BACK SEAT DRIVING - JANUARY 2006
This article is from our archives and has not been updated and integrated with our "new" site yet... Even so, it's still awesome - so keep reading!
Published on Sat, Dec 31, 2005
By: The LACar Editorial Staff
Toyota tackles the last remaining sanctuary
of American cars
ROY NAKANO
BACK SEAT DRIVING
TOYOTA DOES
NASCAR
"NASCAR welcomes Toyota to the greatest auto racing in the world," says NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France, who made the announcement on Monday at NASCAR'S Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C. "Toyota's entry into the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series and the NASCAR Busch Series is good for drivers, teams and the fans. This move provides for even more intense competition on the track between drivers and manufacturers, which will provide more excitement and fan interest. Toyota's entry also provides more options for drivers and teams, which will increase the competition between manufacturers." "It's a great pleasure to announce Toyota's entry into the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup and Busch Series with the Toyota Camry," said Dave Illingworth, senior vice president and chief planning and administrative officer for Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. "Next year - 2007 - will be a special year for Toyota in more ways than one. Toyota will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in the United States, and we will be joining the NASCAR NEXTEL CUP Series, America's premier racing series," says Illingworth. "We look forward to February of 2007 when the green flag waves to start the Daytona 500 and the starting lineup features the Toyota Camry." Since 1986, Toyota has built more than 12 million vehicles in the United States. More than 6.5 million Camrys have been sold in the United States and it has been the best-selling car in America for eight of the past nine years. Camrys are built at Toyota Motor Manufacturing in Georgetown, KY. Notwithstanding Autobytel's recent survey (see below), it appears the country has come a long way in accepting Asian-origin car makers into the automotive community. Next year, we will see if it extends into the community of NASCAR car racing. Your Back Seat Driving comments can be sent to: Letter to the Editor.
Geely CK: China's first import into the USA?
(Mark Dapoz photo)
ROY NAKANO: BSD
SINOPHOBIA
ROY NAKANO: BSD
HELL FREEZES OVER
BT JUSTICE: BSD
FORD'S "WAY
FORWARD" VISION LACKS VISION AND PROMISE
Ford Motor Company's long-awaited revitalization plan for North America - dubbed by Ford as "Way Forward" - was announced yesterday. It contained surprisingly little news. For months the media have speculated the plan would close a dozen plants and reduce headcount by 30,000, and those predictions proved accurate. The official word is five assembly plants - three identified and two to be named later - and nine component plants will be shuttered. In addition, 25,000 to 30,000 blue collar workers and 4,000 salaried employees will be let go over the next six years. The cutbacks will reduce Ford's production capacity by 1.2 million vehicles, which is a bit more than the amount its sales have declined over the last five years. The media called it right, though they didn't know exactly which facilities would be closed. So what was the news from the big announcement? Reducing headcount by 30,000 employees is no big deal. That's about how many employees Ford has lost over the last five years through attrition. The average UAW worker is 48 years old with 20 years of experience, which means a lot of blue collar workers are retiring. That's not to say people and communities won't suffer from the changes announced yesterday. There will be horrible suffering for employees forcibly let go and communities that are home to closed plants. But what was the news beyond facility closings? The big news was no news. The announcement was made by Ford Chairman and CEO Bill Ford and Ford Executive Vice President for the Americas Mark Fields, who did most of the speaking. The words sounded hackneyed. We've heard them before, from Fields and others. Fields touched on many of the right topics, so superficially the world heard a few good sound bites. But substance was MIA. "You'll see the spark of a new culture" said Fields. Okay. I wanted to hear examples of how the culture has or might change. For example, Fields said accountability has not been Ford's strong suit and now will be a major force at the company. If that's true, we should have seen a repeat of Carlos Ghosn's revitalization announcement in 1999: Ghosn, just months on the job as Nissan's CEO, said he and the executive team would resign if they didn't hit their performance targets and timetable. It seems Fields doesn't want to be that accountable. And he didn't set specific targets, unlike Ghosn's famed "Nissan 180" plan (1 million incremental sales, 8% return on sales, zero debt). Fields didn't mention a restructuring, which often is key to a corporate turnaround. He didn't talk about staff changes. He didn't discuss changes in processes except in the broadest of terms. He didn't announce rewards for performance. He didn't say anything about sharing platforms, product development, engineering, manufacturing or other resources with Europe or other Ford regions, and that's something many pundits say the company sorely needs to reduce expenses. He didn't articulate a vision other than to say Ford will introduce products with a "bold, American design." Except for Lincoln, whose designs apparently will continue to be staid. That's right. Fields drew a contrast with Cadillac's innovative designs, which he said appeal to people "Who need to showcase their success." He said, "Lincoln customers don't need to shout about success." Did he really say that? Yep. He did. Fields looks and sounds like a talented, confident leader and manager. But Ford needs more than appearance. Perhaps more than anything else, Ford needs innovation, which a new advertising campaign says is fundamental to the company. But innovation was lacking in yesterday's announcement. If you see evidence at Ford of innovation, change and different ways of doing business, please let me know. I missed it in yesterday's grand proclamation from Dearborn. - BT Justice Your Back Seat Driving comments can be sent to: Letter to the Editor.
Dodge Challenger, sans naked lady (Mark Dapoz
photo)
CHUCK DAPOZ: BSD
MIDDLE-OF-THE-NIGHT
UNVEILING AT DETROIT AUTO SHOW
Bugatti Veyron 16.4 at the LA Auto Show
OLOV LINDBERG: BSD
MILLION DOLLAR
BABY
Design There is fashion in everything, including cars. However, the VW executives made a point of missing everything that is in vogue in car design. The net result is that the Veyron is not exactly pretty for such an exotic car. If the executives that had this in mind, they succeeded. At least no one can accuse the Veyron of being derivative. But Beauty is Only Skin Deep Inside the steel exterior is an impressive machine. The eight-liter, 16 cylinder, quad turbocharged engine produces 1,001 hp, with torque reaching 922 pound-feet across the band from 2,200 to 5,500 rpm. Power deliver goes to all four wheels.
Top speed? Try 253 mph. Zero-to-62 mph? 2.5 seconds. By all accounts, this is a very, very impressive machine. Right now, the Veyron lays claim to being the strongest and quickest production car in the world. The gas mileage is another story - about 9.5 miles per gallon in the city and 12.2 on the highway. However, as the saying goes, if you can afford this car, the gas mileage is not one of the things you worry about. Cash Flow In all likelihood, the Veyron would have never been developed if Volkswagen did not have so much cash on hand during the car's inception. Unfortunately, the mother company does not have the luxury of an overabundance of money today. If the executives were forced to make the decision today, it's doubtful VW would give the go-ahead to develop the Veyron. That's all water under the bridge, because the Veyron 16.4 is now a reality. The VW people say that they've already sold the first year's production - i.e. 50 cars. Who are the buyers? Approximately 40 percent are Americans - mostly from California. At the very least, the buyers are getting a truly unique car.
Editor's Note: LA Car Road Warrior Olov Lindberg was born and raised in Sweden. He currently resides in South Pasadena, CA. To view LA Car's report of the LA Auto Show, click here. Your Back Seat Driving comments can be sent to: Letter to the Editor.
ROY NAKANO:
BSD
FREE GAS
ROY NAKANO: BSD
LA AUTO SHOW:
LATE GOERS GET AN EVEN BETTER SHOW
BT JUSTICE: BSD
FORD'S MARK
FIELDS SAYS DETROIT MUST "CHANGE OR DIE"
This year's LA Auto Show has made me more pessimistic than ever about the Detroit automakers. It wasn't the cars, trucks and product news. It was a speech by Mark Fields, Ford's Executive Vice President responsible for North and South America. On the surface, his presentation sounded upbeat and refreshing. He said Detroit's automakers must "change or die." He called the term "Big Three" irrelevant because the auto battle is being fought by the Big Six global companies. I was lapping it up. But the more Fields talked, the more I was struck that the speech was a Miller Lite: Great Taste, Less Filling ... and maybe not filling at all. Where was the substance, the facts? What said Detroit truly has changed? Fields couldn't reveal Ford's "Way Forward" business plan - which supposedly will shutter several plants and reduce headcount by tens of thousands - because it's not due to be unwrapped publicly until January 23. So he talked philosophically about where Ford is headed. And from that perspective, Field's remarks were old school. First, he said Ford wants to be "America's car company" and the rallying cry within Ford is "Red, White & Bold" which will be reflected in a new generation of bold product designs. He claimed Ford was not wrapping itself in the American flag, but he used America and American more than 50 times. He contrasted American from non-American products with comments such as, "The qualities that draw customers to Toyota vehicles are Japanese qualities." That contradicted his statements that Ford was adopting a worldview. It seems the perspective from Detroit is still parochial, not global. It's important for companies to promote their strengths, especially traits that make a company unique. But if the best you've got is "We're American" well, that sounds a lot like the 1980s, when Detroit focused on itself, autoworker took sledgehammers to imported cars and the Big Three tried to isolate themselves from global competition. The second element of Fields' speech that smacked of old school was saying Ford has re-found its way and will give consumers what they want. He said, "The consumer will be in the driver's seat more than ever before." This is not a fresh idea. It's a phrase uttered countless times every year, in the auto industry and in most industries. Fields cited Apple Computer as a model for Ford to follow: a downtrodden company that turned itself around by listening to consumers and developing bold products. I'm sorry, Mr. Fields. Ford is no Apple. And the iPod has been successful because it was NOT developed by listening to consumers. The iPod came from Steve Jobs' ideas and passion. That's what Detroit needs. Ideas and passion. Let's hope we see both when Ford's turnaround is announced in a couple weeks. They sure weren't in the empty words at the Auto Show. - BT Justice Your Back Seat Driving comments can be sent to: Letter to the Editor.
Jetta GLI
ROY NAKANO:
BSD
CAR AND DRIVER'S
10 BEST, PLUS ONE
Gets better gas mileage than a Prius (Austin
Works photo)
ROY NAKANO:
BSD
BOY IN PEDAL CAR
IN NIGHT RIDE TO BERLIN
A
JOURNAL OF LOS ANGELES & ITS CAR CULTURE
That
was LA Car's subtitle when it started back in 1997. Since then, it became
Reporting From Car Culture Ground Zero, then From The Heart of Car
Culture, to today's The Cars and Culture of Southern California. At
all times, however, we aimed to chronicle the Southland's spirit - much like a
journal.
Now, the diary goes semi-daily. LA Car has always been a great source
to come back to from month-to-month, to see what articles and reviews have been
added to our rather staggering database. With Back Seat Driving, a.k.a.
BSD (note the similarity to two well-worn abbreviations, BS and BFD), we give you a reason to
come back more often (all opinions, by the way, are those of the respective
author).
So, go
ahead and bookmark www.lacar.com. We'll be
sure to always provide a link to the latest blog entry. In the meantime, welcome
to the journal and journey into the cars and culture of Southern California.
- Roy Nakano
For
past Blog entries, click the following:
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
July 2004
June 2004
May 2004
April 2004