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(Jalopnik) Interesting Toyota may post first annual loss in 70 years. Here comes the Scions   (jalopnik.com) divider line 112
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at80eighty [TotalFark] 2008-12-21 08:55:26 AM  
+1. good jorb

 
40below [TotalFark] 2008-12-21 09:05:01 AM  
Not bad.

 
the eidolon 2008-12-21 09:16:26 AM  
I did my part this year by buying a Scion.

 
Earguy [TotalFark] 2008-12-21 09:39:32 AM  
40below: Not bad.

The 40Below seal of approval is your assurance of quality.

 
Dupa [TotalFark] 2008-12-21 10:14:44 AM  
I designed the prototype Scion xB in third grade, using a shoebox.

 
Demetrius [TotalFark] 2008-12-21 10:49:00 AM  
I just finished culling a HOTY list. This one was better than most of those.

 
phlegmmo 2008-12-21 11:01:48 AM  
subby: I lol'd

 
thatguyfred 2008-12-21 11:03:27 AM  
I think the Scion Fuse and Tc are pretty cars.

 
floor9 [TotalFark] 2008-12-21 11:03:38 AM  
Hey guys, it's ok. I heard GM is making an electric car that costs $40 grand and can go up to one hour on a ten-hour charge, so everything's cool again.

 
herne 2008-12-21 11:04:57 AM  
There is also reports of Toyota avoiding layoffs at all costs.

 
LocalCynic 2008-12-21 11:07:05 AM  
B-b-but clearly it's all the UAW's fault!

 
MIguy [TotalFark] 2008-12-21 11:07:57 AM  
Suck it Big 3 bashers.

 
Bob55 2008-12-21 11:09:21 AM  
img258.imageshack.us

 
darkscout 2008-12-21 11:10:08 AM  
MIguy: Suck it Big 3 bashers.

Annual loss is just a slight bit a way from asking for a bailout.

Looks like we won't post record annual profits again this year as we have been for the last 3 or 4.

 
turbokat [TotalFark] 2008-12-21 11:10:27 AM  
It's not often that a truly good car joke is seen on fark. Good job!

/Former auto-tech.

 
Malinki 2008-12-21 11:10:27 AM  
phlegmmo: subby: I lol'd

Ditto.

 
LilDave 2008-12-21 11:10:44 AM  
Well with the faltering economy Honda is making rumblings (unless they've already made good on them) about pulling out of F1 this season and they've already stated they are not sponsoring a factory team in AMA motorcycle racing for the '09 season.

Oh well the ride is over.

 
skinink 2008-12-21 11:11:50 AM  
thatguyfred: I think the Scion Fuse and Tc are pretty cars.

The boxy Scion car is actually pretty nice. Yes it looks ugly, but it has a lot of room, and the engine has some power to it, it isn't sluggish at all. I had fun driving it and I'd buy one if I could afford to.

 
SwallowTheKnife 2008-12-21 11:11:54 AM  
Earguy: The 40Below seal of approval is your assurance of quality.

Was thinking the same thing.
No thread means shiat unless 40below gives it an "OK" rating or higher.

 
eli pabst 2008-12-21 11:12:24 AM  
This is clearly the fault of those greedy bastards at the UAW as well.

 
ceejayoz 2008-12-21 11:12:38 AM  
Wait, I thought the UAW was the entire source of the troubles American car manufacturers are having?!

 
Mugato [TotalFark] 2008-12-21 11:16:46 AM  
The last scion

www.mixedreviews.net

 
Mr. Right 2008-12-21 11:17:15 AM  
Toyota is going to lose a bit of money because of market conditions. They are going to lose a fraction of what the Big Three are losing. Further, because of their overall equity position, they could lose this much for many years and not be in the shape GM is in. Of course, that won't happen because Toyota will find a way to reduce costs, rid itself of excess capacity in an orderly manner instead of the slash and burn methodology of U.S. companies, and return to at least modest profitability.

One huge advantage is that they don't have to pay billions every year to people who no longer work there.

And yes, they do try to avoid layoffs. They understand that employees are valuable so after they have them trained they don't want to dump them. Their philosophy also includes the notion that if a person can safely do a job, let him. Don't automate it.

There's a reason that the Toyota Production System is widely studied and adopted in this country - it works!

 
Shadowknight [recently expired TotalFark] 2008-12-21 11:22:17 AM  
darkscout: MIguy: Suck it Big 3 bashers.

Annual loss is just a slight bit a way from asking for a bailout.

Looks like we won't post record annual profits again this year as we have been for the last 3 or 4.


Didn't the foreign auto makers get a bailout from their respective countries a few years back when the Asian markets first started crashing? It just wasn't a huge deal over there, as we are one of the only industrialized nations paranoid of government interaction and involvement in business.

 
SwallowTheKnife 2008-12-21 11:23:50 AM  
MIguy: Suck it Big 3 bashers.

Let's play can you spot the difference? !!!

Toyota
may Weeners annual loss

vs.

General Motors net worth is -$59.939 billion.
source(pop)

 
SwallowTheKnife 2008-12-21 11:24:41 AM  
...Stupid filters.
Second time this week.

well, you get the point.

 
rorypk 2008-12-21 11:24:43 AM  
Those uaw guys are cagey bastards.

Its a failed business model, if you cannot turn a profit you deserve to die.

Good enough for gm, good enough for toyota right?

Where are all those people who blamed the big3 for current market conditions? You said toyota makes tons of money, where's that money at?

 
Green Discharge 2008-12-21 11:24:49 AM  
A brother of a co-worker was in our store friday. We sell organic products, probably not all made in the USA. Apparently he's really into USA made products.
I told him that in today's world, we thrive as a global economy. He just didn't see how that was possible, went on some light rant about Japanese cars. I said, "Oh yeah? What about foreign cars made in the US? Should I not buy those? What about the people who work there?"

EVERYTHING IS GOING TO GO INTO THE RED THIS YEAR ASSHOLE.

 
Mugato [TotalFark] 2008-12-21 11:24:55 AM  
SwallowTheKnife: may Weeners annual loss

Well they're Japanese so it's no big loss.

 
hardinparamedic [TotalFark] 2008-12-21 11:25:41 AM  
Maybe they should team up with Mitsubishi and start making Zeros again.

/ICH NI SAN JI! You must bomba the harbor.

 
Man in the Yellow GT Hat 2008-12-21 11:27:03 AM  
Scion Chicks (new window)

 
lstywnch 2008-12-21 11:29:08 AM  
I bought a toyota this year, so I'm getting a kick?

 
Man in the Yellow GT Hat 2008-12-21 11:30:11 AM  
SwallowTheKnife: MIguy: Suck it Big 3 bashers.

Let's play can you spot the difference? !!!

Toyota may Weeners annual loss

vs.

General Motors net worth is -$59.939 billion.
source(pop)


So if I offered them -$50 billion they'd be crazy not to take it.

That's how it works, right?

 
Shazam999 2008-12-21 11:30:37 AM  
Mr. Right: Toyota is going to lose a bit of money because of market conditions. They are going to lose a fraction of what the Big Three are losing. Further, because of their overall equity position, they could lose this much for many years and not be in the shape GM is in. Of course, that won't happen because Toyota will find a way to reduce costs, rid itself of excess capacity in an orderly manner instead of the slash and burn methodology of U.S. companies, and return to at least modest profitability.

One huge advantage is that they don't have to pay billions every year to people who no longer work there.

And yes, they do try to avoid layoffs. They understand that employees are valuable so after they have them trained they don't want to dump them. Their philosophy also includes the notion that if a person can safely do a job, let him. Don't automate it.

There's a reason that the Toyota Production System is widely studied and adopted in this country - it works!


That's funny. Obviously you know dick squat about the Japanese financial system, because if you did something, you'd know that the Japanese gov't would give handouts to Toyota like free candy at a pedo fair.

 
Komplex 2008-12-21 11:30:46 AM  
darkscout: MIguy: Suck it Big 3 bashers.

Annual loss is just a slight bit a way from asking for a bailout.

Looks like we won't post record annual profits again this year as we have been for the last 3 or 4.


Well, the foreign owned car makers get a bailout every year from their respective governments - national health insurance and government pensions for all workers.

When the $71 per hour canard is pushed by the neo-confederates, the actual number about $41 to the current worker and $30 to the retired worker.

 
eKonk 2008-12-21 11:31:24 AM  
hardinparamedic: Maybe they should team up with Mitsubishi and start making Zeros again.

/ICH NI SAN JI! You must bomba the harbor.


According to their excellent TV commercials, that sounds like their plan.

/SAAAAAVED BY ZEEEEEERO!

 
thalidomide new and improved 2008-12-21 11:32:45 AM  
Man in the Yellow GT Hat: )

guess you had to be there.

 
walnuts55 [TotalFark] 2008-12-21 11:34:19 AM  
I helped them Saturday got the wife a new 09 Camray. So Ho Ho Ho.
I have 4 new Toyotas and like them all. Also have a 07 Chevy 3500 HD and its a great truck too. I have 70000 miles on it now.

 
maxnaxl 2008-12-21 11:36:58 AM  
They blinded me with Scions....

 
Kurmudgeon 2008-12-21 11:39:10 AM  
"Looks like we won't post record annual profits again this year as we have been for the last 3 or 4."

The Vichy French did well for awhile too.
/yes I did Godwin the thread.
//it's applicable.

 
Mr. Right 2008-12-21 11:45:53 AM  
Shazam999:
That's funny. Obviously you know dick squat about the Japanese financial system, because if you did something, you'd know that the Japanese gov't would give handouts to Toyota like free candy at a pedo fair.


It's obvious you know nothing not only about Japan but about accounting. Yes, Japan had a system of subsidies to manufacturing firms but that was paid for by substantial taxes. It is also largely past tense since the Japanese economy was in the tank a decade or so ago.

My point is that Toyota will lose some money this year. Big Damned Splash! Their net worth is still very much positive. The reason GM is begging for money is that their net worth, as pointed out by SwallowTheKnife is negative 50 billion. They've been losing money, hemorrhaging net worth for several years now. And it has been, in large part but not exclusively, because of the legacy costs they inflicted on themselves by the UAW.

I'm not a huge fan of Japan and they don't do everything right. Neither am I a GM basher. But when something works we should adopt it and when something is an obvious failure, we need to figure out how to get out from under it. No change in GM's management is going to fix their problems until we can figure a path to get out from under the legacy costs. Note, I'm not saying we need to subsidize auto makers, nor is it morally acceptable to cut off the pensions and health care for those who worked for GM in good faith for 40 years. We DO, however, need to figure out how to move away from the plan we have and toward a plan where costs are incurred at the point of manufacture and aren't deferred so that they kill us in the future.

 
pc_gator 2008-12-21 11:46:04 AM  
Just picked up my 2009 Corolla Link (new window)

 
darkscout 2008-12-21 11:47:27 AM  
Komplex: Well, the foreign owned car makers get a bailout every year from their respective governments - national health insurance and government pensions for all workers.

Japan is paying for the health care and retirement for Toyota and Honda workers in Indiana, Kentucky, Alabama, etc?

ceejayoz: Wait, I thought the UAW was the entire source of the troubles American car manufacturers are having?!

The entire source, no. shiatty cars and overpaid execs are a part of the problem too. The UAW is lowhanging fruit. Cutting it is the easiest and fastest way to cut costs.

When your household has a budget crunch do you go after your starbucks before your internet before your mortgage.

 
pc_gator 2008-12-21 11:48:31 AM  
Oh yeah, Suck it Detroit!!!!

 
Hammurderer 2008-12-21 11:54:59 AM  
LilDave: Well with the faltering economy Honda is making rumblings (unless they've already made good on them) about pulling out of F1 this season

They pulled out a couple of weeks ago. I think they're pulling out of ALMS too.

 
studebaker hoch 2008-12-21 12:00:12 PM  
Detroit is the only US city the Japanese ever defeated.

 
ChadManMn 2008-12-21 12:00:16 PM  
Mr. Right: Toyota is going to lose a bit of money because of market conditions. They are going to lose a fraction of what the Big Three are losing. Further, because of their overall equity position, they could lose this much for many years and not be in the shape GM is in. Of course, that won't happen because Toyota will find a way to reduce costs, rid itself of excess capacity in an orderly manner instead of the slash and burn methodology of U.S. companies, and return to at least modest profitability.

One huge advantage is that they don't have to pay billions every year to people who no longer work there.

And yes, they do try to avoid layoffs. They understand that employees are valuable so after they have them trained they don't want to dump them. Their philosophy also includes the notion that if a person can safely do a job, let him. Don't automate it.

There's a reason that the Toyota Production System is widely studied and adopted in this country - it works!


Toyota also has a much leaner operation than any US maker. Layoffs would be difficult for them, outside of idling a plant.

/worked for Toyota Motors North America for five years
//Toyota Production System is very simple and incredibly effective.

 
eraser8 2008-12-21 12:00:23 PM  
darkscout: Annual loss is just a slight bit a way from asking for a bailout.

Why ask for a bailout when you're subsidized by the Japanese government as a matter of course?

 
Memoryalpha 2008-12-21 12:02:20 PM  
Toyota will survive it, and they'll still make better cars than any of the big three here in the states. But then again, I could build a soap box racer that is better than most of what the big three put out. After all, Detroit's motto is: "We're not just hoping you're dumb America, we're banking on it!" (pops)

 
aurorous 2008-12-21 12:05:50 PM  
pc_gator: Just picked up my 2009 Corolla Link (new window)

Corolla's are good cars, my '98 corolla served me well for many years and never broke down on me. My mom still has that car and it still runs good. She's not used to having a car that the doors don't freeze up on snowy mornings like they did on her old chevy Corsica.

I moved up to the Scion TC which is an amazing value for the money. it has the much beefier 2.4L engine, moon roof, 6 speaker stereo with ipod connector, alloy wheels with Yokohama racing tires only slightly more money than I paid for my corolla 10 years ago. Only downside is those tires are no good for ice slicked winter road.

And it still doesn't break down:)

 
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