more than media 'piling on,' and although I am loving every minute of it, I believe this has the potential to hurt Toyota very, very deeply. Consumer's Reports already threw up the first warning shot 2 years ago when they apologised for au

Hmm, I guess Jim Press' career move a couple years ago is looking better and better. I wonder if he has a map to where all the bodies are buried...

Myeh - keep the pedal, replace the car.

Methinks there is a lot of pooh about to hit the fan. I guess it has gotten to the point where the Himalayas have been poking out from under the carpet where Consumers Reports have been sweeping the bad Toyota news. It's been a long time coming. The future looks so bright, I gotta where shades....

Sigh. Same old banter from the same old armchair critics: too long overhangs, pushrod engines, 4 spd automatic, blah, blah, blah. Too bad the package works, but I guess in this day and age of 'what have you done for me TODAY?' a 4 year old design may as well be a Model T. See, the trouble is that while the GM 'fans' attack GM because their cars aren't sporty enough, don't have RWD, or just don't have whatever is a particular fan's G spot on a vehicle, the vast majority of consumers don't CARE. And they have been buying boring, crappy Toyotas and Nissans because they are TOLD to by the lib

Sir, you are a God! There is one reason and one reason only that the Malibu has 'disappointed:' it came on the eve of General Motors going bankrupt! When I was still in sales, I lost countless deals to persons who readily admitted the Malibu was better than the Camry or Accord, but they were vexed about GM's financial troubles and didn't want to risk spending $20k and being out their warranty. I'd wager GM has lost 50k sales on the Malibu that way, then throw in another 50k in sales due to the economic implosion in the States of the past 18 months. Add those figures together and the Mali

Hmm, maybe there is a God after all.....

Now that lawyer is being subpoened to testify in Washington - and Toyoda himself is going to come down from the heavens and grace us mere mortals with his words of wisdom. Oh, how the mighty have fallen! As I predicted 2 years ago, the media would turn on Toyota once it achieved world dominance. And now it has! Karma is a bitch. Not that any of this is new, to those of us who once worked in the auto industry! Hell, even the Toyota Star published front page news 2 weeks ago about Toyota's foibles. I guess Toyota stopped sending them their monthly cheques! I would be loathe to defend

Looks like they can't follow their own editorials: what about the mea culpa they printed 2 years ago where they virtually apologized for giving Toyota free reign on their new model releases? (But only after the 'new' Avalon had so many serious defects - far beyond shiny chrome pieces, that they had to acknowledge SOMETHING.) It's a rag, and I wouldn't let my cat crap on it.

And this is why Detroit will die: so-called fanboys who shoot a model down BEFORE IT'S EVEN LAUNCHED. And your opinion is based on what facts, exactly? Have you test driven the last Ford Fiesta offered on these shores (how many years ago was that, exactly?), and compared it to the latest Aveo? Hell, have YOU even been to Europe and driven the new Fiesta? The Spark is more than a year away from launch and yet the naysayers line up to throw fuel on the fire to watch it burn. Just like the Volt. The biggest reason I stopped reading C&G, after 5 years on this site was the mewling