#Toyota establishing US HQ in #Texas — Texas GOP reacts

Sounds like great news for Texas, right? Thousands of non-minimum wage jobs, thousands of jobs with health insurance, coming to Texas as Toyota will create a national headquarters for its US operations in Plano.

Well, of course its great news, and so says leaders of the Texas Republican Party.


Rick Perry touted the $40 million the Texas Enterprise Fund Rick Perry is Running for Something Fund was paying for these jobs. When gently reminded that this was $8,000 a job that he was paying for insured jobs, far, far more than a 5 percent match for Obamacare Medicaid expansion, Perry said "Don't confuse me with numbers."

Ted Cruz thought about calling Rick Perry a socialist, but wasn't quite sure he wanted to go that far yet. So, amazingly, he said nothing, even as smoke coming out of his ears above his furrowed brow indicated that the idea was stuck in his melting-down brain.

John Cornyn said what Ted Cruz said because, per Lyndon Baines Johnson, Cornyn has voluntarily put his pecker in Cruz's pocket.

Louie Gohmert was put into preventative detention by Rick Perry, who was afraid Gohmert would scare the crap out of the Japanese so badly that they would renege on the deal.

Greg Abbott promised Toyota officials the new headquarters would not have to comply with Americans with Disabilities Act standards. He also promised to sue the Obama administration if it tried to force this on Toyota.

When asked how he could stand for such a double standard, he said it was a dirty liberal trick to talk about him and a  "stand"-ard for anything.

Dan Patrick said he welcomed Toyota, as long as the Japanese there were all in America legally and did not stink or contaminate America, unlike he thinks Hispanics do. Patrick did say that if Toyota were to be for getting some Ill Eagles to mow campus lawns, he'd try to remember what part of his own past to remember or not.

David Dewhurst said he was amazed that not all Japanese were short. He asked if any of them had registered to vote in the primary election runoff, to re-elect him rather than somebody worried that they might stink.

Jerry Patterson asked if Toyota had a gun-friendly culture. He promised Glocks for all if Toyota did, whipping one out of his boot while there.

Ken Paxton asked if Toyota needed to buy any construction bonds with any of that Rick Perry money He touted his under-the-table financial genius, saying he could hide money wherever it needed to be hidden.

Joe Straus wondered why he couldn't get Toyota to San Antonio.

Note: It should be obvious by now to regular readers that this is going to be a semi-regular series. It's like shooting fish in a barrel, only in the case, the fish are generally too dumb to recognize they're dead.

Toyota ready to kick butt with new hybrids

A visitor looks at Toyota Motor Corp's Prius hybrid car
at the Toyota Motor Corp showroom in Tokyo in this
August 2010 file photo. (Reuters/Christian Science Monitor)

Even as GM is dropping more hybrids, except for the very-costly-to-build Chevy Volt, to which it's chained its future like a lead anchor, Toyota is ready to kick some fuel economy butt.

It has announced it's rolling out 21 new hybrids. No, that's not a typo. Even the base-level Scion division of the company looks like it's going to get at least one hybrid. And, not some long distance away, but in 2015.

And, since Toyota, on moderate volumes, is now profitable on the Prius, the story is right on that aspect. Profit margins may be smaller, in general, but with enough volume, these new hybrids will be profitable soon enough.

The New York Times, on its Wheels blog, notes that Honda is also going to expand its hybrid offerings.

Now, as Ford has moderate hybrid offerings, GM has pledged to basically have none, and Chrysler has none now, with no real word of future developments, will the formerly Big Three do what Ford did with its hybrid Escape and buy hybrid technology from Toyota (or Honda) for licensing? And, with EPA fuel economy requirements set to hit 54.5 mpg by 2025 (ignoring the various loopholes in there, such as for flex-fuel vehicles), will Toyota or Honda be willing sellers?

Dumb business op-eds day at NYT, part 2

The Sunday NYT op-eds page has two real clunkers, both on business news. (I'm not counting MoJo Dowd's clunker about Obama being "bi" on gay marriage; I know that's what it's about without clicking the link, which I refuse to do.)

Anyway, back to business stupidity, and from the NYT's two business-focused columnists not named Paul Krugman. Dave Leonhardt and Joe Nocera both write clunkers, huge ones.

Leonhardt at least could have some degree of rightness in his column about college.

Joe Nocera's uncritical love affair with the Chevy Volt admits to no such rightness at all, though.

The reason Chevy's rollout is slow, Joe? Probably due to GM's continued suckitude with the vehicle, mixed with marketing come-ons landing suckers.

The cool gauge you talk about? The Prius first had that almost a decade ago.

The alleged way in which the Volt runs differently than a Prius? GM itself has admitted the Volt is a hybrid.

Nocera then uncritically accepts the views of auto analysts who diss the all-electric Nissan Leaf. Would these be the same who dissed the hybrid Prius, Joe? As for whether lithium-ion batteries are ultimately the best for electric cars, if they're not, the Leaf doesn't have to be rebuilt from ground zero, Joe. People made the same arguments about battery power and prices against the Prius, too, Joe. And, look how much Toyota improved the Prius from first to second generation.

Even more laughable, Nocera next absolves GM from any blame for killing the EV1.

Finally, he ignores how much behind timetable the Volt was through its whole development process.

is Toyota officially the new Audi?

A government report seems to make it official, in that Toyota sudden acceleration problems are NOT due to vehicle electronics.

Now, the floormat issue that Toyota dealt with earlier? I think that was a legitimate problem. Many people, and not just on the Toyotas in question, have had problems with unanchored driver's floormats.

But, surely, that wasn't all the problem. Nor was the accelerator pedal.

Instead, as with Audi, in all likelihood, we had a meme, if you will. (I don't believe in memes in a "robust" sense, but it's a handy talking point.) And, with a much more Net-wired America than when Audi had its problems, plus social networks, social media, etc., Toyota had more of a PR issue on its hands.

It did in another way. Toyota had a quality reputation that could face damage; knowledgeable consumers didn't rank Audi of 20 years ago that high on quality in the first place.

That said, in the aftermath, Toyota still has a customer relations issue of some degree. Let's see how it handles it.

The Big Three? No, the Dirty Three

Among the top eight automakers, the formerly Big Three are the bottom three on "green" ratings from the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Toyota's No. 1, right? Nope, its Priuses can't pull up its entire fleet. Honda is No. 1; Toyota ties with Hyundai - yep, Hyundai - for No. 2. (To be fair, Hyundai sells no pickups.)

Other details are no shock, like Chrysler just making minimum efforts and GM using its light hybrids more to boost horsepower than anything else.

Toyota has new problem – shareholder suits

A group of Toyota stockholders is now suing it, saying the company knew more than it let on about the acceleration problems and has therefore willfully damaged the value of their stocks.

The lawsuits contend, top Toyota executives have known for nearly a decade that faulty electronic throttle controls caused vehicles to sometimes careen wildly out of control but covered it up to protect the company's reputation for safety — and its stock price. The company has not issued any recalls involving flaws in the electronic throttles and has repeatedly denied they are the problem.

Shares rose from just over $75 on Oct. 5, the day of the floor mat recall, to above $90 on Jan. 21, when Toyota announced another recall — over gas pedals it says can stick in certain conditions.

After that, the stock price fell, dropping 16 percent as of early March. Shares have since rebounded somewhat, closing Thursday at $79.34.

Can't believe I didn't see this possibility in advance.

That said, the people wanting class action status claim they are not lawsuit fishers.

Prius accident fake claim in Japan

This is another reason to suspect Mr. Sikes' claims from Los Angeles a week ago. In Japan, a person who claimed Prius braking problems could face criminal charges over the Japanese equivalent of making a false accident report.

Toyota, Audi and sudden acceleration

When first reading about Toyota's sudden acceleration problems, and without excusing its fumbled response to the situation, I wondered whether, like Audi's similar problem in the late 1980s, we weren't seeing, in part at least, driver error.

And now, Richard Schmidt, who helped work on the Audi investigation, says exactly that.

As for people who think drivers wouldn't freeze and panic that long, the recent Prius "sudden acceleration" saga of James Sikes suggests, oh yes they would — or, at least, they could.

So, without defending Toyota and its response, let's not rush to judgment, either. Schmidt may be right.

And, per a new post, I'm wondering if Mr. Sikes isn't lawsuit fishing.

Don't drive that Corolla!

Toyota's latest problem? Power steering problems on some of its Corollas.

Meanwhile, showing Toyota still "doesn't get it" on the PR front, it says it's "considering" a recall. Considering?

And company President Akio Toyoda says he won't attend a congressional hearing. Not sure that's the best decision either.

The beat(down) goes on for Toyota

The talk has been for months among auto analysts that Toyota grew too rapidly, diminishing quality.

How much?

It now ranks 16th in car quality among manufacturers.

And, thing may get yet worse.

Allegedly, half the sudden accelertion complaints involve models not yet recalled.

That's part of why Congress and watchdog groups want the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to do more.

And, why they want Toyota to do more.

Yet MORE Prius woes for Toyota

Reportedly, the Japanese giant has two more Prius problems: 1. Other electronic malfunctions on the new, third-generation Priuses besides the regenerative brakes, and 2. Regenerative brake problems are also on older Priuses.

The story goes on to detail just how serious the braking problem could be.

Toyota problems just got worse

Those balky Prius brakes? They're now the focus of a Canadian class-action lawsuit.

Apparently, it's not the first lawsuit, but, it's the first to get this much attention. That said, I'm sure it won't be the last, either to be filed, or to get the publicity.

Given what Toyota appeared to know, and when, it should probably already start budgeting lots of legal fees against future earnings.

Toyota will never be the same

Why not? Basically, because the mask has been removed, as this column notes well.

Schadenfreude alert: Toyota

Can you blame not only the American Big Three, or elected politicians, but other people if they feel a little pleasure at the stumbles of Toyota, acting more and more like GM all the time recently?

That's doubly so when it appears Toyota was doing secret fixes to the brakes of current-generation Priuses as they came off the assembly line even while poo-poohing owner complaints about break fade.

Toyota black eye grows, will affect economy

Toyota is halting sales of eight vehicle models covered by a recall for an sticking accelerator pedal problem until it can find a solution.

The result? The world's No. 1 (for now???) automaker is completely halting production at four North American plants and shutting down one line at another.

Toyota announced last week it was recalling 2.3 million Toyota cars and trucks due to accelerator pedals that could fail to spring back, raising the total number of Toyota models called back for possible uncontrolled acceleration to 4.8 million.

Toyota does not have a fix for the problem nor an estimate of when one will be available, hence teh manufacturing shutdown.

With the auto industry struggling for more traction after the expiration of Cash for Clunkers, this won't help Toyota nor a chain of auto parts suppliers.

Meanwhile, worries about how the Toyota quality issue might have fallout are spreading across Japanese manufacturing.

And, for Toyota to admit it doesn't yet have a fix? Boy, that's big.

Now, if you're a non-Toyota automaker, do you get aggressive with some new rebates or something to fill in the gap? I'm curious what Honda will do with some of its lines, and Ford with the new Focus.

Toyota continues self-inflicted black eyes

Just when you think the car company smart enough to work its way to No. 1 seller in the world couldn't get any dumber about either actual safety issues on its vehicles or public relations perceptions thereunto, it proves people like me wrong.

For at least this car company, the "Japanese way" is looking more and more like the General Motors or Ford way.

Sticking accelerators? Check, on more vehicle types than previously announced, and with different, new causes than previously announced.

A former lawyer of your own company suing you? Check.

Numerous confidential, non-disclosure lawsuit settlements? Check.

Reselling lemon cars? Check.

Read the full story; Toyota comes of as pretty slimy. You might rethink a Toyota buying decision in the future.

Disclosure: I own a Corolla. Love it. It's old enough to be from before most of the problems Toyota has tried to hide.

And, that gets to the root of the problem. Toyota has, perhaps, grown too fast for its own good, and hence, a lot of its recent safety shortcuts.

Toyota still doesn't really get it

It's nice that it's starting to install a "smart" gas pedal, but its refusal to consider whether drive-by-wire throttle systems might not just be the cause of sudden acceleration-based crashes is still ostrich-like.

That said, Toyota's not alone on that. And, federal regulators appear to be behind the curve.

Toyota just refuses to get it

Whether or not it has vehicular sudden acceleration defects, the perception is it does. For Toyota to claim it doesn’t, as part of a recall, to the point of getting an official federal slapdown makes me wonder if it’s not as bad as some more arrogant American-based companies.

Is Toyota right to hold off on all-electrics?

Business-wise, I say yes, its stance is smart.

An aging Japan offers little market; Europe’s not big on them; the US market is still fickle, and sprawled Chinese cities, like many US ones, need an electric with more battery life.

This, though, is NOT good business sense: Akio Toyoda, Toyota’s new president, is a big backer of fuel-cell cars. Hydrogen power is just as much “just around the corner” as is peaceful nuclear fusion.

Toyota needs to be careful it doesn’t become the new “old GM.”

The latest from the ‘Toyota could do it again’ department

Can you picture a hybrid with a body made from seaweed-derived plastics? Toyota can.

So, tell me, why should we pound $30 million of sand down the rathole of GM’s bunghole?