With Toyota Faltering: Detroit's Big Chance?

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With new questions about brake failure on the Prius, Toyota's future as the world's No. 1 automaker is in doubt. Paul Eisenstein on whether the Big Three can capitalize.

"We're back," proclaimed Daily Show host Jon Stewart on Tuesday night, as the logos of Detroit's Big Three automakers popped up onto the screen—and into millions of American homes.

For the first third of Stewart's half-hour show, the target was Toyota Motor Co., the Japanese automaker that not long ago seemed invincible. But now, facing two massive recalls and with a growing number of safety investigations under way in the United States and abroad, the automaker's near, if not long-term, future is looking decidedly uncertain.

Click Image to View Our Gallery of History's 10 Biggest Car Blunders

Ford and General Motors have been rising steadily in the quality and reliability charts. Only days after Toyota's first "unintended acceleration" recall, last October, Consumer Reports declared that Ford products were now at "world class" quality levels, while the latest GM models, such as the new Chevrolet Equinox crossover, were getting there, as well. And the most recent long-term dependability study from J.D. Power and Associates put Buick, one of four brands to survive GM's bankruptcy, ahead of Toyota's vaunted luxury brand, Lexus.

• Ralph Nader: Blame Obama for Toyota’s Car Troubles Taking hits from Stewart and David Letterman certainly won't make lives easy at Toyota. But the real question is whether the Big Three, who have had plenty of problems of their own, can take advantage of the situation.

"It depends on how it all plays out," said Alan Mulally, CEO of Ford Motor Co., "how fast Toyota gets this behind them."

The Japanese automaker clearly hoped to put the situation in the rearview mirror as quickly as possible when it announced its first safety recall, last October. But its efforts have been star-crossed, and since then, the situation has only worsened. A second major recall, on January 21, was accompanied by the decision to close five U.S. plants temporarily and halt sales of six of Toyota's most popular models.

But even that didn't put Toyota back in control of the crisis, with a new investigation under way looking into reports of brake failure on the popular Toyota Prius, and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood accusing the company of being "safety deaf."

For Toyota, that's the equivalent of getting rope-a-doped in the boxing ring. Safety and quality together have long been what Jim Lentz, the president of Toyota Motor Sales USA, calls  the "cornerstone" of the brand.

GM has been making a point of relaying the results of the dependability study to consumers in a series of commercials featuring sports hero Howie Long, many of them directly comparing products like the Equinox and Chevy's midsize Malibu sedan to comparable Toyota models.

Although Ford hasn't directly challenged the competition, it also has been shifting its marketing efforts away from the usual images of cars soaring along scenic open highways to a more direct presentation of product attributes.

The timing of Toyota's meltdown, said Mark Fields, president of Ford's Americas division, could "open everybody's eyes" to Ford's message, particularly the emphasis on safety, quality, and reliability.

"Obviously, the guys at GM and Ford, Chrysler, too, are looking at this as an enormous opportunity to take market share away," said Joseph Phillippi of AutoTrends Consulting.

But Phillippi quickly added that the Big Three are well aware of how fast fortunes can change in the auto industry, especially considering two of the companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy less than a year ago. They're reluctant to get too aggressive and openly taunt Toyota for its current misfortunes.

View as Single Page 12 Back to Top February 3, 2010 | 9:15pm Facebook | Twitter | Digg | Share | Emails | print var OutbrainPermaLink=document.location.href.replace(document.location.search, '').replace(/\/\d+\/$/,'/').replace(document.location.host, 'thedailybeast.com'); var OB_Template = "The Daily Beast"; var OB_demoMode = false; var OBITm = "1255455386150"; var OB_langJS ='http://widgets.outbrain.com/lang_en.js'; if ( typeof(OB_Script)!='undefined' ) OutbrainStart(); else { var OB_Script = true; var str = ''; document.write(str); } Auto Industry, Business, Gm Reliability, Gm Models, Jd Power And Associates, Chevrolet Equinox, Toyota Safety Issues, Toyota Reliability, Toyota Brake Failure, American Automakers, Lexus, Toyota Recall, Toyota, Big Three, Detroit Automakers, Chrysler, General Motors, Jon Stewart, Daily Show, Ford, David Letterman  (–) Show Replies Collapse Replies Sort Up Sort Down sort by date: flyoverland

Let's see, sticking accelerator or Obama Motors....hmmm...that's a tough one.

Flag It | Permalink | Reply | (–) Show Replies Collapse Replies 11:20 pm, Feb 3, 2010 herbie7

flyoverland: You might have something to say if you could make sense.

Flag It | Permalink | Reply 9:12 am, Feb 4, 2010 estcruzer

I don't see the beef here. Although it's very dangerous, it's very intermittent, and it's not a basic system flaw like Detroit has (3 year lifespan or Quarter to Quarter Profit motive for instance). It will be easily fixed, be it mechanical or electrical - much easier than the culture or process design problems Detroit has.

Flag It | Permalink | Reply | (–) Show Replies Collapse Replies 9:43 am, Feb 4, 2010 dayton52

Over all Toyota Motors is superior to anything domestic. There is no alternative to a good Toyota, warts and all. For shame G.M. and their ilk.

Flag It | Permalink 10:42 am, Feb 4, 2010 orpheusckauszlawski

Notes about the following. I didn't write it but the piece has appeared on these pages before. It was written by the guy all the posting fascists hate The National Car-Lotto I admit to wanting the car czar job when the job came open because I like the rhyme. Here is my Czarist plan to rejuvenate our American automobile industry without any further boot clicking government intervention. As industry (or government) appointed car czar I plan on organizing a national car-lotto raffle, with tickets sold nationwide wherever lotto tickets are sold. Car-lotto raffle tickets will go for one dollar. A winning ticket gets the GM, Ford, or Chrysler of your choice, with taxes, tag, dealer fees and extended warranty included. Income tax liability will be forgiven until such time as you sell or trade the car. Our goal, with an advertising blizzard on radio, and TV, is 30,000 yet to be built cars raffled every week, as soon as we clear the cars currently in stock on the lots! This National car-Lotto idea replaces Cash-For-Clunkers. In fact National Car-Lotto is a better program because the National Car Lotto will not cost the taxpayers $4500 per vehicle as the Cash-For Clunkers program did. The lotto-raffle winner goes to their favorite dealership. The sales commission on the sticker price is divided amongst the sales force so every buddy benefits. In this manner, the future of America's car companies is in the hands of we, the people, not Washington, DC bureaucrats. Chrysler's Sebring convertible is the sharpest convertible in USA. Were it announced that Chrysler was finished and the last ten thousand Sebring Convertibles were being sold via raffle ticket, every ticket would be gone in an hour! Facing the demise of General Motors and Chrysler, millions of people would have purchased a car-lotto raffle ticket every week to win their favorite car. The deal: upon winning you visit the dealership with your winning ticket in hand and order exactly the car and color you want. I hold millions of people who can't afford to purchase a new car but can afford to operate a car would purchase car-lotto raffle tickets regardless every week whether they are driving a gas guzzling clunker or not. All of the millions of people who purchase scratch offs and lotto tickets would certainly earmark a dollar or two each week for a car-lotto raffle ticket as the odds of winning a brand new state of the art car are so much better then winning a lotto! GM would have one million Volts pre-sold before their first Volt rolled off the line. We should include the all-electric Silicon Valley Tesla, too. Instead of Obama's bureaucrats deciding which companies are to survive in the collapsing world e con oh me, we, the people would be the deciders on what cars we drive. My car-lotto national raffle program will pre-sell 30,000 new American made cars every week, the money on hold, after all the inventory on all the lots is rolled. Each and every car will be loaded with the latest state of the art features, too. The beauty in this: so many of the car-lotto winners will be people who drive but are not in the market to purchase a new car, much as they'd love to have one. Those people who are planning on a new car, in spite of today's e con oh me, aren't going to hold off until they win one in the car-lotto. They will simply go around to the dealerships and negotiate their best deal. In a troubled world market, our auto industry will survive from the good faith of the car-lotto raffle ticket purchasing American public. Here is our president, Barky 'Good Wrench' Obama, on TV Monday, last March 30, barking his approach to killing off GM and Chrysler. I paraphrase President Obama: "Its time we make the automobile industry dependent on the unending flow of American raffle dollars." So why don't we move on this and give our car industry a chance to renegotiate fresh rolls in a permanently altered world e con oh me? I want to be industry appointed, the car czar guy on the TV ads exhorting everyone to purchase their car-lotto raffle ticket, and make the talk show rounds, pushing our new car for a dollar raffle. The only hinderance to the above is it is my idea and I am a candidate for president, an issue held against me as I am an independently minded person. Once you get past that minor de tail you have a winning program. One million jobs will be saved from this. Eat your heart out Toyota! michaelslevinson.com

Flag It | Permalink | Reply | (–) Show Replies Collapse Replies 11:59 pm, Feb 3, 2010 Johnnyappleseed

orpheusckauszlawski,different name same crap, mikey get a life.

Flag It | Permalink | Reply 8:43 am, Feb 4, 2010 ApprxAm

It's real funny how it takes the f*ck up of Toyota to almost even the field and the haters of Japanese superiority over the GMs, Fords and CRY/SLAW auto groups. Toyota's current problems were simply adapting American arrogance: First, instead of dealing with the problem and being honest, Toyota took a page out of the playbook of deny, deny, deny....then no solution. Second, in their zeal to beat up on the broken American auto industry, they quickened production while, also, implementing cost cutting measures; namely by using an American vendor to whom they contracted the a) electrical harness to their throttle assembly and b) the poorly constructed computer system that I bet was contracted to the Chinese In spite of all of that, I still wouldn't waste my hard earn dollars on the American auto industry, especially GM. Toyota simply needs to slow down and get this current crisis resolved because even in their present state, the cars they design and build are miles ahead of that of Ford and GM.

Flag It | Permalink | Reply | (–) Show Replies Collapse Replies 1:05 am, Feb 4, 2010 rjcrawford33

Many observers have been waiting for Toyota to stub its big toe, but frankly the damage to the brand from this may lead to a foot amputation. The Japanese make great cars and set the standard, taking over from the US in the late 1970s or so. There is no question, I think, that Toyota got arrogant and cut too many corners. The company's response to the crisis has been catastrophically maladroit. That being said, GM et al made plenty of great cars, like the Saturn. Unfortunately, the momentum once lost is very hard to regain. Now it is the Japanese turn to lose momentum. Nothing is forever in an industry as volatile as this one.

Flag It | Permalink | Reply 3:15 am, Feb 4, 2010 dayton52

Word!

Flag It | Permalink | Reply 10:43 am, Feb 4, 2010 LeftCoastRightBrain

To recycle a phrase, "Driven a Ford lately?" As an owner of 3 MBs and a Mitsubishi, I was very impressed with the Fusion hybrid. So was Car & Driver for that matter.

Flag It | Permalink | Reply 12:07 pm, Feb 4, 2010 Johnnyappleseed

Wouldn't it be nice if you owned a government ,union, auto manufacturing corporation, and had the power to affect recalls, and government control over your competitors products. You could literally destroy their reputation with government enforcement, now Obama motors wouldn't do that....would they? Who's next Ford?

Flag It | Permalink | Reply 8:48 am, Feb 4, 2010 HarveyY

Let's not forget that firms like Toyota and Honda have given us years of trouble free driving. They should have a chance to remedy and learn from it. I've owned Gen. Motors, Ford, Chrysler, BMW and 3 Benz cars. My current '03 Toyota Avalon is the best of all of them. How much did I throw down the drain on repairs of the other cars? See more on this at: http://TheharvView.blogspot.com

Flag It | Permalink | Reply 11:19 am, Feb 4, 2010 cliffysmom

Here's an interesting tidbit the media is conveniently ignoring: Ford and GM also use accelerators manufactured by CTS in their domestically-built vehicles. It's just a matter of time before drivers of "American cars/trucks" start complaining about "sticky accelerators" .... of course, we may not hear a word about it from mainstream media. I'm just sayin' ...

Flag It | Permalink | Reply 2:17 pm, Feb 4, 2010 sharinlite

Let us not forget that American unionized (in most cases) built these Toyotas and a American company designed, built and provided the recall part. Now the Prius. When will the government understand that transparency is the right thing? In this congress and administration, NEVER!! Sensible people cannot buy Government Mortors cars....no resale, no stability, no reliability.

Flag It | Permalink | Reply 2:44 pm, Feb 4, 2010 $('#c_total span').html('14'); $('#c_total').show(); Share this comment on Facebook

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flyoverland: You might have something to say if you could make sense.

I don't see the beef here. Although it's very dangerous, it's very intermittent, and it's not a basic system flaw like Detroit has (3 year lifespan or Quarter to Quarter Profit motive for instance). It will be easily fixed, be it mechanical or electrical - much easier than the culture or process design problems Detroit has.

Over all Toyota Motors is superior to anything domestic. There is no alternative to a good Toyota, warts and all. For shame G.M. and their ilk.

Notes about the following. I didn't write it but the piece has appeared on these pages before. It was written by the guy all the posting fascists hate The National Car-Lotto I admit to wanting the car czar job when the job came open because I like the rhyme. Here is my Czarist plan to rejuvenate our American automobile industry without any further boot clicking government intervention. As industry (or government) appointed car czar I plan on organizing a national car-lotto raffle, with tickets sold nationwide wherever lotto tickets are sold. Car-lotto raffle tickets will go for one dollar. A winning ticket gets the GM, Ford, or Chrysler of your choice, with taxes, tag, dealer fees and extended warranty included. Income tax liability will be forgiven until such time as you sell or trade the car. Our goal, with an advertising blizzard on radio, and TV, is 30,000 yet to be built cars raffled every week, as soon as we clear the cars currently in stock on the lots! This National car-Lotto idea replaces Cash-For-Clunkers. In fact National Car-Lotto is a better program because the National Car Lotto will not cost the taxpayers $4500 per vehicle as the Cash-For Clunkers program did. The lotto-raffle winner goes to their favorite dealership. The sales commission on the sticker price is divided amongst the sales force so every buddy benefits. In this manner, the future of America's car companies is in the hands of we, the people, not Washington, DC bureaucrats. Chrysler's Sebring convertible is the sharpest convertible in USA. Were it announced that Chrysler was finished and the last ten thousand Sebring Convertibles were being sold via raffle ticket, every ticket would be gone in an hour! Facing the demise of General Motors and Chrysler, millions of people would have purchased a car-lotto raffle ticket every week to win their favorite car. The deal: upon winning you visit the dealership with your winning ticket in hand and order exactly the car and color you want. I hold millions of people who can't afford to purchase a new car but can afford to operate a car would purchase car-lotto raffle tickets regardless every week whether they are driving a gas guzzling clunker or not. All of the millions of people who purchase scratch offs and lotto tickets would certainly earmark a dollar or two each week for a car-lotto raffle ticket as the odds of winning a brand new state of the art car are so much better then winning a lotto! GM would have one million Volts pre-sold before their first Volt rolled off the line. We should include the all-electric Silicon Valley Tesla, too. Instead of Obama's bureaucrats deciding which companies are to survive in the collapsing world e con oh me, we, the people would be the deciders on what cars we drive. My car-lotto national raffle program will pre-sell 30,000 new American made cars every week, the money on hold, after all the inventory on all the lots is rolled. Each and every car will be loaded with the latest state of the art features, too. The beauty in this: so many of the car-lotto winners will be people who drive but are not in the market to purchase a new car, much as they'd love to have one. Those people who are planning on a new car, in spite of today's e con oh me, aren't going to hold off until they win one in the car-lotto. They will simply go around to the dealerships and negotiate their best deal. In a troubled world market, our auto industry will survive from the good faith of the car-lotto raffle ticket purchasing American public. Here is our president, Barky 'Good Wrench' Obama, on TV Monday, last March 30, barking his approach to killing off GM and Chrysler. I paraphrase President Obama: "Its time we make the automobile industry dependent on the unending flow of American raffle dollars." So why don't we move on this and give our car industry a chance to renegotiate fresh rolls in a permanently altered world e con oh me? I want to be industry appointed, the car czar guy on the TV ads exhorting everyone to purchase their car-lotto raffle ticket, and make the talk show rounds, pushing our new car for a dollar raffle. The only hinderance to the above is it is my idea and I am a candidate for president, an issue held against me as I am an independently minded person. Once you get past that minor de tail you have a winning program. One million jobs will be saved from this. Eat your heart out Toyota! michaelslevinson.com

orpheusckauszlawski,different name same crap, mikey get a life.

It's real funny how it takes the f*ck up of Toyota to almost even the field and the haters of Japanese superiority over the GMs, Fords and CRY/SLAW auto groups. Toyota's current problems were simply adapting American arrogance: First, instead of dealing with the problem and being honest, Toyota took a page out of the playbook of deny, deny, deny....then no solution. Second, in their zeal to beat up on the broken American auto industry, they quickened production while, also, implementing cost cutting measures; namely by using an American vendor to whom they contracted the a) electrical harness to their throttle assembly and b) the poorly constructed computer system that I bet was contracted to the Chinese In spite of all of that, I still wouldn't waste my hard earn dollars on the American auto industry, especially GM. Toyota simply needs to slow down and get this current crisis resolved because even in their present state, the cars they design and build are miles ahead of that of Ford and GM.

Many observers have been waiting for Toyota to stub its big toe, but frankly the damage to the brand from this may lead to a foot amputation. The Japanese make great cars and set the standard, taking over from the US in the late 1970s or so. There is no question, I think, that Toyota got arrogant and cut too many corners. The company's response to the crisis has been catastrophically maladroit. That being said, GM et al made plenty of great cars, like the Saturn. Unfortunately, the momentum once lost is very hard to regain. Now it is the Japanese turn to lose momentum. Nothing is forever in an industry as volatile as this one.

Word!

To recycle a phrase, "Driven a Ford lately?" As an owner of 3 MBs and a Mitsubishi, I was very impressed with the Fusion hybrid. So was Car & Driver for that matter.

Wouldn't it be nice if you owned a government ,union, auto manufacturing corporation, and had the power to affect recalls, and government control over your competitors products. You could literally destroy their reputation with government enforcement, now Obama motors wouldn't do that....would they? Who's next Ford?

Let's not forget that firms like Toyota and Honda have given us years of trouble free driving. They should have a chance to remedy and learn from it. I've owned Gen. Motors, Ford, Chrysler, BMW and 3 Benz cars. My current '03 Toyota Avalon is the best of all of them. How much did I throw down the drain on repairs of the other cars? See more on this at: http://TheharvView.blogspot.com

Here's an interesting tidbit the media is conveniently ignoring: Ford and GM also use accelerators manufactured by CTS in their domestically-built vehicles. It's just a matter of time before drivers of "American cars/trucks" start complaining about "sticky accelerators" .... of course, we may not hear a word about it from mainstream media. I'm just sayin' ...

Let us not forget that American unionized (in most cases) built these Toyotas and a American company designed, built and provided the recall part. Now the Prius. When will the government understand that transparency is the right thing? In this congress and administration, NEVER!! Sensible people cannot buy Government Mortors cars....no resale, no stability, no reliability.

Thank you. As a first time user, your comment has been submitted for review. It can take anywhere from a few hours to a day or two for your comment to be reviewed, depending on the time of week and the volume of comments we receive.

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The Best "Pants on the Ground" Covers

The Daily Beast Video curates the most essential and entertaining video, and brings you original and exclusive productions from our talented contributors.

10 Oscar Shockers

The Daily Beast is dedicated to news and commentary, culture, and entertainment. We carefully curate the web’s most essential stories and bring you original must-reads from our talented contributors.

Cuomo Sues Bank of America Execs

NY A.G. announces lawsuit as bank settles with S.E.C.

Obama, Dalai Lama to Meet

At White House later this month.

Toyota's Trouble Spreads to Prius

Feds investigated Lexus issue in 2007.

Hottest New Cars

Reporter, publisher and Bureau Chief of The Detroit Bureau and TheDetroitBureau.com, Paul A. Eisenstein has covered the auto industry since 1979. One of the world's most widely published automotive journalists, Eisenstein’s work routinely appears in such publications as The Economist, Germany 's Auto Motor und Sport, MSNBC.com, Cigar Aficionado, Wired, Motor Trend, TheDailyBeast.com, and dozens more. He's a regular commentator on NPR, and a frequent guest on numerous other broadcast outlets.

GM: We're on a Short Leash

Reporter, publisher and Bureau Chief of The Detroit Bureau and TheDetroitBureau.com, Paul A. Eisenstein has covered the auto industry since 1979. One of the world's most widely published automotive journalists, Eisenstein’s work routinely appears in such publications as The Economist, Germany 's Auto Motor und Sport, MSNBC.com, Cigar Aficionado, Wired, Motor Trend, TheDailyBeast.com, and dozens more. He's a regular commentator on NPR, and a frequent guest on numerous other broadcast outlets.

Chrysler's Next Move

Reporter, publisher and Bureau Chief of The Detroit Bureau and TheDetroitBureau.com, Paul A. Eisenstein has covered the auto industry since 1979. One of the world's most widely published automotive journalists, Eisenstein’s work routinely appears in such publications as The Economist, Germany 's Auto Motor und Sport, MSNBC.com, Cigar Aficionado, Wired, Motor Trend, TheDailyBeast.com, and dozens more. He's a regular commentator on NPR, and a frequent guest on numerous other broadcast outlets.

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