Duke Nukem

The one thing I'll give Toyota is they are masters of misconception and awesome at marketing. I seen a stat that shows how smart Toyota is. GM gives something like 100 million to charitys a year and spends under 100K advertising they did so, Toyota actually gives 500K to charitys a year and spends 5 million advertising they gave it to charitys.

Make sure to read the Wall Street Journal article below in great detail and all the way through to understand the Hybrid mis-conceptions.

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Dear Valued Hybrid Customer...
The Wall Street Journal

By Holman W. Jenkins Jr.
Nov. 30, 3005

We at the Toyota Motor Corporation are writing to address certain misconceptions that have arisen about your Toyota Prius model, which we are proud to note is driven by many celebrities, including Prince Charles and HBO's Larry David.

Our pioneering gasoline-electric hybrid, introduced in 1999, has become an object of adoration to the world's enlightened car buyers. Our competitors, including America's Big Three, are rushing out hybrid vehicles of their own. Unconfirmed media reports say that we at Toyota intend to double our hybrid output to 500,000 vehicles next year. Along with other members of the auto industry, we will be lobbying for tax breaks and HOV privileges for hybrid vehicles.

However, any romance entering its seventh year tends to go stale. Some purchasers have begun to question the practical value of our Hybrid Synergy Drive technology. You may be aware that a survey by Consumer Reports found that our vehicles achieve considerably less mileage (some 26 percent less) than the sticker rating implies. This has led to some unflattering media stories.

Let us assure you that the Prius remains one of the most fuel-efficient cars on the road. Toyota applauds your willingness to spend $9,500 over the price of any comparable vehicle for the privilege of saving, at current gasoline prices, approximately $580 a year.

And should the price of gasoline rise to $5, after 10 years and/or 130,000 miles of driving, you might even come close to breaking even on your investment in hybrid technology.

We recognize that our customers have an "emotional" relationship with their vehicles. This transcends even the regrettable truth that driving a fuel-efficient car does not yield any substantial benefits for society if it doesn't save the owner money.

Contrary to any loose statements made by our marketing partners in the environmental community and media, petroleum not consumed by Prius owners is not "saved." It does not remain in the ground. It is consumed by someone else. Greenhouse pollutants are released. Also, please note that the warranty and owner's manual say nothing about reducing America's dependence on foreign oil. This is not an oversight. The Prius is an "oil-dependent" vehicle. It runs on gasoline, supplied by the same world market that fuels other vehicles.

The Toyota Corporation regrets any misunderstanding our marketing may inadvertently have caused (or may cause in the future).

We share your belief that the days of the internal combustion engine are numbered. Further research by our economists suggests this will happen when the price of gasoline rises high enough to make alternative technologies cheaper than gasoline-powered cars.

We at Toyota want you to know we recognize this effect and have taken steps to compensate with the rest of our vehicle lineup.

Our 2006 Tundra pickup will be equipped with Toyota's new eight-cylinder engine, making it every bit as much of a gas guzzler as any American pickup. We are also redirecting our efforts to use our Hybrid Synergy Drive to increase power output rather than reduce gasoline consumption.

Take our new hybrid SUV, which produces 38 more horsepower but gets the same mileage as our conventional version. A New York Times reviewer wrote, "One question lingers after driving the 2006 Lexus RX400h: How did it come to this, that Toyota is now selling a hybrid gas-electric vehicle with no tangible fuel economy benefits?"

We hope this corrects any misimpression caused by our latest slogan ("Commute with Nature"). Hybrid technology is not "green" technology. Like heated seats or flashy exterior trim, it's merely an expensive option that generates large markups for the Toyota Corporation and its dealers.

You will share our pride in the latest figures from J.D. Power & Associates, which show that the Prius continues to move off a dealer's lot in just eight days, compared to 36 days for a Honda Civic hybrid. Clearly, our customers are willing to pay handsomely for the privilege of showing themselves behind the wheel of so conspicuously virtuous a vehicle.

But we are also a far-seeing corporation. We recognize that the Prius's distinctiveness may be a wasting asset for reasons outlined in this letter. Other motorists may see the Prius operator and think "sucker." Our lawyers advise us this may affect your car's resale value. Toyota regrets any inconvenience.

We want you to know that Toyota remains committed to advancing hybrid technology just as long as our customers are willing to make it worth our while. Our esteemed competitor, Nissan's Carlos Ghosn, was recently quoted saying, "There's such a buzz today that no CEO of a car manufacturer dares to say his real opinion of hybrid because he's accused of being retarded."

Another esteemed competitor, GM, has suggested that hybrid technology is best deployed in city buses, where large fuel consumption and stop-and-go driving might actually make it economically sensible.

These are just two examples of the short-sighted, stick-in-the-mud marketing instincts of our fellow automakers that are helping to make Toyota the largest car company in the world.

Yours Truly, the Toyota Corporation.

BigJeff

Shut Up we will be working those little Asian guys before long....

Jeff

Lucky~13

Ahhh, the importance of a well placed preposition.

Duke Nukem

Good Point. I would prefer to work for an American company and make a good living doing it and will do what it takes to keep it that way for everyone and my kids. These dumb asses buying Kia's and Toyota's thinking they've saved a dollar for themselves are the reason we will out be without jobs some day. We never had a motorcycle market, lost electronics 30 years ago and Textiles in the last 10 years. China is currently trying to buy Maytag to takeover the appliance industry. The auto industry is last remaining strong hold we had. Time to wake up folks, or learn chinesssssssse.

Lucky~13

Pffft, it's all an elaborate ploy to steal our women

Duke Nukem

They can have some of them.

FJakeR

Yup. Too bad people don't realize it. Our company here in Germany is in the process of moving ALL of it's manufacturing from Gemany to China because they can't compete with Chineese companys who took apart our devices, reverse engineered our technology and made a device to market against ours, at about 1/5 the price. How can you compete with that? It's easy to make a cheap product when you don't have any R&D costs and a government that will let you do that. They didn't even bother to engineer their own casings, just basically painted them a different color. And we can't do anything about it. We have lawyers of course, but it seems like it's hard to make the chineese do anything that you want that doesn't make them money. Fu(k china, and all the other 3rd world nations, especially india. let them keep sh!tting in their streets and drowning their babies if their not boys. And fu(k the politicians too for letting us get in this situation, oh yeah and a very special fu(k you goes out to the UAW for their workers making 100K+ for pressing a button on the line and being a big factor in GM tanking.
ok, rant over,
but still, fu(k em.
-Jake

Duke Nukem

+1 for Jake

Even the UAW workers aren't at fault. GM was making good profits in the 60's thru 80's and paid their people good for it, that's America folks. Yes a line worker shouldn't make 100K a year, but **** they just took the money and put it back in our own economy anywho. Fu(k China. Just wait till our politians okay them to bring over there full size SUV's for about 8k, that will bury this country.

The Gas Man

I'm with you guys on the F**k China... I don't even like buying the stuff they make. They are basically taking over the world from the economy standpoint.

So with that viewpoint in mind... try not to shop at WalMart. They are BIG bad at this. They price control and content control everything in their stores. That is how they get the prices so low... here's a few links for you anti-china/walmart crapola

Mom & Pa vs Walmart (NWS)

JibJab!!

FJakeR

Yup, I totally agree. If you don't like the China situation, then you better not be shopping at walmart because the two support each other. You won't see any "Yeah China" flags in front of walmart, but with their price fixing they are forcing companies to move to china to produce their goods. I hate these rednecks who say, "Well golly gee, I hate all them there chineese type peoples", and then go buy **** from walmart. I wish you would have studied harder in school so you could understand this kind of stuff, but no, they just look at you like your an idiot and say that they can get 20 bags of Doritos for the price of 10 if they shop at walmart. if your so damn broke what the fu(k are you doing buying Doritos anyways, fu(kin hill scoggins.
-Jake

Duke Nukem

Walmart is the root of all China evil, no doubt. At least they are starting to get some resistance from community's now. If 1% of their merchandise is made in America, I'll shitt my pant's. Not to mention everyone in there are missing teeth and wearing sweat pants with brown spots all over them.

Cuddles

Key word is WORKERS

Duke Nukem

Agreed, but that's our (managements) fault in the first place. I would sleep or surf the net all day if my boss let me do it.........beats sitting in meetings and doing real work.

EZEC

gm is losing money due to paying pensions and out of control health insurance costs....

...tens of thousands of people who haven't worked for gm in over a decade are still collecting a paycheck....

and the uaw refuses to pay a dime of thier own/families health insurance..

and yea f china....driving up oil prices, polluting the air, and filling our stores with garbage...all while taking thier profits and buying stock and bonds in our compaines and government.

Duke Nukem

Yep, none of that helps us to compete, that's for sure. Though...technically GM is not losing money on pensions because they get paid out of the pension fund set aside for that very reason. But supposedly there isn't enough money to cover all the pensions in the future so it puts GM at a bad credit rating knowing the $$ will run out someday.

Cuddles

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/P133000.asp

cbr9two9guy

American pride! If you can't beat the japs lie about how good youre doing!!!

Duke Nukem

At least we are learning to lie as good as the jap's, now we need to promote the lies better like they do. We're almost there. :YEAH

One note I do take personal in the article though is about the selection of brands being dull. I don't buy into that one, although like all auto makers we have some dumb cars (Assteck).

Soltise, Sky, Colbolt, G6, Vette, H2, H3, Colorodo, CTS, CTSV, SLR, Saab9-3, Torret, 07 Trucks, Escalade, Vue, Ion Redline, just to mention a few that I think are pretty nice vehicles. I don't care for the Buicks much, but they are made for the 50-80 year rang.

cbr9two9guy

so i guess we will be driving buicks next year

Lucky~13

Ya'll should be driving buicks now. Your just fooling yourselves